Apart from a few very small areas which are enclosed by fences or hedges, almost all of the Conservators' land is unenclosed common land on which the Conservators hold ownership or management agreements. The Conservators have no common grazing rights of their own, but they can take up unexercised (i.e. residual) grazing rights. Grazing, involving sheep, cattle, horses, goats and geese, is carried out by registered common rights holders or by those licensed by the Conservators. There is a considerable difference between the potential numbers of stock grazing the Conservators' land (i.e. the number that might be grazed by potential common rights holders) and those which actually do. The numbers of currently registered commons rights holders are shown in Table 2.

Table 3 shows the decline in numbers of stock grazing on the Hills (Main Hills (North, Central and South) Zones) Few sheep have been seen on the Main Hills (North) between 1979 and 1995.

A slightly less dramatic change has occurred elsewhere on the Conservators' land. The numbers of grazing animals on the lowland commons have varied from time to time, but at places like Castlemorton Common, Hollybed Common and Old Hills they have remained higher, reflecting a higher dependency by local common rights holders on this grazing for their agricultural viability. Approximately 750 sheep and 70 cattle were being grazed on Castlemorton Common in 1979, a number which has been maintained more or less up to the present time. Table 4 gives the numbers of stock grazing parts of the Conservators' land in 1989 (data from the 1989 Management Plan) and 1997 (from a survey carried out by ADAS).

The 230 - 240 ewes being grazed on Malvern Common and up to 250 sheep on the Main Hills represent a recent and encouraging return to grazing for these sites, after an absence for several years. There has been a recent change in the timing of grazing at Castlemorton Common, where cattle are now overwintered, with supplementary feeding. Many commoners do not take up their grazing rights because of the hazards of road traffic accidents and attacks by dogs; some are concerned about stock wandering away; and others are influenced by the turn-down in profitability of stock farming (Davies 1994).

In general most well-informed observers are of the opinion that the Conservators' land is under-grazed, with the possible exceptions of parts of Castlemorton and Hollybed Commons and areas where the grazing has been effectively substituted by a hay-making regime. Where under-grazing occurs, undesirable scrub and woodland invasion is an inevitable and usually deleterious consequence. This can only be countered by re-institution of stock grazing, or the introduction of hay-making, or grass mowing where tractor access is possible.

Parts of the Conservators' land are utilised for hay-making, a method of vegetation management which has been encouraged as it is useful in the maintenance of the nature conservation value of the grasslands and in the reduction of costly intervention through mowing by the Conservators' own staff. Lodge Fields and Woodford's Meadow, two recently acquired sites, are enclosed by hedges and fences.

Barnards Green Common, the Guarlford Road verges and Sherrards Green, and other urban areas which have not been grazed in recent years, for example Link Common, Newlands Common and the verges of the Townsend Way development are not considered suitable for stock grazing given their small areas and close proximity to busy road traffic.

Trees and Woodlands

The woodlands on the Conservators' lands are of several distinct kinds:

• Plantations;

• Ancient semi-natural woodland (ASNW);

• Recent secondary woodland which has developed since the middle of this century on sites previously occupied by grassland, bracken or gorse;

• Small groups and avenues of trees planted for landscape effect, particularly on the verges of the roads which enter and traverse the urban areas of Malvern. Many of these trees are large and form an important part of the Victorian character of Malvern;

• Nationally significant black poplar pollard population at Castlemorton Common and isolated trees elsewhere

Significant areas of ASNW are found at:

• Hill School Wood, a small area at the foot of the eastern slopes of North Hill;.

• Park Wood, adjacent to the Purlieu on the lower slopes of the south-western end of Main Hills (North) Zone. Park Wood is mainly ash-maple-dog's mercury woodland.

• Fish Pool Leys Coppice, on the lower slopes of the south-western end of Main Hills (Central). This woodland is ash-maple-dog's mercury woodland. As would be suspected from its name, it shows clear evidence of coppice management of mainly hazel, but also of chestnut and ash.

• British Camp/Herefordshire Beacon, below and to the east of the hill fort. The woodland here is mixed oak and ash;

• Hollybush Roughs, the largest area of continuous woodland on the Conservators' land which lies to the east of Midsummer Hill hill-fort (only part of which is owned by the Conservators). It is famed for its very large holly bushes; the woodlands also include oak and ash and some small-leaved and large-leaved limes. Part of the woodland has been coppiced.

• Ragged Stone Hill and Chase End Hill. Small parts of the Conservators' land here are ASNW and are dominated by ash with some chestnut coppice, in which dormouse occurs. Large-leaved lime has been reported from Chase End Hill and hornbeam and small-leaved lime are also present.

There has been extensive invasion of sycamore into woodland throughout the Conservators' woodlands. It has been actively encouraged because it was thought that its ability to reduce the fuel content of ground vegetation through suppression and act as a fire break for adjacent property was an advantage. Generally, however, it is regarded as an undesirable species and the arguments for its use in fire control not proven. Its threat of dominance in the Malvern Hills SSSI woodlands needs to be reduced by selective felling and treatment of stumps and by felling of important seed producing trees.

The decline of grazing intensity on most of the Conservators' land over the last few decades has been accompanied by large scale invasion of grasslands by deciduous scrub which develops into high canopy woodland. Scrub invasion and woodland development has also occurred in areas dominated by bracken and western and European gorse. This is probably a consequence of the cessation of cutting of both bracken and gorse for stock bedding, which is unlikely to have been significant beyond the first few decades of this century. A variety of tree species occur in these secondary woodlands, including oak, ash, birch, rowan and sycamore. Rowan is the most frequent early coloniser of acid grassland on the hill tops.

Woodland management is not intensive, being restricted to tree maintenance for safety reasons and a limited amount of coppicing.

Other Uses of the Conservators' Land

The most significant use of the Conservators' land is for informal recreation, particularly walking. It is extensively used for a wide variety of informal recreational activities, such as walking, horse and mountain bike riding, jogging, canoeing and hang-gliding, and for some formal activities, such as cross-country running, football, charity walks, and orienteering competitions. Land Use Consultants (1980) estimated that 1.0 million people visit the land each year. The impact of these activities is relatively minor except where they are focussed on 'honey pot' sites (e.g. the ridge tracks, summit and access points); in these areas considerable problems are experienced through footpath erosion. It is difficult to estimate the rate of erosion because monitoring has not been done. Visitor pressure on the ridges of the hills has been increased as the woodlands have advanced up the slopes. The impact of the damage is thus most severe on the open acid grasslands of the hill top where the conservation interest is highest.

Shooting is not permitted on Conservators' land because of widespread public access. Fishing is restricted to Mill Pond at Hollybed Common. Fox hunting is permitted on Conservators' land.

Unlawful Use of the Land

Unlawful activities on the Conservators' land are not frequently encountered. The equivalent of one member of staff is devoted to litter picking and rubbish tipping episodes are limited to isolated occurrences. The bye-laws prohibiting galloping of horses are occasionally infringed. Unlawful parking is well-controlled. Some damage is experienced from 4-wheel drive vehicles and motor-bicycles. The experience of the invasion of Castlemorton Common by thousands of travellers is unlikely to be repeated since the statutes governing such activity have been changed.

Incidents of encroachment on to the Conservators' land are infrequent and rigorously dealt with.