The day also represented another milestone in the reserve’s history, by showcasing new accessibility features including an accessible picnic bench, new waymarked trails and a waterless eco-toilet at the nature site, all installed this year thanks to funding from Monmouthshire County Council. These will all help staff and volunteers to work on the nature reserve more regularly and make volunteering, events and activities easier for everyone. 

Gwent Wildlife Trust bought the 45-hectare nature reserve in 2001, when it was known as New Court Farm, aiming to show how practical conservation methods can benefit farming and wildlife together. It was GWT’s most important land purchase since they bought Magor Marsh in 1963 and comprised one of the largest areas of wildflower-rich meadows in Gwent. Generous donations for the purchase came from Trust members and supporters, as well as funds from the then Countryside Council for Wales (now Natural Resources Wales), Monmouthshire County Council and the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NHLF). 

Over the years, more funding from NHLF enabled the Trust to carry out a huge amount of work to make the land the nature reserve it is today. 

Gemma Bode, Head of Nature Recovery explains: “We installed kilometres of fencing, planted loads of new hedgerows and laid existing ones, dug new ponds, installed gates and troughs to enable livestock grazing. New kissing gates, interpretation and a guided trail provided new access for visitors to enjoy the reserve and a new barn was built for storage of hay and machinery. Later, a new car park transformed a muddy area outside of the new barn, and more ponds and a new orchard added further diversity to the reserve. 

Our vision for the site is as a registered organic farm and we formed a long-term partnership with local farmers, to help manage the land organically through conservation grazing with their White Park Cattle. Traditional breeds stocked at a low density have been crucial to maintain Springdale’s beautiful hay meadows and to enhance less species-rich permanent pastures.” 

In 2017, thanks to this management, much of the site became notified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest for the exceptionally large areas of species-rich grasslands. 

At the picnic and open day, Gwent Wildlife Trust’s CEO Natalie Buttriss thanked everyone who has supported Springdale Nature Reserve over the years, including tenant farmers, neighbours, volunteers and members as well as GWT staff past and present who made the acquisition and the recovery of nature at the site possible. 

About Springdale Farm 

Springdale Farm is one of Gwent’s best kept secret wild places. With wonderful views over the Usk Valley there is something to enjoy there all year round. In Spring, the rich pockets of ancient woodland are a mass of Bluebells, Sweet Woodruff and Early Purple Orchids with Blackcaps, Chiff Chaff and Tree Pipits, singing high above. The meadows brim with colour and life in the Summer months, with dense patches of Dyer’s Greenweed, carpets of Bird’s-foot Trefoil and a sea of Common Spotted-orchids. The rare Blue-eyed Grass can also be found in wetter corners, still under much debate as to its origin, only currently recognized as native to western Ireland. An Autumn walk at Springdale Farm will reveal a rich diversity of woodland fungi and a particularly colourful array of grassland waxcap fungi, not found at many other sites in the area.