Stocks Yatt Meadow is a long thin meadow situated off the southern end of the Playing Field between the Old Road and Tunnel Hill. It is a species-rich wet grassland and is a type of habitat that is sadly vanishing in Worcestershire and nationally. 97% of grassland has disappeared from the county and wet grassland is under particular threat.
The Town Council acquired the meadow from Worcestershire County Council in 2002 and under the supplied management agreement the meadow is cut twice a year. If the meadow was left unmanaged it would become overgrown with willow, scrub and blackthorn and would eventually become woodland – and Worcestershire has plenty of woodland already.
In 2009 Upton in Bloom planted male & female Black Poplar trees alongside one of the streams in order to try to perpetuate this native species. Black Poplars were once a common sight in the English countryside and enormously important in the shipbuilding industry. Farming and housing have accounted for a considerable drop in numbers and, as it is not a beautiful tree, it is generally not the tree of choice in domestic gardens. Now it is Britain's rarest native timber tree.
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