Hopyard Haymeadow Nature Reserve

This small meadow of 1.1 hectares has, on one of its boundaries, one of Yorkshire’s largest surviving wild service trees. The hedgerows are mentioned in the Hatfield, Thorne and Fishlake Enclosure Award of 1825. The fields in this area have developed on silty clay alluvial deposits and although identified on the one-inch scale geological survey map as alluvium, the concentration of calcicolous plants may suggest the presence of a calcareous post-glacial drift deposit.

Another indication of historic landscape usage is its position along Guile Carr Lane; the etymology root of the term ‘Guile’ relates to a tide filled channel, which no doubt refers to the silt laden water which once flowed across the area from the nearby tidal River Don. There is a list of over 70 plant species, including sweet vernal-grass, pignut, four species of buttercup including goldilocks, great burnet and pepper-saxifrage. The ratio of meadow foxtail to great burnet suggests a flood meadow of a rare grassland type.

Butterfly and moth species recorded include the chimney sweeper moth, a good indicator species for old grassland, good numbers of blues, coppers, whites, skippers and recent records of purple hairstreak. Ornithological interest includes green and great spotted woodpecker, tawny and little owl and large numbers of wintering finches, some of which breed in the hedgerows which the Trust have been restoring.

Directions

The reserve is one mile north of Hatfield, north-east of Doncaster. It is off the beaten track. In Hatfield turn north past the church and continue past the school onto a dirt track (Cuckoo Lane) for about half-a-mile. About 20 yards prior to the Pumping Station turn left into Guile Carr Lane. The reserve is on the right where the land bends.