Yarley Meadows

Yarley Meadows
Site of Special Scientific Interest
Example - Meadow Brown butterfly (Maniola jurtina) on Knapweed (Centaurea nigra)
Location within Gloucestershire
Area of Search	Gloucestershire
Grid reference	ST757888
Coordinates	51°35′53″N 2°21′05″W / 51.597967°N 2.351496°W / 51.597967; -2.351496Coordinates: 51°35′53″N 2°21′05″W / 51.597967°N 2.351496°W / 51.597967; -2.351496
Interest	Biological
Area	12.2 hectare
Notification	1987
Natural England website

Yarley Meadows (grid reference ST757888) is a 12.2-hectare (30-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified in 1987.^[1]^[2]

Location and habitat

The site, which consists of three fields, is in the south of Gloucestershire and is adjacent to Lower Woods which is also an SSSI. The meadows are unimproved neutral grassland. They are traditionally managed and support a diversity of species. Such grassland is now rare in the United Kingdom.^[1]

The meadows are on Jurassic and Cretaceous clays (Denchworth Series). They are water-logged in the winter months and poorly drained. Mature hedges surround and breakup the meadows and there are ponds in two fields.

Flora

The grass species include Crested Dog's-tail, Sweet Vernal-grass, Yorkshire Fog, Red Fescue and Quaking-grass. Sedge and Rush are in abundance in the wetter parts of the fields and include Glaucous Sedge, Hairy Sedge. Soft Rush and Hard Rush.^[1]

Herbs include Dyer's Greenweed, Saw-wort, Adder's-tongue, Common Knapweed, Betony and Pepper Saxifrage. Yellow-rattle, Common Spotted-orchid, Sneezewort, Cowslip and Hoary Plantain are also recorded.^[1]

Invertebrates

The meadows support large numbers of butterflies such as Meadow Brown and Gatekeeper.^[1]

References

SSSI Source

External links

Natural England (SSSI information)

Biological Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire

Summarised data for all sites (biological and geological)

Ashleworth Ham Astridge Wood Badgeworth Barnsley Warren Barton Bushes Bigsweir Woods Blaisdon Hall Bourton Down Box Farm Meadows Boxwell Brassey Brooks Head Grove Buckshraft Mine & Bradley Railway Tunnel Bull Cross, The Frith and Juniper Hill Bushley Muzzard, Brimpsfield Caerwood and Ashberry Goose House Chaceley Meadow Clarke's Pool Meadow Cleeve Common Cockleford Marsh Collinpark Wood Coombe Hill Canal Coombe Hill Cotswold Commons and Beechwoods Cotswold Water Park Crickley Hill and Barrow Wake Daneway Banks Dean Hall Coach House & Cellar Devil's Chapel Scowles Dingle Wood Dixton Wood Dymock Woods Edge Common Elmlea Meadows Frampton Pools Highbury Wood Hobbs Quarry Hornsleasow Roughs Hucclecote Meadows Innsworth Meadow Juniper Hill, Edgeworth Kempley Daffodil Meadow Kingscote and Horsley Woods Lark Wood Leckhampton Hill and Charlton Kings Common Lineover Wood Lower Woods Lower Wye Gorge May Hill Midger Minchinhampton Common Nagshead Old Bow and Old Ham Mines Old River Severn, Upper Lode Pennsylvania Fields, Sedbury Poor's Allotment Puckham Woods Range Farm Fields River Wye Rodborough Common Rough Bank, Miserden Salmonsbury Meadows Selsley Common Severn Estuary Severn Ham, Tewkesbury Shorn Cliff and Caswell Woods Slade Brook Soudley Ponds Speech House Oaks Stenders Quarry Stinchcombe Hill Strawberry Banks Swanpool Wood and Furnace Grove Swift's Hill Sylvan House Barn The Hudnalls The Malvern Hills Tudor Farm Bank Turvey's Piece Upper Severn Estuary Upham Meadow and Summer Leasow Upper Wye Gorge Walmore Common Westbury Brook Ironstone Mine Whelford Meadow Wigpool Ironstone Mine Wildmoorway Meadows Winson Meadows Woodchester Park Workman's Wood Wotton Hill Yarley Meadows

Neighbouring areas Avon Hereford and Worcester Oxfordshire Wiltshire

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