Taking a walk down, or more accurately in, the River Cherwell during the Christmas holidays, I carefully picked my way across the mud and boot-deep floodwaters, gingerly crunching from icy tussock to frosted clumps.

My wintry trudge through the flood waters emphasised to me that the flooding of the Thames and Cherwell rivers in Oxford is the very reason we can enjoy these spaces for our summer walks and picnics. Without the Cherwell gently overlapping its banks every year, the walk from the city up-river to the ‘Vicky Arms’ in Marston would be an urban trek not a rural stroll.

If the Thames did not retake the floodplain each year, the land would have been built on, probably right up to the river. The city would have lost the green ‘V’ of meadows that ensures that none of us living in the city is more than a cycle ride from an open space filled with wildlife.

Centuries of traditional haymaking and grazing on meadows such as West Mead, Pixey Mead and Oxey Mead in Yarnton (just off the A40 west of Oxford) created habitats that encouraged a wealth of grasses, wildflowers, insects, birds and mammals.

Thankfully, these meadows were never cultivated or polluted with agrichemicals, which means they are very rare and important havens for those species so long associated with traditional farming practices. Sadly, lowland meadows in the UK have declined by over 90 per cent since the Second World War so that now only 7,300 hectares remain, some 600 of which are in Oxfordshire. Lowland hay meadows are particularly important, especially our local variety, characterised in summer by the burgundy-red flowers of great burnet and the fox-red mature flower spikes of meadow foxtail grass. These are the rarest type of lowland hay meadow, a habitat of international importance with only 1,500 hectares left in the whole of England.

Chimney Meadows on the River Thames in west Oxfordshire is one of England’s largest remaining areas of lowland meadow, containing a tremendous diversity of plant life which supports the bees and other insects that pollinate crops.

For the last ten years, the wildlife trust has managed Chimney Meadows National Nature Reserve, and thanks to the generosity of the trust’s members, the Heritage Lottery Fund and other donors, 200 hectares of adjacent land was bought in 2003.

This enabled extensive restoration to recreate great burnet and meadow foxtail hay meadows that would once have been so common in the area.

The success of the Chimney Meadows restoration project means that we can supply seed to neighbouring farmers so that they can restore their traditional meadows too. Together, we have recreated a new area of this habitat, equivalent to more than six per cent of England’s total, in just a few years.

Oxfordshire is really important for lowland meadows, and with help we can restore even more of this habitat around Oxford and the tributaries of the Upper Thames.

Can you give a helping hand for lowland meadows?

There are many groups like BBOWT looking after lowland meadows so that future generations can enjoy the wildflowers. One of the best ways of conserving this precious habitat is to join a community group such as the Friends of Chimney Meadows or Oxford Urban Wildlife Group www.ouwg.org.uk The Friends of Chimney Meadows run regular work parties on the nature reserve. There’s more information on the Chimney Meadow webpage at www.bbowt.org.uk To find out more about BBOWT’s nature reserves, volunteering and events, or about joining the trust, visit www.bbowt.org.uk or call 01865 775476.