Projects Updates:

22/07/2009 08:45: Chimney Meadows

 
Species-rich floodplain grasslands have suffered a massive decline over the last sixty years almost entirely due to changing agricultural practices. But at Chimney Meadows, the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust’s largest nature reserve, SITA Trust is helping to turn back the clock.
 
A 70 hectare arable reversion project is recreating flower-filled meadows along this stretch of the Thames in West Oxfordshire. SITA Trust support of the hay cut has helped establish the floral communities of the adjacent National Nature Reserve from which they were seeded just five years ago.
 
SITA Trust’s funds are helping address the loss of wet grasslands too. Support for ditch management, the construction of sluices, scrapes and flood flow channels are restoring a more naturally functioning floodplain that’s better for wildlife. Curlew, lapwing, teal, wigeon and Pipistrelle bats are just some of species set to benefit.
 
BBOWT’s work at Chimney Meadows has a strong focus upon ‘evidence-based conservation’ with numerous research projects underway. A partnership with the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, for example, is investigating the site’s hydrology and informing the location and nature of new wetland features. Efforts which mean the benefit of SITA Trust’s support will spread well beyond the meandering reaches of the Upper Thames.