Wiltshire Wildlife Trust
Cloatley Manor habitat restoration
Cloatley Manor is a large parcel of neutral grassland in the Braydon Forest near Malmesbury.
Restore Our Planet helped fund The Wltshire Wildlife Trust to seize the opportunity to acquire 77 acres of adjacent land consisting of 8 fields and a small copse. 3 fields have been notified as SSSI with a further two containing good quality vegetation. Species present include betony, black knapweed, meadow sweet, saw-wort and pepper saxifrage. Each field is surrounded by tall and species rich hedgerows which are themselves bordered by deep ditches and water courses.
Sympathetic management regimes now serve to preserve and restore the landscape and the biodiversity across the site
Common knapweed. Photo: © WWT
Cattle in Pitts Hay. Photo: © WWT