The Biodiversity of Rawcliffe Meadows cover

[From the Introduction]

Despite the supposed protection SSSI status brings, much of the grassland will soon be destroyed or permanently damaged when the Environment Agency (EA) enlarges the flood bank running through the site. FoRM were unable to support a mitigation scheme based on the long-discredited notion that the Agency could dig up the meadow and ‘translocate’ it elsewhere. As a result, FoRM have made the decision to fold.

This report is a summary of the wildlife we have recorded over the past 30 years, generously assisted by numerous local, regional and national experts. It remains unclear why the EA accessed so little of this data when preparing their Environmental Impact Assessment, and we hope this publication will provide a more informed account of the site’s rich biodiversity.

The many naturalists who have provided records to FoRM over the years have done so to support the conservation of nature, so we ask that those involved in its destruction seek permission of individual recorders before making use of data contained here.

The PDF of the report may be download here The Biodiversity of Rawcliffe Meadows (92 pages, 6.2 Mb).

It is hoped to produce a very limited print edition in the near future for those who have been actively involved in the conservation.