The survey area was covered on foot, with the surveyor using professional experience to target locations most likely to support the expected notable species. Locations of notable plant species were recorded to 1-metre as 10-figure Ordnance Survey grid references. The presence of notable species was recorded using the DAFOR (Dominant, Abundant, Frequent, Occasional, Rare) Scale. To describe the sward in more detail the quadrat methods of the National Vegetation Classification (NVC) were used. This included two-metre square quadrats and the cover of each species was estimated using the Domin Scale.
The results showed that the survey area was mostly mesotrophic grasslands. Ten notable species were located including two Near Threatened (NT); Cynoglossum officinale and Puccinellia fasciculata and eight of lesser concern of threat on the England Red List.
The area of the survey with the greatest value was the southern parts of sub-compartments TFM6 and TFM7 where the ‘MG6a Lolium perenne-Cynosurus cristatus grassland, proposed Hordeum secalinum sub-community’ swards contain – in abundance – many of the characteristic grazing-marsh species. Other notable areas for grazing-marsh include the southern part of TFM13, a large part of TFM8 and the northern half of TFM13. All parts of TFM6, TFM7, TFM8 and TFM13 retain enough of their grazing-marsh character to be restorable under sensitive management.
All the survey sub-compartments have value for their large populations of typical grazing-marsh grassland species of modest note.