Monarch of meadows
WALK: Kingcombe Meadows, Dorset Dixe Wills delves into the complex, magical and deeply fragile world of meadows, before visiting one of Britain’s most impressive examples, hidden away in a quiet corner of the Dorset countryside
Kingcombe Meadows, Dorset
“MEADOWS HAVE AIDED THE EVOLUTION OF NUMBERLESS SPECIES”
There’s nothing quite like wandering through a meadow in late spring or summer, is there? When the grass is vivid with the bright colours of cheerful wildflowers, the butterflies career riotously about our knees, and the bees buzz on their blossomhopping way, all seems at once right with the world.
Shakespeare certainly thought so, writing of the joys of the meadow in Love’s Labour’s Lost:
When daisies pied and violets blue
And lady smocks all silver white
And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue
Do paint the meadows with delight
And while we may typically imagine a hay meadow when we think of the term, the actual definition is somewhat broader than that. Renowned ecologist and author George Peterken helpfully defines the meadow as “flower-rich grassland of all kinds, whether it has been mown, grazed, or both”.
MILLENNIA OF MEADOWS
Aside from being extremely pleasing to our senses, the nation’s meadows boast a long pedigree. They have been six millennia in the making and have aided in the evolution of numberless species.
Today, they sustain a huge variety of plants that help form an ecosystem, supporting birds, invertebrates, mammals and fungi.
FRAGILE GRASSLANDS
However, all is certainly not well with the health of our meadows. Once an intrinsic part of the British countryside, their decline since the 1930s has been staggering. According to the British conservation charity Plantlife: “Inadequate protection, changing farming practices and a lack of public awareness has caused 97%
(7.5 million acres) to be lost in less than a century. Meadows and other species-rich grasslands now cover less than 1% of the UK.”
Worse still, around threequarters of our remaining species-rich grasslands are small parcels of ground that are susceptible to destruction.
This is not only a disaster in terms of habitat loss but also
signals the demise of an important element of the nation’s heritage. It’s vital therefore that we support organisations such as the Wildlife Trusts and Plantlife, who are attempting to restore meadows around the country.
DOWN IN DORSET
It’s also important that we learn to cherish the meadows we still have, and one of the most glorious and diverse examples can be found in a secluded fold in the west Dorset countryside. Managed by the Dorset Wildlife Trust (DWT), Kingcombe Meadows covers 189 hectares – that’s more than 250 football pitches – and spans the valley of the secretive River Hooke.
The Trust has maintained the land as a working farm using the traditions of times past. This means that the greensward is grazed by sheep and cattle but is free from artificial fertilisers or pesticides. Accordingly, Kingcombe teems with
“KINGCOMBE MEADOWS IS A CORNUCOPIA OF NATURAL DELIGHTS IN SPRING AND SUMMER”
meadow flowers, as would have been the norm on pastureland before the advent of modern farming techniques. As a bonus, the topography of the land has produced several different kinds of meadow.
The fields are divided by good, thick hedgerows and by sunken green lanes that for centuries resounded to the measured trundle of horse and cart. Meanwhile, a series of ponds, coppices and the
River Hooke provide further habitats for all manner of wildlife.
The result is a cornucopia of natural delights, particularly in spring and summer.
HAZELS AND DAMSELS
In May, the beguiling hazel dormouse emerges from its five-month hibernation in Kingcombe’s hedges. Increasingly rare in England due to loss of habitat, the little rodent – whose body measures a trifling 8cm – tends to stay off the ground, dining on beech, hazel or chestnut. It’s also nocturnal, so your best chances of seeing one during the day are at dawn or dusk.
Down on the River Hooke, look for a damselfly aptly named beautiful demoiselle – on the wing between May and August. Females are green and brown while males have dark wings with striking metallic blue-green bodies.
As summer gets into full swing, the meadow flowers are visited by billows of butterflies, with meadow browns, ringlets and marbled whites to the fore.
Cast your eyes up above them and you might see yellowhammers and linnets. With his pink forehead and chest, the male linnet is a pleasingly recognisable finch. With a particular fondness for
good stout hedging and a need for a plentiful supply of seeds all year round, Kingcombe makes an ideal home.
WALKING AT KINGCOMBE
There are two waymarked circular walking routes through the reserve. June and July are the best months for flowers, the latter bringing a wealth of purple as knapweed and betony burst forth. Both routes start by the excellent visitor centre and café (kingcombe. org), beside which there’s an extensive outdoor ‘exploration area’ suitable for mobility scooters when ground conditions permit.
1 NORTH OF THE RIVER
The longer path – around a mile – takes visitors along the floor of the valley and across the Hooke, where neutral meadows and rush pasture are speckled with devil’s bit scabious and sneezewort.
2 CHALKLANDS
Heading up through the reserve’s chalky hay meadows, the way is girded with cowslips, pyramidal orchids and bee orchids, before its return down the ancient Wessex Ridgeway.
3 FURTHER AFIELD
Back at the visitor centre, take the shorter path to climb Kingcombe’s southern slopes. This is acid grassland territory where you’ll find tormentil, heath spotted orchid and the curiously named corky-fruited water-dropwort.
There’s open access over much of the reserve for visitors who want to explore further.
And if you fancy an even longer walk, you can carry on to the adjacent Powerstock Common. Also managed by the DWT, it offers partial access for off-road wheelchairs, a nature trail and, naturally, glorious meadows.
How to find a meadow near you The Wildlife Trusts has an excellent meadow-finding tool on its website (wildlifetrusts.org); while Plantlife (plantlife.org.uk) manages 17 thriving meadows. The Coronation Meadows project (coronationmeadows.org.uk), the Save Our Magnificent Meadows campaign (magnificentmeadows.org. uk) and the National Trust (nationaltrust.org.uk) are also good starting places.