About the reserve

Wymeswold Meadows run alongside the River Mantle, deeply cut into the ground. It’s possible to feel totally apart from the modern world in this tiny reserve and allow yourself to get really close to a whole range of plants and animals. This is a top spot for enjoying dragonflies and damselflies in summer, which hawk up and down the river banks and will perch on the vegetation. The steep, grassy banks are abundant with flowers and plants, including cowslip, cuckooflower and hoary plantain. Agrimony, lady's bedstraw, spiny restharrow and common birdsfoot-trefoil also occur. This diverse flora attracts a variety of butterflies: orange tip, brimstone, small copper, common blue and small heath, whilst hedgerow birds, like whitethroat and bullfinch, are often seen. The meadows were originally part of common land used by Wymeswold villagers for grazing their stock. The area was enclosed in the 19th century and has traditionally been grazed by cattle, most of it being too steep to cut for hay.