Upham Meadow and Summer Leasow () 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 ...

on the border between

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 ...

and

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthsh ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

, at Twyning and near Bredon, notified in 1991.Natural England SSSI information on the citation
/ref>Tewkesbury Borough Local Plan to 2011, adopted March 2006, Appendix 3 'Nature Conservation', Sites of Special Scientific Interest
/ref>

Location and habitat

The site is

common land Common land is land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person who has a ...

(open access). The Meadows lie next to the River Avon on the border between counties. Upham Meadow is managed for a hay crop. Summer Leasow has restricted common grazing rights and is pasture. This land, which is semi-improved neutral grassland, is flooded in the winter. Thus the site is significant for its over-wintering waders and wildfowl, and breeding waders. This is a relatively large area, with a high water table and there is minimum disturbance. There are ditches and wet areas generally. The photographs in the gallery below provide narrative on the use and rights.

Flora

The site supports grasses and herbs which are typical of wet neutral meadows. Species include narrow-leaved water-dropwort ('' Oenanthe silaifolia''), which is one of the largest populations in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

. There is crested dog's tail,

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 ...

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 ...

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 vetchling. The national scarce mousetail is recorded for this site (one of three locations in Gloucestershire).

Birds

The site supports nationally significant numbers of breeding and over-wintering birds. Breeding birds include redshank,

curlew The curlews () are a group of nine species of birds in the genus ''Numenius'', characterised by their long, slender, downcurved bills and mottled brown plumage. The English name is imitative of the Eurasian curlew's call, but may have been in ...

snipe A snipe is any of about 26 wading bird species in three genera in the family Scolopacidae. They are characterized by a very long, slender bill, eyes placed high on the head, and cryptic/ camouflaging plumage. The ''Gallinago'' snipes have a ...

and

lapwing Lapwings (subfamily Vanellinae) are any of various ground-nesting birds (family Charadriidae) akin to plovers and dotterels. They range from in length, and are noted for their slow, irregular wingbeats in flight and a shrill, wailing cry. A gro ...

. The wet areas and ditches support

reed warbler The ''Acrocephalus'' warblers are small, insectivorous passerine birds belonging to the genus ''Acrocephalus''. Formerly in the paraphyletic Old World warbler assemblage, they are now separated as the namesake of the marsh and tree warbler f ...

sedge warbler The sedge warbler (''Acrocephalus schoenobaenus'') is an Old World warbler in the genus '' Acrocephalus''. It is a medium-sized warbler with a brown, streaked back and wings and a distinct pale supercilium. Sedge warblers are migratory, crossing ...

reed bunting The common reed bunting (''Emberiza schoeniclus'') is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, a group now separated by most modern authors from the finches, Fringillidae. The genus name ''Emberiza'' is from Old German ''Embritz'', a ...

and mallard. Over-wintering sees the site used for feeding and roosting by large numbers of lapwing,

dunlin The dunlin (''Calidris alpina'') is a small wader, formerly sometimes separated with the other "stints" in the genus ''Erolia''. The English name is a dialect form of "dunling", first recorded in 1531–1532. It derives from ''dun'', "dull brown ...

, and

golden plover '' Pluvialis '' is a genus of plovers, a group of wading birds comprising four species that breed in the temperate or Arctic Northern Hemisphere. In breeding plumage, they all have largely black underparts, and golden or silvery upperparts. The ...

. Recorded counts for golden plover indicate over two thousand. Recordings also show use by

Bewick's swan The tundra swan (''Cygnus columbianus'') is a small swan of the Holarctic. The two taxa within it are usually regarded as conspecific, but are also sometimes split into two species: Bewick's swan (''Cygnus bewickii'') of the Palaearctic and the w ...

in significant numbers. snipe, redshank and curlew over-winter at the site.

References

SSSI source

Natural England SSSI information on the citation

Natural England SSSI information on the Upham Meadow And Summer Leasow units

External links

Natural England
(SSSI information) Image:Twyning Meadow - geograph.org.uk - 899047.jpg, Upham Meadow and narrative Image:Hay making in Twyning Meadow - geograph.org.uk - 899089.jpg, Upham Meadow and narrative Image:Entrance to Twyning Meadow - geograph.org.uk - 895025.jpg, Upham Meadow – entrance Image:Entrance to the Summer Leasow - geograph.org.uk - 295295.jpg, Summer Leasow {{SSSIs Gloucs biological Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire Sites of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1991 Meadows in Gloucestershire