place

Southorpe Meadow

Sites of Special Scientific Interest in CambridgeshireWildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire reserves
Southorpe Meadow 2
Southorpe Meadow 2

Southorpe Meadow is a 2 hectares (4.9 acres) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Southorpe in Cambridgeshire. It is managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.This is one of the few surviving areas of neutral grassland in the county, where ridge and furrow from medieval ploughing can be seen. There is a rich variety of species, such as red fescue in drier areas, and salad burnet in damper ones.There is access from Main Street.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Southorpe Meadow (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Southorpe Meadow
Main Street,

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: Southorpe MeadowContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 52.615 ° E -0.402 °
placeShow on map

Address

Main Street

Main Street
PE9 3BX
England, United Kingdom
mapOpen on Google Maps

Southorpe Meadow 2
Southorpe Meadow 2
Share experience

Nearby Places

Barnack Hills & Holes National Nature Reserve
Barnack Hills & Holes National Nature Reserve

Barnack Hills & Holes is a 23.3-hectare (58-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Barnack in Cambridgeshire. It is also a national nature reserve. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I. In 2002 it was designated as a Special Area of Conservation, to protect the orchid-rich grassland as part of the Natura 2000 network of sites throughout the European Union.Arising from the rubble of a medieval quarry, the Hills and Holes is one of Britain’s most important wildlife sites. Covering an area of just 50 acres (22 ha), the grassy slopes are home to a profusion of wild flowers. This type of meadowland is now all too rare; half of the surviving limestone grassland in Cambridgeshire is found here. In 2002 it was designated as a Special Area of Conservation, to protect the orchid-rich grassland as part of the Natura 2000 network of sites throughout the European Union.The hummocky landscape was created by quarrying for limestone. Barnack stone, was a valuable building stone first exploited by the Romans over 1,500 years ago. Stone from Barnack was used to build Peterborough and Ely Cathedrals. By the year 1500 however, all the useful stone had been removed and the bare heaps of limestone rubble gradually became covered by the rich carpet of wild flowers that can be seen today. The limestone was originally formed in Jurassic times. It is made from the remains of billions of tiny sea-creatures which lived in a warm shallow sea that covered the area 150 million years ago.Barnack’s rich flora supports a wide variety of wildlife, especially insects, and a number of nationally scarce species are found. Limestone grasslands are traditionally grazed with sheep and at Barnack, grazing is carried out in autumn by up to 300 sheep. These remove the summer growth and build-up of leaves, stalks and grass tussocks that would otherwise die back to form a dead layer, or litter, on the ground. Without grazing, the build-up of coarse grasses and litter would rapidly choke the rarer lime-loving plants.