The Sweet Briar Road Meadows, Norwich 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...

 SSSI located in the Wensum Valley

River Wensum

The River Wensum is a chalk fed river in Norfolk, England and a tributary of the River Yare despite being the larger of the two rivers. The complete river is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest and Special Area of Conservation ....

 within the boundary of Norwich

Norwich

Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...

 in the English

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...

 county of Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

. The site which was designated a SSSI in 1986 covers 23.55 acres (9.5 ha) is privately owned with no public access. But can be viewed from public paths which bound the site.

Description

Enveloped between Norwich's outer ring road, industrial land and lying in the floodplain

Floodplain

A floodplain, or flood plain, is a flat or nearly flat land adjacent a stream or river that stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls and experiences flooding during periods of high discharge...

 of the River Wensum the site acts as a 'green wedge' extending towards the city. The site consists of a series of unimproved wet meadow

Wet meadow

A wet meadow is a semi-wetland meadow which is saturated with water throughout much of the year. Wet meadows may occur because of poor drainage or the receipt of large amounts of water from rain or melted snow. They may also occur in riparian zones....

s with permanent water-logging

Waterlogging (agriculture)

Waterlogging refers to the saturation of soil with water. Soil may be regarded as waterlogged when the water table of the groundwater is too high to conveniently permit an anticipated activity, like agriculture....

 which support many plant species. Three principal grassland

Grassland

Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica...

 communities are present; damp neutral grassland, marshy grassland and areas of tall fen

Fen

A fen is a type of wetland fed by mineral-rich surface water or groundwater. Fens are characterised by their water chemistry, which is neutral or alkaline, with relatively high dissolved mineral levels but few other plant nutrients...

. A number of water-filled dykes bisect the site and attract large numbers of breeding amphibians in the spring months. Large flocks of redpoll

Redpoll

The Redpolls are a group of small passerine birds in the finch family Fringillidae which have characteristic red markings on their heads. They were formerly placed into the genus Acanthis together with the linnets and the twite, but their closest relatives are actually the crossbills, that are...

 and occasionally siskin

Siskin

-Birds:The name siskin when referring to a bird is derived from an adaptation of the German dialect words sisschen, zeischen, which are diminuative forms of Middle High German and Middle Low German words, which are themselves apparently of Slavic origin...

 feed on the alder

Alder

Alder is the common name of a genus of flowering plants belonging to the birch family . The genus comprises about 30 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, few reaching large size, distributed throughout the North Temperate Zone and in the Americas along the Andes southwards to...

 trees that fringe the meadows. Many other bird species including snipe

Snipe

A snipe is any of about 25 wading bird species in three genera in the family Scolopacidae. They are characterized by a very long, slender bill and crypsis plumage. The Gallinago snipes have a nearly worldwide distribution, the Lymnocryptes Jack Snipe is restricted to Asia and Europe and the...

 find the wet fields an ideal breeding habitat. The whole site is managed on traditional lines with light pony

Pony

A pony is a small horse . Depending on context, a pony may be a horse that is under an approximate or exact height at the withers, or a small horse with a specific conformation and temperament. There are many different breeds...

 grazing

Grazing

Grazing generally describes a type of feeding, in which a herbivore feeds on plants , and also on other multicellular autotrophs...

 without the use of artificial fertilizers and herbicides.

Location

Its western boundary is formed by the A140 outer ring road

A140 road

The A140 is an 'A-class' road in Norfolk and Suffolk, East Anglia, England partly following the route of the Roman Pye Road. It runs from the A14 near Needham Market to the A149 south of Cromer. It is of primary status for the entirety of its route. It is approximately 56 miles in length...

 Sweet Briar Road. The Railway Path NCR1 lies to the north and the Riverside Walk in the south. Mile Cross Marsh together with the adjacent Sycamore Crescent Wood are known collectively as the Wensum Local Nature Reserve

Wensum Local Nature Reserve

Wensum Local Nature Reserve is a Local Nature Reserve located in Norwich in the English county of Norfolk. The reserve consists of two sites; Mile Cross Marsh and Sycamore Crescent Wood which are linked by the Riverside Path a public footpath via the Sycamore Crecent footbridge-Location:*Sycamore...

form the eastern boundary.