Cut-throat Meadow

Cut-throat Meadow in bloom

Gwen Hitchcock

Cut-throat Meadow in bloom

Gwen Hitchcock

Cut throat meadow

Cut throat meadow

Cut-throat Meadow

Wildflower meadow with woodland strip and pond

Location

Eastern edge of
Ampthill
Bedfordshire
MK45 2XE
A static map of Cut-throat Meadow

Know before you go

Size
2 hectares
z

Entry fee

No
P

Parking information

Park on Ailesbury Road or Rushbrook Close

Grazing animals

No

Walking trails

Tarmac pavement around the pond, bare earth in woods and narrow rough paths in meadow

Access

Yes

Dogs

On a lead

When to visit

Opening times

Open at all times

Best time to visit

April to July

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.   

Additional information

  • Scroll down to see the reserve boundary. Please note the boundary map is for indication purposes only and does not show the Wildlife Trusts definitive land boundary. 

FOR ANY MEDIA ENQUIRIES PLEASE CONTACT OUR COMMUNICATIONS TEAM:   communicationsteam@wildlifebcn.org or 01954 713500 and ask for comms team.

Contact us

Contact number: 01234 364213

Environmental designation

County Wildlife Site

Location map

Betony at Upwood Meadows June  - c. Robert Enderby

Betony at Upwood Meadows June  - c. Robert Enderby

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