Dartmoor National Park Authority

Hay Meadows and Unimproved Permanent Pastures

Haymeadow at Brimpts Farm near Dartmeet

The few remaining haymeadows on Dartmoor are very rich in plant species and provide a spectacular array of flowers in the summer months. These meadows occur on well-drained soils and are managed by cutting in July after the flowers have set seed, and then grazing for a few weeks afterwards.

The main plant species seen in these haymeadows are black knapweed, ox-eye daisy, self-heal and occasionally great burnet, but the most notable plants are the orchids and these include the greater butterfly orchid, southerm marsh orchid and heath spotted orchid. A strange fern called moonwort is found in a few haymeadows. Meadows in the Teign valley sometimes contain green-winged orchids and the frog orchid was recently re-discovered in one Dartmoor haymeadow. (see Dartmoor Pocket Guide – Farmland Plants)

On more acidic soils you will find devil’s bit scabious, heath bedstraw, eyebrights and violets. Two rare species that occur rarely in permanent pastures are the heath violet and the Deptford pink.

The previously extinct large blue butterfly has been re-introduced to a site on Dartmoor using stock from Sweden.

The rare cirl bunting, nationally scarce and a high priority for conservation, is a farmland bird which thrives in species-rich pastures where there is an abundance of grasshoppers, an important food during chick-rearing.

Most haymeadows are protected by management agreements with the Dartmoor National Park Authority or Natural England’s ESA and HLS schemes.

Proper management of these sites is vital, with the main threats being neglect, inappropriate grazing and agricultural improvement including cultivation, reseeding and fertiliser use.

Back to List

Page updated 27 August 2009