Upham Meadow and Summer Leasow

Also within

Gloucestershire CountyWorcestershire County

Condition (Natural England)

Habitats

Fast flowing river and stream

Birds & fish recorded

Birds

Description

Description This site lies adjacent to the River Avon on the Gloucestershire, Hereford and Worcester border. Upham Meadow is managed as a hay meadow and the Summer Leasow is managed as pasture grassland which is subject to restricted common grazing rights. the semi improved neutral grassland is subject to annual winter flooding and is notified primarily for its breeding waders and over wintering populations of waders and wildfowl. The site also retains significant botanical interest. The relatively large size, high water table and lack of disturbance are important features of this site which supports nationally important numbers of breeding waders, with redshank Tringa totanus, curlew Numenius arquata and snipe Gallinago gallinago regularly breeding there. Lapwing Vanellus vanellus also breed regularly on the site. Ditches and wet areas provide suitable breeding habitat for reed warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus, sedge warbler A. schoenobaenus, reed bunting Emberiza schoeniclus and mallard Anas platyrhynchos. The site is also important for overwintering waders and wildfowl which use the site to feed and roost. It regularly supports large numbers of lapwing, dunlin Calidris alpina and up to 2000 golden plover Pluvialis apricaria. In some winters nationally important numbers of Bewick’s swan Cygnus columbianus use the site. Other species that are regularly present in winter, but in smaller numbers, are snipe, redshank and curlew. Although the site has undergone some agricultural improvements through the use of fertilisers and herbicides it still retains elements of a flora typical of wet neutral meadows. The site has one of the largest populations of the nationally scarce narrow leaved water dropwort Oenanthe silaifolia in Britain. Other species include crested dog’s tail Cynosurus cristatus, meadow foxtail Alopecurus pratensis, meadow buttercup Ranunculus acris, great burnet Sanguisorba officinalis and meadow vetchling Lathyrus pratensis. The site also includes one of only three locations in Gloucestershire for the nationally scarce mousetail Myosurus minimus.

Species mentioned

Plant communities