Cut-throat Meadow
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A small meadow, pond and woodland strip on the edge of town offering visitors wild flowers, dragonflies and bird song |
This small remnant of a once much larger meadow, nestled on the edge of Ampthill, can still attract the eye of wildlife watchers. Meadow saxifrage flowers in the spring together with field woodrush. The latter is easily mistaken for grass, and is nicknamed Good Friday grass, because its flowering time is around Easter.
Later in the year lady's bedstraw flowers and the meadow is alive with the sight and sound of grasshoppers and bush crickets. The steep woodland slope overlooking the meadow is also rich in wildlife, with stately beech and Scot's pine towering over hawthorn, yew and hazel.
The nearby pond has steep grassy banks, leading down to emergent vegetation of reedmace and celery-leaved buttercup, providing resting places for hunting dragonflies and damselflies. Water boatman and pond skater can be seen on the water's surface.
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Plants: Meadow saxifrage, field woodrush |
Plants: Musk mallow, lady's bedstraw, here's-foot clover Insects: Broad-bodied chaser and emperor dragonflies, large red, common blue and blue-tailed damselflies |
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