Flood meadow

Pete and I are very busy writing up the surveys carried out for the John Clare Countryside partnership  - we have over thirty 'sites' though some have a lot more information than others.  I realised that I had no photos of a couple of flood meadows that had been surveyed for invertebrates but not plants (as there was already recent survey data for the latter) so we headed out there in bright sunshine to have a quick look. 

This site used to be a flower-rich flood meadow, included in the original 1970's Nature Conservation Review that listed all the best natural sites in the UK. Sadly, at some point after, it was agriculturally improved and lost much of its botanical interest. 

It's now owned and managed by the Nene Park Trust, who have recently restored overgrown ditches and graze it with Devon Red cattle. The flora is gradually responding, and there may be scope to enrich it further by importing green hay from an area of SSSI floodplain grassland not far downriver. It would be really great to see this area restored to some of its former glory.