We own two Local Nature Reserves (LNR) in Stone, the larger Goodall Meadows in the north and the appropriately named Southern Meadow - boundaries highlighted in red at either end of the map. 

In the centre of the map are Stone Town Council’s Crown Meadow LNR (above) and the lower section of Westbridge Park. Both sites include areas of meadow, scrub and riverside trees.

What is apparent from the map is the comparatively large area of land in Stone’s Trent floodplain under conservation management.

Coordinating management aims across all four sites will establish a connected and coherent landscape that is more resilient to climate change:

Floodplain Meadows

Floodplain meadows are beautiful, ancient, and fascinating places rich in wildlife and history.

Throughout the spring and early summer, they are awash with wildflowers and waving grasses, humming with insects and the birds that depend on them.

They provided a vibrant and beautiful spectacle that has now all but disappeared largely due to modern farming methods.

They evolved over many hundreds of years through the need to store the summer grass crop as hay to sustain animals over the winter months.

The system of allowing the vegetation to grow up in the spring, taking a hay crop in midsummer and then grazing the re-growth, prevented taller, coarser species from becoming dominant and created a diverse flower rich habitat.

Goodall Meadows

Goodall Meadows is the largest of the Stone LNRs at 8.4 hectares.

The LNR is bisected by a railway viaduct, dividing the site into two main meadow areas. Both meadows have been seeded with an appropriate mix of native wildflowers and are managed by an annual hay cut.

Additional features on site include two areas of newly planted woodland, a small pond and a wetland scrape.

Southern Meadow

The 5.5-hectare meadow is an area of low-lying ground on the River Trent flood plain. Like Goodall Meadows, the predominant habitat is species rich floodplain meadow.

There is a diverse area of wet woodland that has developed around two small ponds in the southwestern corner of the meadow.

Willow and alder are the dominant tree species in this area, which contains a variety of other wetland plant species including common bistort, water mint, marsh marigold, and water horsetail.

Additionally, there is a series of small ponds in a wetland area and a small area of woodland. The site also features native Black Poplar, now a rare tree.

Crown Meadow

Crown Meadow is already a well-known and well-used wildlife site at the heart of Stone, managed by Stone Town Council.

The site features areas of meadow, wet woodland, and two large scrapes with a good diversity of wetland plants.

Westbridge Park

At the back end of the park, there is a 2-hectare floodplain meadow managed by an annual hay cut. This was the first meadow in Stone to be re-seeded with a native wildflower mix.

Around the edges of this area you can find surviving wetland meadow plants, revealing the former biodiversity value of the site from many decades ago.