Houghton Meadows Explained

Houghton Meadow
Aos:Cambridgeshire
Interest:Biological
Area:4.7 hectares
Notifydate:1984
Map: Magic Map

Houghton Meadows is a 4.7hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) between Houghton and St Ives in Cambridgeshire.[1] [2] The SSSI covers three meadows south of Thicket Road; they are part of the 8hectare Houghton Meadows nature reserve, which is owned and managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire, and which also includes Browns Meadow to the south.[3] [4]

Some of these fields are pasture and others are hay meadows, and they display ridges and furrows from medieval ploughing. They are a type of neutral grassland which is declining nationally. Flowers include cowslips and yellow-rattles, and there are fauna such as green woodpeckers and great crested newts.[3] [5]

There is access from the Ouse Valley Way, which runs along Thicket Road.

References

52.327°N -0.104°W

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Designated Sites View: Houghton Meadows . Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. 11 December 2016.
  2. Web site: Map of Houghton Meadows. Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. 11 December 2016.
  3. Web site: Houghton Meadows . Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire . 11 December 2016.
  4. Web site: History of Houghton Meadows. Huntingdonshire Fauna and Flora Society. 2008. 11 December 2016.
  5. Web site: Houghton Meadows citation. Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. 11 December 2016. 24 October 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20121024195203/http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1002288.pdf. dead.