Grains o' th' Beck Meadows is a Site of Special Scientific Interest

Site of Special Scientific Interest

A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...

 in the Teesdale

Teesdale (district)

Teesdale was, from 1974 to 2009, a local government district in County Durham, England. Its council was based in Barnard Castle and it was named after the valley of the River Tees....

 district of south-west County Durham

County Durham

County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It consists of three traditionally-managed hay meadows in Upper Lunedale

Lunedale

Lunedale is a dale, or valley, of the east side of the Pennines in England, east of Middleton-in-Teesdale. Its principal villages are Grassholme, Thringarth and West Pasture. Lunedale is part of County Durham....

, on the north bank of the River Lune

River Lune

The River Lune is a river in Cumbria and Lancashire, England.It is formed at Wath, in the parish of Ravenstonedale, Cumbria, at the confluence of Sandwath Beck and Weasdale Beck...

, a little under 6 km upstream of the Selset Reservoir

Selset Reservoir

Selset Reservoir is a reservoir in County Durham, England. It is situated in the Lune Valley which is a side valley of the River Tees, about 5 miles west of Middleton-in-Teesdale. It supplies water for Teesdale and is owned by Northumbrian Water. It was built in 1960 and its main use is...

 dam. The site is enclosed by the Lune Forest

Lune Forest

Lune Forest is a Site of Special Scientific Interest covering an extensive area of moorland in the Teesdale district of west Durham, England. In the north, where it adjoins the Upper Teesdale and Appleby Fells SSSIs, it extends from Mickle Fell eastward almost as far as Harter Fell, above the...

 SSSI.

The site is important as preserving a rich assemblage of plant species, including some that are locally rare, in a habitat that is widely threatened by intensive agricultural practices.

Each of the fields includes areas that are regularly cut for hay, steep banks that are left uncut, and areas of impeded drainage, which together contain a diversity of species. Alpine bistort, Polygonum viviparum, which is rare in the Pennines

Pennines

The Pennines are a low-rising mountain range, separating the North West of England from Yorkshire and the North East.Often described as the "backbone of England", they form a more-or-less continuous range stretching from the Peak District in Derbyshire, around the northern and eastern edges of...

, is found on the steep banks, and marsh-marigold, Caltha palustris

Caltha palustris

Caltha palustris is a herbaceous perennial plant of the buttercup family, native to marshes, fens, ditches and wet woodland in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere....

, is abundant in the wetter patches.