Hartington Meadows

UK Wildlife Trusts

Fragrant orchid, Hopton Quarry, credit Natural Diversity Because of the dangerous state of its faces, there is no access to the quarry. Hartington Meadows is bursting with the colour of wild flowers through the summer. The grassland is managed as part of a working farm, and is cut for hay in mid-July - this encourages meadow flowers such as hay rattle and meadow vetchling. Different flowers grow on the rock outcrops - among them are clustered bellflower and dropwort. The rough grassland also provides breeding sites for skylark and ground-nesting birds. Various orchids and other limestone flowers thrive in and around the disused limestone quarry, while its faces provide breeding sites for cliff-nesting birds such as kestrel and jackdaw. A disused limestone quarry of particular interest for butterflies - in fact 24 species of butterfly have already been recorded here!

Managed by

UK Wildlife Trusts

Location

SK17 0AZ