Nipstone Nature Reserve

Nipstone Nature Reserve, located south of Pennerley, Shropshire is one of the most distinctive tors along the Stiperstones ridge and has seen some changes over the last 40 years.

For centuries up until the 1960s this was heathland, a wild landscape of heather, bilberry and cowberry, that stretched along the entire Stiperstones ridge.

But extensive conifer plantation in the 1960s changed its character, blocking out views and open spaces and shrinking the area available for wildlife. In recent years, however, the Back to purple project has restored wildness to large parts of the Stiperstones.

A large conifer plantation was felled at Nipstone in 2001 and the speed of recovery has been amazing.

Already drifts of purple heather and bilberry are back, skylarks nesting in their cover. When the Trust acquired this land in 2006 they felled a similar-sized block of sitka spruce. This too will soon be heathland again, a haven for stonechats, meadow pipits and lichens like miniature corals.

Meanwhile the Back to purple idea has grown and the Wildlife Trust are now looking at ways of linking up nearby areas of heathland, such as the Long Mynd with lightly managed grassland and hedges so that wildlife can move freely between the two heathland hills.

A flock of Hebridean sheep graze on Nipstone.

They are ideal conservation workers, gobbling up the seedling trees that sprout on the bare ground left when the conifers came down.

Without this hungry flock Nipstone would soon be a forest again.

This nature reserve was bought by Shropshire Wildlife Trust with support from the Countryside Agency, the Tubney Trust and donations from many of their members and supporters.

Photo Gallery

Tree Species at Nipstone Nature Reserve

Since 2009 EFORESTS has worked with the land owners and local volunteers to plant 1275 new native tree species.

The following tree species were planted on the site:

IMPORTANT VISITOR INFO – Take only photos. Leave only footsteps.

To keep the woodland as natural as possible we don’t label individual trees and we ask that visitors do not place their own plaques, labels, flowers, etc in the woodland. Each tree we plant should be seen as part of a natural woodland.

Before visiting this woodland, please read our Frequently Asked Questions page, which gives you helpful tips about your tree and visitor guidance.

Dedicate a tree to be planted in Shropshire or elsewhere in the UK.