Returning York’s strays to their natural state

BOB Missin is eying a scrubby patch of common sorrel. He’s hoping to spot the first of the season’s skylarks which are back again on Hob Moor. But he goes one better. “Look,” he cries, “a meadow pipit”.

Since 1945, all but four per cent of Britain’s meadows have been lost and with them once-common flowers, birds and mammals. But York is getting many of them back and Bob is part of a City of York Council team looking to restore our strays to the way they were.

Grazing used to be the traditional way to manage strays and for the past couple of years, Bob has been working with farmer Simon Dunn to bring cattle back. There are some 800 acres of stray within the city boundaries and Bob says it’s isn’t feasible to pay for the grass to be cut. Not only that, many areas are too uneven for mowers.

So he asked Simon and his herdsman Chris Pickering to become stewards of the land.

And it’s a good deal for all parties. Simon gets extra grazing, the council has cut its maintenance bill and with a return to environmentally friendly farming, we get back our traditional meadows.

Even better, the Natural England Environmental Stewardship Scheme has awarded York £500,000 over the next ten years to help carry out the work.

“The value of the strays is in part due to their more or less continuous management as pasture,” says Bob. “However, this management has not always been sympathetic to their historical heritage.

“That has also had a dramatic impact on the wildlife here, as has the increasing use of the strays for recreation. The one thing that has been constant though is the grazing of animals. Even Knavesmire was grazed until the late 1990s.”

The first job was to fence the land and make it suitable again for livestock. Hob Moor, part of Micklegate Stray, has already been enclosed and future projects include re-establishing hedges, woodland planting and wildflower sowing.

“We had a similar project on MOD land we use at Strensall,” says Simon. “So when Bob approached me about the strays, I could straightaway see how it could all come together and how it would help all sides.

“To be honest, I never realised the strays were here, but they need looking after and that means extensive, not intensive, farming without the use of fertilizers. It’s about managing the land like it is.”

And indeed as it was almost 1,000 years ago.

York’s strays date from the early medieval period where the city’s freemen had a right to pasture their animals.

Between 1750 and 1850, all common land was enclosed and rights removed. But in York, the Corporation awarded grazing allotments in lieu which it held in trust “as an open space for the benefit and enjoyment of the citizens of York for all time”.

Knavesmire and Hob Moor were taken over in 1905, Walmgate and Bootham in 1947 and Monks Stray in 1958. “The use of the strays by the public is largely of recent origin,” says Bob. “And grazing is essential for the upkeep of the land, although there are some who do not feel cows and people should mix in public areas.

“We would hope though, the public will respect the role grazing animals play and, particularly where dog walking is concerned, ensure that they are under control and do not chase or worry livestock.”

Ten-month-old Aberdeen Angus Stirks have been chosen to graze the land at Hob Moor because they are a native breed, capable of thriving on the as yet unimproved grassland.

Not only that, they have a placid nature and that is important because the strays are a favoured place for dog walkers. The stewardship scheme may see sheep and cattle once again grazing on the strays, but it won’t reduce people’s right of access.

“To make it work, we all need to show respect for the animals,” says Chris. “And what more could they want, these city folk, but looking out on to a meadow full of cattle in the natural way? It’s like being in the countryside.”

Hob Moor was once called ‘yhorkesmore’. It has always been grazing land except during the Napoleonic Wars when it was ploughed up to produce food. But next to the ancient common is the buttercup-strewn North Lane Pasture and Bob points out an even earlier example of crop growing.

“This was medieval arable field and we are walking along a really pronounced ridge and furrow. It was only incorporated into the stray in around 1850 but it’s another part of the landscape character and shows how land was managed hundreds of years ago.

“When the land was enclosed in 1730, hedgerows were planted on top of one of the ridges and you can see the same curved shape to the hedges and boundaries.”

Now Bob plans to reintroduce hay meadows on North Lane Pasture, just like there would have been in the 12th century.

“We knew money would be tight so we worked hard to get the three stewardships in place here at Hob Moor, Bootham Stray, including the Clifton Backies nature reserve, and Walmgate Stray. The issue always with extensive farming is you don’t get the same returns, so having the stewardship has enabled us to go down that line.”

But farming is only part of the scheme. The grant has already paid for ponds, new woodland at Bootham Stray, wild flowers collected locally from seed and hedgerow renovations. And while it might seem alarming to see overgrown hedges cut back so harshly, they will grow back thicker and again be a haven for wildlife.

One of the most important areas the funding will pay for is education projects for local schools. For Bob, the whole project is about getting people to take an interest in the strays and the soon to be abundant wildlife.

“Our aim is to get them all used again – as they were and turn them into nature sanctuaries. People in urban areas can often be divorced from the countryside, but hopefully this will make them appreciate some of the value and hard work that goes into caring for it.”

And, if all goes to plan, in a few years Bob will take it in his stride when he spots the first of the season’s skylarks on Hob Moor.

Or even a little meadow pipit.