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Queens Award for Voluntary Service

Carr House Meadow

Carr House Meadow is about 0.25 ha (approx. 1/2 acre) and if you start at Cromwell Road, it is on the right of the path opposite the Hay Meadow.

History

  • The name comes from the nearby Carr House Farm, where Robin Loxam who owns the White Park cattle lives.
  • His family had farmed the nature reserve fields for 5 generations until the Fairfield Association took over the lease in 2011

Since 2012

  • As with the larger Hay Meadow, opposite, we started a wildflower meadow by spreading “green hay” which contained yellow rattle, to weaken the dominant grasses.

Current Features

  • The sunny bank is good for wildflowers in the spring and summer.
  • We have planted a new hedge alongside the path. This will be kept low so as not to restrict the view of the meadow.

Maintenance

  •  As with the Hay Meadow, the cattle are kept out until late summer when the hay is cut or the meadow is “grazed off” and ragwort is dug out.

Future

  • We expect this to continue as a wildflower meadow.

Look out for

Blue meadow cranesbill in the summer

Photographic Survey

We maintain a record of how the various areas of Nature Reserve are progressing. Photographs have been taken on roughly 5 occasions each year: March, mid-May, late June, early August and late September. Click on an image to launch the survey photograph album.

Photographs launch in an album in Google Photos and should appear in date order in the album. To find out the date particular photos were taken, first select the photo and then select the ‘i’ icon (top-right of screen) to bring up its properties.

View08-Carr House Meadow Album
View 8: Carr House Meadow