The high nature conservation value of these meadows stems from their species richness. In exceptional circumstances they can support up to 40 species of plant per square metre! The high floral diversity in turn leads to a high diversity of invertebrates and birds that are dependant upon them.
The presence of rare plants such as the snake’s head fritillary (now found on only a handful of sites in the UK) adds further to their value. Therefore they form the basis of a rich food web and a complex ecological system that is very hard to replace.
Their floodplain location and sensitivity to nutrient and water level changes in the wider catchment now makes them important early indicators of environmental change.
Many sites are ancient grasslands and have not been ploughed for many hundreds of years. Looking at historical records can tell us that the earliest record for hay making on Pixey Mead, near Oxford, dates as far back as 1142! Looking at the plants can tell us similar information. For example, sites in central and northern England with populations of wood anemone (Anemone nemorosa) may be many centuries old as this plant is unlikely to have survived any arable cultivations, due to its poor dispersal powers.
Meadows are a product of the rural agricultural system from which they evolved, so local communities were both dependant on the hay they produced, and essential in shaping the wildlife value of meadows. Community folklore, songs and rhymes have arisen out of the importance of meadows in the local community (Littleboy blue, come blow your horn, the cow’s in the meadow, the sheep’s in the corn for example). Those that remain today are small reminders of the rural heritage we all share, and the impact of that heritage on wildlife.
A number of threatened and rare plants also occur in Great Burnet hay meadows. Most well known is the snakeshead fritillary Fritillaria meleagris, a beautiful species found on a handful of meadows in Southern England.
The pre-1950 distribution of fritillary, a species found on species rich floodplain meadows in the Midlands and Southern England, reveals a 38% decrease in the number of 10km squares in which the species was recorded between 1930 and 1999.
Floodplain meadows can support a significant invertebrate interest, in part due to their varied hydrology, providing niches for specialist insects associated with both wet and dry grassland habitats. In addition, a variety of more widespread insects can maintain strong populations in the meadows, and consequently provide food for birds and other animals.
The flower-rich meadows that result from hay-cutting are an important nectar and pollen resource for flying insects. Other features often found as part of the meadow system, such as ditches, shallow water-filled depressions and seepages, each have their own specialist fauna.
Larger sites can support important populations of breeding wading birds such as snipe, and wintering wildfowl. Such grasslands can also provide important breeding sites for skylark and corn bunting, both of which have undergone a rapid decline over the last 25 years and are now species of conservation concern.
