Cut-throat Meadow

About the reserve

Nestled on the edge of Ampthill, this small remnant of a once much larger meadow 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.   The map below is for indication purposes only and does not show the Wildlife Trusts definitive land boundary.