| Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
  Location within Somerset | |
| Area of Search | Somerset |
|---|---|
| Grid reference | ST333062 |
| Coordinates | 50°51′05″N2°56′56″W / 50.85145°N 2.94888°W Coordinates: 50°51′05″N2°56′56″W / 50.85145°N 2.94888°W |
| Interest | Biological |
| Area | 2.8 hectares (0.028 km2; 0.011 sq mi) |
| Notification | 1987 |
| Natural England website | |
Stowell Meadow (grid reference ST333062 ) is a 2.8 hectare (6.9 acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Tatworth in Somerset, notified in 1987.
The Ordnance Survey National Grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references used in Great Britain, distinct from latitude and longitude. It is often called British National Grid (BNG).
The hectare is an SI accepted metric system unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides, or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is about 0.405 hectare and one hectare contains about 2.47 acres.
Tatworth is a village 2 miles (3 km) south of Chard in the South Somerset district of the county of Somerset, England. It is part of the Tatworth and Forton civil parish and the electoral ward of the same name.
Stowell Meadow supports a nationally rare type of traditionally managed wet neutral grassland. Alder woodland and plant communities typical of marshy grassland are also present. 90 species of plant have been recorded to date, several of which have a local distribution in Somerset. A number of nationally scarce species of beetle have already been recorded. [1]
Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae); however, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) families can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica. Grasslands are found in most ecoregions of the Earth. For example, there are five terrestrial ecoregion classifications (subdivisions) of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome (ecosystem), which is one of eight terrestrial ecozones of the Earth's surface.
Alder is the common name of a genus of flowering plants (Alnus) belonging to the birch family Betulaceae. The genus comprises about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few species extending into Central America, as well as the northern and southern Andes.
