Though used by the local people for many years on an informal basis, public access to Clifton Backies is now official. In May 2002 the area was designated as a Local Nature Reserve (LNR) due to its diverse wildlife, its recreational open space and its potential for education.

The land has been leased to the City of York Council for 125 years from the year 2000. The running of the site is overseen by a management board that includes representatives from the local community, nature conservation groups and the Council. It encompasses a broad range of expertise, which ensures the successful management of the site.

Past uses of the reserve

Clifton Backies has had a long and varied history from farmland to an airfield and now a nature reserve. Originally the land belonged to St Mary’s Abbey and would have been used for growing arable crops. After the dissolution of the monasteries the land came into the ownership of a family named Robinson.

In the medieval times the area was part of a furlong or field known as ‘Moor Broats’, and was cultivated under a strip farming system. The current ridge and furrow appearance of the fields is as a result of this. If you look carefully at the ridge and furrow you can see that some of them have a slight ‘s’ curve shape to them which we are able to identify as being created by ox-drawn plough. The other area of ridge and furrow being more straight and narrow can be identified as being created by horse-drawn plough.

This helps use to know that the land was in arable use for a long period of time. In fact when RAF Clifton was built on part of the land the area chosen was the flattest on site which can be put down to more modern methods of arable farming.

Clifton Airfield was in use up until the Berlin Airlift in the late in the late 1940’s and since then it has been allowed to return to nature. If you investigate the grounds you can still see blast shelters and building outlines.

Due to the concrete paths of the airfield allowing easy access to the site it soon became a local amenity, the lack of cutting allowed scrub to develop and similarly low intensity grazing has encouraged flower rich meadows both of which have created a rich wildlife habitat.

How the nature reserve works

It is only within the last century or so, since cultivation ended, that the land has taken on a more wild appearance. The lack of artificial fertiliser and weed killers used on site has allowed a varied flora and fauna to survive. Clifton Backies incorporates three main habitat types: unimproved pasture , scrub woodland and unimproved hay meadow. The management for the site is a mixture of low intensity grazing and cutting associated with traditional meadow management.

The nature reserve is home to numerous animals, birds and flowers. The meadow is used by short tailed voles and along the Bur Dyke water voles can be spotted. There are also rabbits, fox, weasel, shrew, hedgehog, bank vole, wood mouse and roe deer. Bats are a common feature during the evening hunting insects. Frogs and smooth newts breed on the site in the seasonal pools that are a feature of the Backies. Some birds to spot include black bird, blue tit, chif chaf, wren, dunnock, chaffinch, bullfinch, white throat, willow warbler and linnet.

For the past 2 years butterfly surveys have been carried out on Clifton Backies as part of a UK wide study. The are a number of important habitats on site supporting 19 species of butterfly including Brimstone, Small Copper, Common Blue, Speckled Wood and Wall Brown.