Barn Hill Meadows

Also within

East Riding of Yorkshire County

Condition (Natural England)

Geology & landscape

Landscape processes: Fluvial

Description

Area, 8.6 hectares 21.2 ac Description Barn Hill Meadows comprise seven fields lying just to the west of Howden, in the flood plain of the Old Derwent. The site is important for its herb rich, unimproved, neutral grassland, a habitat now uncommon in the intensively farmed landscape of Humberside and in lowland England generally. The fields have been traditionally managed for hay and several of them retain remnant ridge and furrow characteristics. Boundary hedgerows and ditches form an integral part of the site. The dominant grasses in the sward are red fescue Festuca rubra, sweet vernal grass Anthoxanthum odoratum, Yorkshire fog Holcus lanatus and cock's foot Dactylis glomerata with false oat grass Arrhenatherum elatius locally abundant and quaking grass Briza media occurring sparsely. A particular feature of these fields is the abundance of great burnet Sanguisorba officinalis which occurs here with other species indicative of unimproved grassland, such as pepper saxifrage Silaum silaus and meadow crane's bill Geranium pratense. Characteristic species on drier ground also include oxeye daisy Leucanthemum vulgare and common knapweed Centaurea nigra while in wetter areas there are tall herb communities comprising meadowsweet Filipendula ulmaria, purple loosestrife Lythrum salicaria, yellow loosestrife Lysimachia vulgaris, common meadow rue Thalictrum flavum and ragged-robin Silene flos-cuculi. Common reed Phragmites australis and sweet grass Glyceria spp., are locally dominant along ditches and in the damper furrows.

Species mentioned

Insects to look out for

These moths, butterflies and beetles are known to feed on plants recorded at this site, and carry a notable UK conservation status — but a host-plant being present doesn't mean the insect has actually been recorded here. Treat this as "worth watching for," not a confirmed sighting.

Host-plant data: Cook et al. (2025), Traits data for the butterflies and macro-moths of Great Britain and Ireland, 2024, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology / Butterfly Conservation; and Padovani et al. (2020), Database of Insects and their Food Plants (DBIF), UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (both Open Government Licence). Contains data supplied by UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology.