Houghton Meadows

Houghton Meadow

Site of Special Scientific Interest
Location	Cambridgeshire
Grid reference	TL 293 716[1]
Interest	Biological
Area	4.7 hectares[1]
Notification	1984[1]
Location map	Magic Map

Houghton Meadows is a 4.7-hectare (12-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) between Houghton and St Ives in Cambridgeshire.[1][2] The SSSI covers three meadows south of Thicket Road; they are part of the 8-hectare (20-acre) Houghton Meadows nature reserve, which is owned and managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire, and which also includes Browns Meadow to the south.[3][4]

Some of these fields are pasture and others are hay meadows, and they display ridges and furrows from medieval ploughing. They are a type of neutral grassland which is declining nationally. Flowers include cowslips and yellow-rattles, and there are fauna such as green woodpeckers and great crested newts.[3][5]

There is access from the Ouse Valley Way, which runs along Thicket Road.

References

1. "Designated Sites View: Houghton Meadows". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
2. "Map of Houghton Meadows". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
3. "Houghton Meadows". Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
4. "History of Houghton Meadows" (PDF). Huntingdonshire Fauna and Flora Society. 2008. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
5. "Houghton Meadows citation" (PDF). Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2016.

52.327°N 0.104°W / 52.327; -0.104