Houghton Meadows

Houghton Meadow
Site of Special Scientific Interest
LocationCambridgeshire
Grid referenceTL 293 716[1]
InterestBiological
Area4.7 hectares[1]
Notification1984[1]
Location mapMagic Map

Houghton Meadows is a 4.7-hectare (12-acre) 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 8-hectare (20-acre) 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

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d "Designated Sites View: Houghton Meadows". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  2. ^ "Map of Houghton Meadows". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  3. ^ a b "Houghton Meadows". Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  4. ^ "History of Houghton Meadows" (PDF). Huntingdonshire Fauna and Flora Society. 2008. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  5. ^ "Houghton Meadows citation" (PDF). Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2016.

52°19′37″N 0°06′14″W / 52.327°N 0.104°W / 52.327; -0.104