Warwickshire County Council Ecologist’s Report on Attey’s Field

The sward contains several lowland meadow indicator species including common birds-foot-trefoil, lady’s bedstraw, rough hawkbit, meadow vetchling, common knapweed, pignut and glaucous sedge. Warwickshire County Council also has an old record for cowslip at the site.

Flower-rich meadows were once widespread in lowland Britain. They were for centuries an essential element of the agricultural system on which rural communities depended. However, they have all but disappeared from the UK with an estimated 98% lost over the last 80 years, almost entirely due to changing agricultural practice.  Surviving examples are now highly localised, fragmented and in small stands and therefore of high conservation value. The creation and restoration of species-rich neutral grassland is a national and local conservation priority. The Warwickshire, Coventry & Solihull Biodiversity Action Plan for Lowland Neutral Grassland has set a target to restore 1,623 Ha of degraded lowland neutral grassland by 2026.

The surviving remnants provide a refuge for wildflower species that are now largely absent in the surrounding intensively managed lowland farmland. They are also important habitats for farmland birds and pollinating insects such as butterflies and bumblebees.