Misplaced Pages

Inkpen Crocus Fields

Site of Special Scientific Interest
Location within Berkshire
Location	Berkshire
Grid reference	SU 369 639
Coordinates	51°22′23″N 1°28′16″W / 51.373°N 1.471°W / 51.373; -1.471
Interest	Biological
Area	3.1 hectares (7.7 acres)
Notification	1986
Location map	Magic Map

Inkpen Crocus Fields is a 3.1-hectare (7.7-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Inkpen in Berkshire. It is managed by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust.

Geography

The field is old pasture which has not been ploughed or ‘improved’ with fertilisers. Cattle are used to graze the site in the summer and autumn to ensure coarse grasses don’t out-compete the flower-rich sward and orchids.

The crocus field slopes down to a spring-fed stream, then rises to become fine meadowland. Along the edge of the pasture an old hedgerow offers food and refuge to a host of birds.

History

Inkpen parish records have shown the crocuses have been there for at least 200 years. There is a local legend that 12th-century Crusaders brought the crocuses back from Europe as a source of saffron to flavour food.

In 1986 the site was designated a site of special scientific interest (SSSI). The site was created as a SSSI not for its crocuses, as they are non-native, but for its species-rich meadowland.

Fauna

The site has the following fauna:

Birds

• Dunnock
• Song thrush
• Eurasian blackcap
• Common chiffchaff
• Lesser whitethroat
• Willow warbler
• Northern lapwing

Mammals

• Dexter cattle

Invertebrates

• Bombus terrestris

Flora

The site has the following Flora:

• Crocus vernus
• Cynosurus cristatus
• Centaurea nigra
• Festuca rubra
• Lotus corniculatus
• Anthoxanthum odoratum
• Trifolium pratense
• Lathyrus pratensis
• Conopodium majus
• Ranunculus acris
• Leucanthemum vulgare
• Ajuga reptans
• Sorrel
• Danthonia decumbens
• Succisa pratensis
• Stachys officinalis
• Pedicularis sylvatica
• Ranunculus repens
• Caltha palustris
• Dactylorhiza fuchsii
• Lathyrus montanus
• Saxifraga granulata
• Ficaria verna
• Ranunculus flammula
• Primula vulgaris
• Cirsium palustre
• Juncus articulatus
• Juncus effusus
• Dactylis glomerata
• Holcus lanatus
• Deschampsia cespitosa
• Lolium perenne
• Galanthus nivalis

References

1. ^ "Designated Sites View: Inkpen Crocus Fields". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
2. "Map of Inkpen Crocus Fields". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
3. ^ "Inkpen Crocus Fields". Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
4. ^ "Inkpen Crocus Field in bloom | Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust". Bbowt.org.uk. 10 March 2014. Archived from the original on 14 February 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
5. ^ Gardens to Visit. "A spectacular 200-year-old mystery". Telegraph. Archived from the original on 14 February 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
6. ^ "Inkpen Crocus Fields citation" (PDF). Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
7. ^ "Inkpen – 7th March 2009 « Reading & District Natural History Society". Rdnhs.org.uk. Archived from the original on 14 February 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2017.

v t e Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Berkshire
Biological	Aldermaston Gravel Pits Ashridge Wood Avery's Pightle Bisham Woods Blackwater Valley Bowdown and Chamberhouse Woods Boxford Water Meadows Bray Meadows Bray Pennyroyal Field Briff Lane Meadows Broadmoor to Bagshot Woods and Heaths Catmore and Winterly Copses Chawridge Bourne Cleeve Hill Cock Marsh Combe Wood and Linkenholt Hanging Coombe Wood, Frilsham Croker's Hole Decoy Pit, Pools and Woods Easton Farm Meadow Enborne Copse Englemere Pond Freeman's Marsh Great Thrift Wood Greenham and Crookham Commons Heath Lake Hog's Hole Holies Down Inkpen and Walbury Hills Inkpen Common Inkpen Crocus Field Irish Hill Copse Kennet and Lambourn Floodplain Kennet Valley Alderwoods King's Copse Lardon Chase Lodge Wood and Sandford Mill Longmoor Bog Old Copse, Beenham Park Farm Down Redhill Wood River Kennet River Lambourn Sandhurst to Owlsmoor Bogs and Heaths Seven Barrows Snelsmore Common Stanford End Mill and River Loddon Streatley Warren Sulham and Tidmarsh Woods and Meadows Swinley Park and Brick Pits Thatcham Reed Beds Wasing Wood Ponds Wellington College Bog West Woodhay Down West's Meadow, Aldermaston Westfield Farm Chalk Bank White Shute Windsor Forest and Great Park Woolhampton Reed Bed Wraysbury and Hythe End Gravel Pits Wraysbury No 1 Gravel Pit Wykery Copse
Geological	Boxford Chalk Pit Brimpton Pit Cannoncourt Farm Pit Cold Ash Quarry Fognam Chalk Quarry Hamstead Marshall Pit Pincent's Kiln Winterbourne Chalk Pit

• Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Berkshire
• Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust