Elmlea Meadows () is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in

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 1989.Natural England SSSI information on the citation
/ref> The site is listed in the 'Cotswold District' Local Plan 2001-2011 (on line) as a Key Wildlife Site (KWS).

Location

The site lies to the north-west of Cricklade near the county boundary, and consists of three meadows which have been managed for hay followed by grazing. The meadows overlie the

alluvium Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluv ...

and

gravel Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gravel is classifi ...

s of the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

floodplain.

Species

The grassland included meadow foxtail and great burnet and supports a rich flora. This is a nationally important meadow area, and supports the nationally rare

fritillary ''Fritillaria'' (fritillaries) is a genus of spring flowering herbaceous bulbous perennial plants in the lily family (Liliaceae). The type species, ''Fritillaria meleagris'', was first described in Europe in 1571, while other species from the ...

(''Fritillaria meleagris'') and the rare downy-fruited

sedge The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus ''Carex'' wit ...

(''Carex tomentose''). The population of fritillary is the largest reported in Gloucestershire. To the north of Cricklade, in the county of

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, is

North Meadow North Meadow, Cricklade () is a hay meadow near the town of Cricklade, in Wiltshire, England. It is 24.6 hectares in size. It is a traditionally managed lowland hay-meadow, or ''lammas land'', and is grazed ''in common'' between 12 August and 12 F ...

which is both an SSSI and a national nature reserve (NNR) which supports some 80% of the British population of fritillary. The small area of scrub on the site is dominated by

grey willow Grey willow or gray willow may refer to: *''Salix atrocinerea'', a species of willow native to Europe commonly called grey willow *''Salix cinerea'', a species of willow native to Europe and western Asia, also occasionally called grey sallow *''Sal ...

and crack willow and supports a large number of typical wetland species. It is the only known site for tufted-sedge (''

Carex elata ''Carex elata'', tufted sedge, is a species in the genus ''Carex'', native to all of Europe, the Atlas Mountains of Africa, Turkey, Iran and Central Asia. It prefers to grow with its roots in water. Its cultivar 'Aurea' has gained the Royal Horti ...

'') in Gloucestershire.

References

SSSI Source

Natural England SSSI information on the citation

Natural England SSSI information on the Elmlea Meadows units

External links

Natural England
(SSSI information) Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire Sites of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1989 Meadows in Gloucestershire {{England-SSSI-stub