Range Farm Fields

Range Farm Fields
Site of Special Scientific Interest
	Example – meadow vetchling (Lathyrus pratensis)
	Location within Gloucestershire
Location	Gloucestershire
Grid reference	SO850130
Coordinates	51°48′57″N 2°13′06″W / 51.815876°N 2.218278°W
Interest	Biological
Area	12.8 hectare
Notification	1996
	Natural England website

Range Farm Fields (grid reference SO850130) is a 12.8-hectare (32-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, near to Gloucester City, notified in 1996.^[1]^[2]

Location

The site lies in the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is in the Cotswold Hills Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA). The geology is from the Jurassic time period which means it includes Lias Clay, silt, limestone and old landslip. The fields face north-west and are on a slope. There are four separate pastures with hedgerows. There is a relatively small area of bracken and woodland and it includes flushes and scrub areas.^[1]

Habitat and flora

The site is a large flower-rich unimproved grassland area. Use and management has reduced the amount of this type of habitat nationally. The site is exceptional because of its size and the variations in the neutral grassland (acid to calcareous). Three grassland types are thus present – acidic, neutral and calcareous.^[1]

The unimproved grassland includes crested dog's-tail and common knapweed. There is heath-grass, meadow vetchling, lady's bedstraw. A large number of Cotswold sites was surveyed and Range Farm Fields was found to be the most diverse and to contain the three grassland types.^[1]

Herbs include oxeye daisy, devil's-bit scabious, yellow rattle and dyer's greenweed. One particular field has a large amount of great burnet. The latter is more common in flood meadows. Corky-fruited water-dropwort is also recorded.^[1]

Springs present encourage the species which flourish in such areas and these include sharp-flowered rush, marsh marigold, ragged robin, common spotted orchid and bird's-foot trefoil.^[1]

The site has significant wildlife value because of its many features such as mixed hedgerows, scrub and woodland as well as the grassland. Hedgerows are mainly hawthorn, bramble and field rose. The woodland is mainly ash and oak with a hazel understorey.^[1]

References

SSSI Source

External links

Natural England (SSSI information)

[NE_citation-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Natural England SSSI information on the citation

[2] Stroud District Local Plan, adopted November 2005, Appendix 6 ‘Sites of Nature Conservation Interest’ Archived 2012-06-06 at the Wayback Machine

[1]

[2]

v t e Biological Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire
Summarised data for all sites (biological and geological)
Ashleworth Ham Astridge Wood Badgeworth Barnsley Warren Barton Bushes Bigsweir Woods Blaisdon Hall Bourton Down Box Farm Meadows Boxwell Brassey Brooks Head Grove Buckshraft Mine & Bradley Railway Tunnel Bull Cross, The Frith and Juniper Hill Bushley Muzzard, Brimpsfield Caerwood and Ashberry Goose House Chaceley Meadow Clarke's Pool Meadow Cleeve Common Cockleford Marsh Collinpark Wood Coombe Hill Canal Coombe Hill Cotswold Commons and Beechwoods Cotswold Water Park Crickley Hill and Barrow Wake Daneway Banks Dean Hall Coach House & Cellar Devil's Chapel Scowles Dingle Wood Dixton Wood Dymock Woods Edge Common Elmlea Meadows Frampton Pools Highbury Wood Hobbs Quarry Hornsleasow Roughs Hucclecote Meadows Innsworth Meadow Juniper Hill, Edgeworth Kempley Daffodil Meadow Kingscote and Horsley Woods Lark Wood Leckhampton Hill and Charlton Kings Common Lineover Wood Lower Woods Lower Wye Gorge May Hill Midger Minchinhampton Common Nagshead Old Bow and Old Ham Mines Old River Severn, Upper Lode Pennsylvania Fields, Sedbury Poor's Allotment Puckham Woods Range Farm Fields River Wye Rodborough Common Rough Bank, Miserden Salmonsbury Meadows Selsley Common Severn Estuary Severn Ham, Tewkesbury Shorn Cliff and Caswell Woods Slade Brook Soudley Ponds Speech House Oaks Stenders Quarry Stinchcombe Hill Strawberry Banks Swanpool Wood and Furnace Grove Swift's Hill Sylvan House Barn The Hudnalls The Malvern Hills Tudor Farm Bank Turvey's Piece Upper Severn Estuary Upham Meadow and Summer Leasow Upper Wye Gorge Walmore Common Westbury Brook Ironstone Mine Whelford Meadow Wigpool Ironstone Mine Wildmoorway Meadows Winson Meadows Woodchester Park Workman's Wood Wotton Hill Yarley Meadows
Neighbouring areas Avon Herefordshire Oxfordshire Wiltshire Worcestershire

Site of Special Scientific Interest
Example – meadow vetchling (Lathyrus pratensis)
Location within Gloucestershire
Location	Gloucestershire
Grid reference	SO850130
Coordinates	51°48′57″N 2°13′06″W / 51.815876°N 2.218278°W / 51.815876; -2.218278
Interest	Biological
Area	12.8 hectare
Notification	1996
Natural England website