One of the reasons why some of us formed the Friends of Chorlton Meadows in the first place was because we wanted the 'Meadows' put back into 'Chorlton Meadows'. Note that the word 'Ees' in 'Chorlton Ees', 'Stretford Ees', 'Sale Ees' etc. is/was the local dialect word for flood meadow. Nevertheless, when the local authorities started the Mersey Valley project, back in the 1970s, they ignored all of that and proceeded as though the area was a blank space for arbitrarily planting arbitrary trees on - even though they should have known (or someone who did know should have told them) that 'unimproved' grassland is a much rarer habitat in Britain now than a few pointless tree plantations.
So that I could learn more about flood meadows I signed up for an organisation called, 'The Floodplain Meadows Partnership' who publish regular newsletters via the Internet.
The latest one: Issue No. 6, January 2011, is fascinating and contains information on flood meadows in Cambridgeshire, Oxforshire and South Yorkshire as well as an article about when to cut a meadow. You can read this newsletter at:
http://www.floodplainmeadows.org.uk/files/floodplain/Jan%202011%20hq.pdf
We're planning to look more closely at our remaining scraps of meadow (heavily damaged though they are) this year; details to follow.
Dave Bishop, January 2011
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