Oxley Mead 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 ...

in the Oxley Park district of

Shenley Church End Shenley Church End is a village, district and wider civil parish in Milton Keynes England. Together with its neighbouring districts of Shenley Brook End, Shenley Wood and Shenley Lodge, the districts are collectively known as "The Shenleys". ...

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...

, (ceremonial)

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

. The site is an ancient hay meadow which has a nationally rare plant community, due to its traditional management, with a hay cut followed by cattle grazing, and no use of fertilisers or herbicides. A stream, which runs through the middle of the field, regularly floods. The main plants are herbs such as

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 ...

and meadow sweet, and grasses include

meadow foxtail ''Alopecurus pratensis'', known as the meadow foxtail or the field meadow foxtail, is a perennial grass belonging to the grass family (Poaceae). It is native to Europe and Asia. This common plant is found on grasslands, especially on neutral so ...

and

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 ...

. The meadow is surrounded by hedgerows which have a wide variety of trees and shrubs. There is access from the end of Raft Way.

References

{{coord, 52.0056, -0.8083, type:landmark_region:GB-BNE, display=title Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Buckinghamshire