Habitat enhancement for Foster’s Green and Eades Meadow

Work is needed at Fosters Green Meadows, which is a National Nature Reserve (NNR) with over 180 species of plant recorded there, to improve the gateways between Eades meadow and Fosters Green. Over recent years the drainage system fell into disrepair (now rectified) which caused erosion around the old concrete bridge structure, which is impermeable to water. In periods of wet weather and through much of the winter water now backs up on either side of the structure here which leads to poaching by the cattle and compaction by the tractors and machinery used to take hay from the site. The more compaction there is the more the drainage is impaired. Left unchecked this area will spread out causing a loss of this important species rich grassland. Our project offers a low impact solution to the problem through the installation of a permeable bridge structure.