Maulden Church Meadow Local Nature Reserve
Location: Access from the church car park at end of Church Lane, Maulden
Grid reference:TL 059381
Size: 4
Owner: Bedfordshire County Council (8.5 acres) Private owner (2 acres)

Much of the Meadow lies on boulder clay and here you find species characteristic of neutral soils such as black knapweed, ladies bedstraw, meadow saxifrage and crested dogstail.  To the south of the site, where the Lower Greensand outcrops, there is a change to more acid grassland where fine grasses, harebells, sheep sorrel, mouse-ear hawkweed and broom dominate.  Fine anthills produced by yellow meadow ants are scattered throughout the site.  The floristic richness of the Meadow is due to continual grazing over the centuries; this management continues today.
 

Of the three ponds on the meadow, only one is permanent, the others dry out during the summer.  A good range of aquatic and marsh plants are found associated with them.  The meadow is surrounded by thick hedges (that along the western boundary is the oldest), and this shelters helps encourage a range of butterflies, dragonflies and other invertebrates.