About the reserve

This attractive old meadow with tall hedges extends from Ashing Lane down to the Dunholme Beck, which is lined with pollarded crack willows. Meadow flowers include common bird's-foot trefoil, cowslip, hedge bedstraw and great burnet. There is also a large colony of adder's-tongue fern throughout and cuckooflower in wet flushes.

There is a field pond in the south-east corner with water figwort, reed sweet-grass, brooklime and marsh marigold. The hedges contain 13 native trees and shrubs, including hawthorn, blackthorn, dog rose, dogwood and purging buckthorn. An owl box has been erected near the central dyke.

On acquiring Pickering’s Meadow the Trust set out to enhance the site by improving the species mix in the hedgerows, clearing the small field pond and setting up a regular annual grazing regime for the benefit of grassland species. The meadows are traditionally hay cropped in mid-July and the aftermath is grazed with sheep. 

In 2009 the Trust purchased a further two fields to the east of the old meadow and has converted these arable fields to species rich grassland. This has been achieved by stripping the nutrients built up over years of intensive agriculture and then re-sowing with a mix of green hay from other sites and carefully sourced wildflower seed. The Trust continues to manage both old and new grasslands, the hedgerows, pond and ditches to enrich the site for wildlife.

Adjacent to the meadows are Watts Wood nature reserve, Monks Wood and Co-op Wood (the latter two a community woodland project managed by Nettleham Woodland Trust on land owned by LWT). All of these sites together make up Ashing Lane Nature Reserve covering 80 acres.

Nearest postcode LN2 3NN. Please note - postcodes are for the nearest registered address as we are unable to get postcodes for nature reserves.

Location information

Pickering’s Meadow location PDF

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