Red Hill
Red Hill offers spectacular views of the Malvern Hills but also offers many different wildlife habitats once you look around. The area is predominantly agricultural land, bordered by hedgerows. Hedgerows are a staple of the British landscape and a thriving wildlife habitat: it is estimated that 40% of UK hedges (95,000 miles) are ancient and or species rich and they have been found to house up to 2,070 species in just an 85 metre stretch!
While hedgerows, and farmland more generally, are a key feature of the UK - farmland covers around 70% of the UK - these ecosystems, all the way down to the soil, are struggling. Farmers must be supported and rewarded for bolstering biodiversity to ensure food security for the future.
An alternative solution for food security can be found just off the route at Red Hill: Foxwell Street Allotments. Allotments in the UK are dated back to Anglo-Saxon times but grew in popularity during wartime; at its peak there were 1.4 million allotments in the UK in 1943. The Dig for Victory campaign saw open spaces, including disused railway land, public parks and even the Tower of London’s moat, transformed into allotments. In the face of a biodiversity crisis, food poverty and insecurity, and the climate crisis, disused land transformed into allotments offer boundless opportunities and abundant possibilities.
