2024 Business Award Winner - Severn Trent and Warwickshire Wildlife Trust

Severn Trent invest in the environment in numerous projects, but ‘Making More Magical Meadows’ covered a large extent of the Warwickshire area and invested in the establishment of meadows across 8 farms, creating a total of 7 hectares of biodiversity improvements in the area at a cost of £11,250. Meadows don’t just affect the health of the biodiversity above ground, the works carried out will also improve soil quality and underground ecosystems in the area.​

Cattle and sheep were allowed to graze the site at particular times of year to maintain the short sward of the meadow. From year 2 onwards the meadows were shut to allow for the flowers to go to seed and only grazed at specific times of year. To ensure the project's success farmers volunteered their time, by attending training days to aid them in helping to maintain the meadows, illustrating the support and interest that they had in the project. ​

After the success of the initial project an extension project was agreed on and established for another 20.1 hectares of meadow to be created with the involvement of an extra farm, taking the total number of farms involved in the project to 9, however last year alone, the project delivered 22.240 hectares, beating the targeted enhancements with another year to go, investing another £53,724 in our valuable environment.​

Watch more on the project below