Traditional Orchards

Traditional orchards are a mosaic habitat of fruit and nut trees set in permanent grassland, which is often grazed or cut for hay. Unlike modern intensive orchards, they are low-intensity systems with widely spaced, long-lived trees managed without chemicals or heavy machinery.

They combine veteran trees, deadwood, grassland sward, hedgerows, and sometimes ponds or scrub. This structural variety makes them rich for wildlife and distinct from commercial orchards.

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Traditional orchards are found across England and Wales, often in lowland valleys and settled landscapes. Key concentrations include:

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• South West counties such as Devon and Somerset

• The Welsh borders, especially Herefordshire and Gloucestershire

• Kent and the South East fruit belt

• Pockets in the Midlands and East Anglia

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They are strongly linked to historic patterns of settlement, where orchards supplied local cider, perry, and fruit.

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Soil Preferences

Traditional orchards are planted on a wide range of soils, but most often on fertile, moderately drained lowland soils suitable for fruit tree establishment. Their ground flora reflects both soil type and management history, from species-rich pasture to rye-grass swards.

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Inputs

• Select appropriate fruit or nut varieties, preferably traditional local cultivars

• Plant at wide spacing (5–12 metres apart) to allow tree maturity and understorey development

• Use semi-standard or standard trees on vigorous rootstocks for longevity

• Establish wildflower-rich grassland beneath, ideally by sowing meadow mixtures or using green hay

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Management

• Protect young trees with guards against grazing and browsing

• Manage grassland by hay cut or light grazing to retain low fertility

• Avoid pesticides and herbicides to allow invertebrates and herbs to thrive

• Retain margins or hedges for connectivity between habitats

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Landscape

• Site new orchards near existing traditional orchards or veteran trees to extend habitat networks

• Integrate with surrounding hedgerows, pastures, or wood-pasture systems

• Maintain traditional orchard layouts reflecting local character

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Inputs

• Restore neglected orchards by re-introducing pruning and grazing

• Replant gaps with traditional varieties on long-lived rootstocks

• Retain standing and fallen deadwood as critical invertebrate habitat

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Management

• Use cyclical pruning to prolong tree life and create veteran features

• Manage sward with aftermath grazing or late hay cuts

• Reduce nutrient input to encourage a more diverse understorey

• Control invasive scrub without eliminating structural diversity

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Landscape

• Restore hedgerows or field boundaries that connect orchards to other semi-natural habitats

• Create buffer zones around orchards to protect from spray drift or nutrient run-off

• Manage neighbouring grassland sympathetically to enhance habitat networks

A traditional orchard in good condition should:

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• Contain mature or veteran fruit and nut trees with a range of ages and structures

• Support deadwood both in trees and on the ground

• Have a semi-natural understorey, managed for hay or light grazing

• Show continuity of low-intensity management, without fertiliser or pesticide inputs

• Retain features such as hedgerows, ponds, or uncultivated margins

• Distinctiveness: High — priority habitat

• Condition Potential: High, though dependent on long-term low-intensity management

• Habitat Connectivity: Provide stepping stones between woodlands, hedgerows, and grasslands

• Climate Services: Support pollinators, store carbon in trees and soils, buffer local climate extremes

🌳 Trees and Shrubs

• Apple, pear, cherry, plum, damson, walnut

• Veteran tree features such as cavities, rot holes, hollow stems

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🌱 Grassland and Ground Flora

• Meadow herbs including knapweed (Centaurea nigra), bird’s-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), ox-eye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare), yellow rattle (Rhinanthus minor)

• Waxcap fungi (Hygrocybe spp.) and other unimproved grassland fungi where nutrient levels are low

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🐝Invertebrates

• Noble chafer beetle (Gnorimus nobilis) — flagship orchard species

• Lesser stag beetle (Dorcus parallelipipedus) and other saproxylic beetles

• Pollinators including bumblebees and solitary bees

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🐦 Birds

• Spotted flycatcher (Muscicapa striata)

• Lesser spotted woodpecker (Dryobates minor)

• Tree sparrow (Passer montanus)

• Mistle thrush (Turdus viscivorus)

• Little owl (Athene noctua)

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🐇Mammals

• Bats roosting in cavities, such as common pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) and Natterer’s bat (Myotis nattereri)

• Dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius) in orchard hedgerows

• Hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) foraging in sward

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🍄Fungi and Lichens

• Rich lichen communities on veteran fruit trees, e.g. orange-fruited elm-lichen (Caloplaca luteoalba)

• Orchard tooth fungus (Sarcodontia crocea) associated with old apple trees