It has declined in condition due to changes in farming practices and we’re now bringing it back through an appropriate grazing regime. Pineys Rough is the only place where you will find a breeding colony of (not so!) Common Blue Butterfly and Six-Spot Burnett Moth. We hope they will expand into Ploughman’s Meadow.
Ploughman's Hill Wildflower Meadow
This 14 acre field was formerly used for intensively growing potatoes or barley and as part of our Land, Outdoors and Nature (LON) programme work, with very little seed bank remaining in the ground we took the decision in 2018 to plant it with a native wildflower mix.
In the first year that it was sown the seed mix was a composite of annual cornfield flowers such as wild poppy, corn marigold and corncockle that bloom in the first year, but are then replaced as the perennial wild flowers become established. The result is that the appearance of the meadow from the second year onwards is less colourful, but is actually much better for nature.