Chaceley Meadow () is a

biological Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, notified in 1954 and renotified in 1993.Natural England SSSI information on the citation
/ref> It lies on the eastern edge of Chaceley village and is about half a mile west of the

River Severn , name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_c ...

. The site is listed in the ‘Tewkesbury Borough Local Plan to 2011’, adopted March 2006, Appendix 3 'Nature Conservation',' as a Key Wildlife Site (KWS). The site is owned (bought in 1994) and managed by the

Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust The Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust is the Gloucestershire local partner in a conservation network of 46 Wildlife Trusts. The Wildlife Trusts are local charities with the specific aim of protecting the United Kingdom's natural heritage. The Gl ...

. It is one of the county's finest unimproved

wet meadow A wet meadow is a type of wetland with soils that are saturated for part or all of the growing season. Debate exists whether a wet meadow is a type of marsh or a completely separate type of wetland. Wet prairies and wet savannas are hydrologically ...

s. Though it is some distance from the River Severn the meadow may flood in winter.Kelham, A, Sanderson, J, Doe, J, Edgeley-Smith, M, et al, 1979, 1990, 2002 editions, 'Nature Reserves of the Gloucestershire Trust for Nature Conservation/Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust'

Plants

A colourful variety of flowers may be seen throughout spring and summer. These include

cuckoo flower ''Cardamine pratensis'', the cuckoo flower, lady's smock, mayflower, or milkmaids, is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae. It is a perennial herb native throughout most of Europe and Western Asia. The specific name ''pratensis'' is Latin ...

, marsh-marigold,

great burnet ''Sanguisorba officinalis'', commonly known as great burnet, is a plant in the family Rosaceae, subfamily Rosoideae. It is native throughout the cooler regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, northern Asia, and northern North America. It ...

, meadowsweet,

common knapweed ''Centaurea nigra'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names lesser knapweed, common knapweed and black knapweed. A local vernacular name is hardheads. It is native to Europe but it is known on other ...

, meadow vetchling, marsh ragwort,

meadow buttercup ''Ranunculus acris'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Ranunculaceae, and is one of the more common buttercups across Europe and temperate Eurasia. Common names include meadow buttercup, tall buttercup, common buttercup and giant but ...

sorrel Sorrel (''Rumex acetosa''), also called common sorrel or garden sorrel, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Polygonaceae. Other names for sorrel include spinach dock and narrow-leaved dock ('dock' being a common name for the genus '' ...

ragged-robin ''Silene flos-cuculi'' (syn. ''Lychnis flos-cuculi''), commonly called ragged-robin, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Caryophyllaceae. This species is native to Europe and Asia, where it is found along roads and in wet meadows and p ...

, reed canary-grass,

sweet vernal-grass ''Anthoxanthum odoratum'', known as sweet vernal grass, is a short-lived perennial grass that is native to acidic grassland in Eurasia and northern Africa. It is grown as a lawn grass and a house plant, due to its sweet scent, and can also be f ...

and meadow brome. The wet conditions encourage many sedges including brown sedge, oval sedge, yellow sedge and

carnation sedge ''Carex panicea'', commonly known as carnation sedge, is a plant species in the sedge family, Cyperaceae. It is known as grass-like sedge and can be found in Northern and Western Europe, and also in north-eastern North America. The plant produ ...

. The slender spike-rush (''Eleocharis uniglumis'') grows in this meadow which is rare in Gloucestershire.

Surroundings

The meadow is surrounded by mature

hawthorn Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to: Plants * '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae * ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...

and

blackthorn ''Prunus spinosa'', called blackthorn or sloe, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae. The species is native to Europe, western Asia, and regionally in northwest Africa. It is locally naturalized in New Zealand, Tasmania, ...

hedge and includes old

white willow ''Salix alba'', the white willow, is a species of willow native to Europe and western and central Asia.Meikle, R. D. (1984). ''Willows and Poplars of Great Britain and Ireland''. BSBI Handbook No. 4. .Rushforth, K. (1999). ''Trees of Britain an ...

pollards. This habitat supports many birds, including

tawny owl The tawny owl (''Strix aluco''), also called the brown owl, is commonly found in woodlands across Europe to western Siberia, and has seven recognized subspecies. It is a stocky, medium-sized owl, whose underparts are pale with dark streaks, an ...

and turtle dove.

Conservation

The meadow is traditionally managed by a late summer hay cut, which allows wildflowers to set their seeds. There is then cattle grazing. The willow pollards are recut regularly to reduce the risk of splitting. There are earlier cuts every 3 years to help to increase the frequency of rarer species found in the field which include

yellow rattle ''Rhinanthus minor'', known as yellow rattle, is a herbaceous wildflower in the genus ''Rhinanthus'' in the family Orobanchaceae (the broomrapes). It has circumpolar distribution in Europe, Russia, western Asia, and northern North America. An an ...

bird's foot trefoil ''Lotus corniculatus'' is a flowering plant in the pea family Fabaceae, native to grasslands in temperate Eurasia and North Africa. Common names include common bird's-foot trefoil, eggs and bacon, birdsfoot deervetch, and just bird's-foot trefoi ...

and marsh bedstraw. This helps remove nutrients at the peak of the hay growing season.Natural England report on the unit status
/ref>

Publications

* Kelham, A, Sanderson, J, Doe, J, Edgeley-Smith, M, ''et al.'', 1979, 1990, 2002 editions, 'Nature Reserves of the Gloucestershire Trust for Nature Conservation/Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust'

References

SSSI source

Natural England SSSI information on the citation

Natural England SSSI information on the Chaceley Meadow unit

External links

Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust

Natural England
(SSSI information) {{SSSIs Gloucs biological Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire Sites of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1954 Nature reserves in Gloucestershire Meadows in Gloucestershire Borough of Tewkesbury