Trust buys flower-rich land as a lifeline to declining wildlife
HUNDREDS OF acres of flower-rich farmland have been bought by the National Trust to throw a lifeline to declining wildlife.
The £2.15m deal to buy 186 hectares (460 acres) of land in the Peak District – an area equivalent to 260 football pitches – is the biggest farm land acquisition by the trust since it bought Trevose Head in Cornwall in 2016.
The 80 hectares (198 acres) of land at High Fields at Stoney Middleton and the 106-hectare (262-acre) farm at Greensides near Buxton are home to “unusually large areas of hay meadows and flower-rich grassland”.
They also support a wide range of bugs and butterflies, as well as small mammals and birds, the trust said. Making the announcement on National Meadows Day, the conservation charity said the kind of speciesrich grassland found on the two farms need protection because 97 per cent have been lost since the 1930s.
The loss of such habitat has continued in areas such as the Peak District despite its status as a National Park, the National Trust said.
Having raised the money to buy the farms from supporters’ legacies, the trust said it will work with partners to join up 1,342 hectares (3,316 acres) of naturefriendly landscape.
The geology and soils of the White Peak landscape provide ideal conditions for a range of plants from the early purple orchid and mountain pansy to cowslips, rock roses and bilberries.
Jon Stewart, inset, general manager for the National Trust in the Peak District, said: “Both farms support unusually large areas of hay meadows and flower-rich grassland which are not just beautiful to look at, but are important habitats for wild plants and insects in particular.”