Snake’s-head fritillaries on the rise

Karen Neville

An annual count of snake’s-head fritillaries at Iffley Meadows in Oxfordshire recorded nearly 30,000 flowers, a dramatic increase on last year’s total of just over 6,000

The Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) has held annual counts of snake’s-head fritillaries, Oxfordshire’s official county flower, at Iffley Meadows nature reserve since the early 1980s. The very first count recorded just 500 flowers, but careful management of the reserve has seen a peak of nearly 90,000 counted in 2015.

Numbers plummeted to a 30-year low in 2024 as prolonged flooding, heavy rain and high winds resulted in a devastating tally of 6,087 flowers.

Last week, dedicated volunteers once again joined apprehensive ecologists from BBOWT at Iffley Meadows, on the banks of the River Thames in Oxford, to meticulously count the wild flowers. Spirits lifted as it became clear that numbers were recovering, and the final total was 29,522 flowers, a nearly fivefold increase on the previous year.

BBOWT Senior Ecologist Colin Williams, who was in charge of the count, said: “We were encouraged by the final tally at this year’s fritillary count. While it remained well below previous peak records, it’s a vast improvement on last year’s disappointing result. Numbers will vary to an extent each year due to flooding over the previous 24 months, weather leading up to the flowering season, and the impact of browsing deer. However, increasingly unpredictable and extreme weather events as a result of climate change make it harder to anticipate what we will see in following years.”

Iffley Meadows is a floodplain meadow and one of fewer than 30 sites in the country where these striking flowers bloom in the wild.

Floodplain meadows are one of the rarest habitats in the UK and are vitally important for precious wildlife and climate change mitigation. They soak up and store carbon and help prevent flooding downstream. Yet they are disappearing fast, drained for industrial-scale farming or swallowed up by development or infrastructure projects.

BBOWT manages an incredible 10% of the remaining floodplain meadows in the UK, including Chimney Meadows near Bampton and Iffley Meadows which it manages on behalf of Oxford City Council. The Nature Recovery Fund, launched by the Trust in October 2023, aims to raise £3 million for vital conservation work which includes managing these vital habitats.

Mr Williams continued: “We were thrilled that donations to the Nature Recovery Fund recently passed our 25% milestone and are incredibly grateful to everyone who continues to support our work. In the face of unpredictable weather events, managing this reserve as a traditional hay meadow will provide wildlife on site with the best chance to recover and flourish. I’d like to add a huge thankyou to all the amazing volunteers who joined us to help with this year’s count – we simply couldn’t do it without you.”

To donate to BBOWT’s Nature Recovery Fund and support its vital work to restore nature across its three counties, visit bbowt.org.uk/SOS