Crabtree Green Meadow

Also within

Powys County

Habitats

Fast flowing river and stream

Geology & landscape

Geological Feature: Floodplain · Geological Period: Silurian

Landscape processes: Fluvial

Description

Description Crabtree Green Meadow is of special interest for its neutral grassland vegetation, in particular, a scarce form of grassland associated with river flood-plains. The site is part of a highly disjunct chain of flood-plain meadows which extend from Clwyd to Gwent down the Marcher fringes of Wales. The fields are situated on alluvial soil, overlying Silurian shales, in the floodplain of the River Ithon, on the outskirts of Llandrindod Wells. They comprise a large traditionally managed hay field and a smaller area of adjoining pasture. The area is subject to occasional flooding by the river and contains damp hollows which may be the remains of former river channels. The scarce floodplain grassland type is distinguished by the high frequency of plants such as meadowsweet Filipendula ulmaria, great burnet Sanguisorba officinalis, meadow foxtail Alopecurus pratensis, cock’s foot Dactylis glomerata and intermediate lady’s-mantle Alchemilla xanthochlora. A wet hollow in this field is characterised by abundant meadow foxtail, meadowsweet and meadow cranesbill Geranium pratense, a scarce plant in Radnorshire. The rest of the site is occupied by a more widespread grassland type, which shares several similarities with the flood-meadow grassland type described above. Prominent in this vegetation are plants such as common bent Agrostis capillaris, sweet vernal-grass Anthoxanthum odoratum, red fescue Festuca rubra and crested dog’s-tail Cynosurus cristatus, along with intermediate lady’s mantle, common knapweed Centaurea nigra, rough hawkbit Leontodon hispidus and great burnet.

Species mentioned

Insects to look out for

These moths, butterflies and beetles are known to feed on plants recorded at this site, and carry a notable UK conservation status — but a host-plant being present doesn't mean the insect has actually been recorded here. Treat this as "worth watching for," not a confirmed sighting.

Host-plant data: Cook et al. (2025), Traits data for the butterflies and macro-moths of Great Britain and Ireland, 2024, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology / Butterfly Conservation; and Padovani et al. (2020), Database of Insects and their Food Plants (DBIF), UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (both Open Government Licence). Contains data supplied by UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology.

Plant communities