Meadow

As some of London’s last remaining tracts of countryside, meadows make beautiful places for a spring or summer walk. The hedgerows, bright with spring blossom, provide excellent nesting and feeding sites for birds. Butterflies are abundant in summer when grasses and flowers bloom in the ancient hay meadows, while lush vegetation thrives in the ditches, providing shelter for amphibians.

What are meadows?
They are small, flower-rich, agricultural grassland that is not intensively managed. They are unimproved and largely consist of a mixture of grasses including wild varieties.

Whose habitat is it?
Among the most frequent grasses found in neutral meadows and pastures are Yorkshire Fog, smooth meadow grass, crested dog's tail, sweet vernal-grass, common bent and red fescue. Herbs include devil's bit scabious, pepper saxifrage, adder's tongue, ox-eye daisy, selfheal, black knapweed, bird's foot trefoil, meadow vetchling, clovers and buttercups. In the damper areas sneezewort, lady's smock, ragged robin, meadow sweet, yellow iris and kingcup can be found, as well as, very rarely, uncommon species such as narrow leaved water dropwort and slender tufted sedge.

Where can I see this habitat?
Dews Farm Sand Pits
Frays Farm Meadows
Frays Island and Mabey’s Meadow
Totteridge Fields
Yeading Brook Meadows