Category: 220323

Managing the land

Volunteer sowing wild flower seed


The Malvern Hills National Landscape (MHNL) is made up of a variety of special places or habitats. Bringing these areas into good condition and keeping them in good condition is a priority for the National Landscape Partnership. The most important habitats and examples of work to conserve them are as follows.

Mixed Native Woodlands

23.3% of the MHNL is woodland. Our key aims are to increase tree cover and to ensure that native woodlands are well managed and resilient to a changing climate.  
Download a 2025 paper summarising recent work in this area.

Traditional Orchards

Traditional orchards are a key part of the social and cultural history of the 3 counties and one of the most important wildlife habitats today. We are working with others to restore and manage existing traditional orchards and to create new ones too.
3 Counties Traditional Orchard Project

Species-rich grasslands

Just over 36% of the MHNL is permanent grassland. The majority of this will have been fertilised, reseeded or otherwise improved for agriculture in the past and is now species-poor. We are working to bring more species-richness back to grasslands in the area.
Summary of meadows restoration work
A road verge management pilot project
A good practice case study on creating and managing wildflower meadows with horses and ponies
A resistivity by 2 people on the lawns of Hope End

Historic Parkland

The MHNL contains a number of registered (nationally important) and unregistered (locally important) parklands. The management of these areas should benefit farming and nature whilst being consistent with their historical and cultural value.
The management of Hope End Park
Farmer a laying hedge.

Hedgerows and hedgerow trees

Hedgerows and their trees are habitats in their own right but also serve as vital corridors, allowing wildlife to pass from one place to another. Our focus is planting more hedgerows and hedgerow trees whilst also ensuring that established hedgerows are rejuvenated and well managed.

Streams, ponds and wetlands

We would like to increase the number of ponds and other wetland areas, to improve water quality and habitat quality in our water bodies, to manage invasive species and to help address flooding by slowing the flow of water across land.

Scrub

Areas of scrub (long grass, bramble, shrubs etc) have  disappeared from much of our countryside. They provide valuable shelter, food and breeding sites for much wildlife. We are working to increase areas of managed scrub, especially in the transitional areas where grasslands meet woodlands.

Views Research Work: introduction

Beauty is often in the eye of the beholder, so, hard to define. We have published a number of guidance documents that attempt to define the relative importance of views and they are:

Guidance on Identifying and Grading Views and Viewpoints

Identification of Key Views To and From the Malvern Hills AONB Main Document
Main document
Key Views Plans (see main document for details)
Key Views Appendices 1,2,4,5,6,7 and 8
Key Views Appendix 3 Photo sheets (see App. 1 and 2 for details)

Natural Capital Introduction

The concept behind Natural Capital is to put a value on many of services and pleasures we derive from nature, that are so often left out of conventional economic calculations. At the Malvern Hills AONB, a number of pioneering studies have been done to capture this value. They include:

Natural Capital and Ecosystem Service Mapping of the MHAONB

Bromesberrow Estate Natural Capital Study

Malvern Hills Natural Capital Planning Toolkit Assessment Report

Malvern Hills AONB Natural Capital Scoping Study 2017

Meadow Restoration

This page is being updated.

Website managed by Design in the Shires