Green winged orchid at Leyburn Old Glebe in 2018

Leyburn Old Glebe Nature Reserve is a nature reserve and

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

(SSSI) managed by the

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust is a charitable non-governmental organisation, one of the UK's 46 county-based Wildlife Trusts. It's focus is nature conservation and it works to achieve a nature-rich Yorkshire with healthy and resilient ecosystems ...

. It is about east of the village of Wensley and southwest of

Leyburn Leyburn is a market town and civil parish in the district of Richmondshire, North Yorkshire, England, sitting above the northern bank of the River Ure in Wensleydale. Historically in the North Riding of Yorkshire, the name was derived from 'L ...

. The site is a traditionally-managed 3 hectare

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticat ...

meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non-woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or artifi ...

on a south-facing slope, overlooking the

River Ure The River Ure in North Yorkshire, England is approximately long from its source to the point where it becomes the River Ouse. It is the principal river of Wensleydale, which is the only major dale now named after a village rather than its ...

. It is one of the best preserved unimproved meadows in the

Yorkshire Dales The Yorkshire Dales is an upland area of the Pennines in the Historic counties of England, historic county of Yorkshire, England, most of it in the Yorkshire Dales National Park created in 1954. The Dales comprise river valleys and the hills ri ...

. Each year, after the flowers have set seed, an autumn hay cut and grazing by a limited number of sheep are essential management to prevent the area becoming overgrown. Meadows have declined in Britain over the last century, due mainly to intensive agriculture, and it is estimated that 97% of Britain's meadows have been destroyed since the 1930s, so areas like Leyburn Glebe are vital to the survival of many plant species. Many unusual flowers can be seen there. The Wildlife Trust ask that visitors keep to the edges of the meadow so that rare and/or delicate plants are not damaged. Animals seen in the reserve include small skipper butterfly,

yellowhammer The yellowhammer (''Emberiza citrinella'') is a passerine bird in the bunting family that is native to Eurasia and has been introduced to New Zealand and Australia. Most European birds remain in the breeding range year-round, but the eastern ...

and

stoat The stoat (''Mustela erminea''), also known as the Eurasian ermine, Beringian ermine and ermine, is a mustelid native to Eurasia and the northern portions of North America. Because of its wide circumpolar distribution, it is listed as Least Conc ...

. The word glebe means land that was granted to the local

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

, to provide him with an income. It comes from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

gleba, meaning clod/soil/land. The nature reserve was owned by a local church until 1983.Yorkshire Wildlife Trust
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References

Sites of Special Scientific Interest in North Yorkshire Wensleydale Meadows in North Yorkshire {{NorthYorkshire-geo-stub