This riverside wildlife haven has been fenced to help protect the area from erosion and disturbance. Unlike the rest of Chesworth Farm, most of this stretch of land has never been used for crop farming. It was used as wet pasture, probably for hundreds of years. This type of habitat is very rare: over the last 100 years the UK has lost over 95% of flood plain meadow.
These fields help to prevent flooding further downstream and each day they are growing richer in creeping, flitting, wading, swimming, flowering and flourishing wildlife.
We hope that in the near future some of Britain’s rarer species will make their home here too. Lapwings, Snipe and Water Voles perhaps. If you would like to know more about the fields’ history and some more information about several of the interesting plants and animals that can be found here follow the links below.
Click on the links below for more details
Illustration by Helen Joubert Design and photograph by Steve Knight
Friends of Chesworth Farm 