Eastoft Meadow

Also within

Lincolnshire County

Condition (Natural England)

Geology & landscape

Landscape processes: Fluvial

Description

Description Eastoft Meadow is a small herb rich hay meadow on shallow alluvial soil over lying Keuper Marl. The grassland is characterised by a mixture of red fescue Festuca rubra, sweet vernal grass Anthoxanthum odoratum and quaking grass Briza media with hairy oat grass Avenula pubescens, Yorkshire fog Holcus lanatus, meadow grass Poa pratensis and yellow oat grass Trisetum flavescens. The herb flora includes abundant great burnet Sanguisorba officinalis, oxeye daisy Leucanthemum vulgare, meadow sweet Filipendula ulmaria, betony Betonica officinalis and rough hawkbit Leontodon hispidus and, less commonly, pepper saxifrage Silaum silaus and saw wort Serratula tinctoria. Of particular note is the occurrence of green winged orchid Anacamptis morio, burnt tip orchid O. ustulata and adder's tongue fern Ophioglossum vulgatum, species which have declined markedly in eastern England with the ploughing out of old grasslands. The botanical interest of the site is dependent on the maintenance of traditional management by hay cropping without the addition of artificial fertilisers.

Species mentioned