Connecting Communities – Connecting Landscapes: Floodplain Meadow Creation

Catriona Bass has been managing, restoring and advising on floodplain meadows for over 25 years since she and her partner bought Long Mead, an Oxfordshire farm on the River Thames just outside Eynsham. Today Long Mead is also a Local Wildlife Site and combines a productive 10ha rare hay meadow, a Burnet floodplain meadow (of which only 4 square miles remain in the UK) with freshwater habitat, woodland and a traditional orchard.

In 2018 the couple set up the Long Mead Foundation’s Thames Valley Wildflower Meadow Restoration Project, working towards creating a connected floodplain meadow network along the Rivers Thames and Cherwell (in and upstream of Oxford). To date, the project has connected up over 250 hectares of ancient and restored meadow by creating meadows in the fields between them and was awarded the Oxford Climate Award for Biodiversity in 2025.

Catriona is also co-initiator of the Nature Recovery Network (www.nature-recovery-network.org) a bottom-up network of people for nature recovery that connects local enthusiasts with local experts. With the acquisition of 50 hectares of floodplain downstream of Swinford lock, the two projects have merged becoming the first community-driven landscape-scale nature recovery project in the county.

The project is also carrying out research with academic and other partners and Catriona is regularly called upon to advise local government, environmental NGOs and landowners on floodplain management.

Given the urgency of habitat restoration and flood management today, we are delighted that Catriona is joining us to share her expertise.