The largest hay meadow in England...

A couple of days ago I mentioned that Chris and I had been surveying Portholme Meadow, which is situated in the floodplain of the River Great Ouse between Huntingdon and Godmanchester. Today was our final day of surveying and the weather excelled itself, providing a mix of sunshine, strong winds and the odd heavy shower.

Portholme is known as the largest hay-meadow in England, and when you're in the middle of it there's nowhere to shelter from the rain. We hunkered down in the grass to shelter from the wind and tried not to care as we gradually got soaked to the skin...

The very strong breeze that followed did help to dry us off, after chilling us to the marrow first! But somehow all these trials pale into significance when you're surrounded by such a large extent of species-rich unimproved neutral grassland, one of the most threatened habitats in the UK. Approximately 95% has been destroyed since the end of the Second World War.

In the best areas the sward has more than 90% wildflowers. In the photograph you can see great burnet, ox-eye daisy, common knapweed, common sorrel and yellow rattle surrounded by grasses including crested dog's-tail, meadow foxtail and sweet vernal grass - such lovely names!

However, Portholme wasn't always such a peaceful place. For centuries it was the site for the Huntingdon horse races. When it was first used for racing is not known, but Horace Walpole, writing in 1760, described the Huntingdon races as more than a local affair. They ranked with the Derby as one of the nation's fashionable events of the year. There were certainly grandstands and other infrastructure along the northern edge of the meadow.

In the early years of the nineteenth century Portholme was used for aviation. In those days the great problem for aviators in the country, trying to develop the practice of flying, was finding suitable grounds. Flat areas of sufficient size tend to be affected by high, unpredictable winds, or surrounded by hills - less than ideal terrain for fledgling fliers.

As a very extensive open flat area, within a flat landscape, Portholme was hugely attractive and was also accessible to the general public by train. Before the First World War there was a succession of flying events, fairs and spectaculars at Portholme. During the First World War Portholme was used by the Royal Flying Corps as a training station and even as late as the 1930s it was a venue for flying circuses.

This is probably better in large. Further images of Portholme can be seen
here.

PS The crow is still thriving - he's been named Russel!