Within the area proposed to be removed from Green Belt and under threat from the development plans is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, under Section 28 of the Wildlife an d Countryside Act, Culham Brake.
Description and Reasons for Notification
This small area of willow carr by the Thames contains one of the largest British populations of a Red Data Book species*, the summer snowflake Leucojum aestivum.
The wet clay soils and humid conditions within the willow thicket or withy bed support a lush fen carr flora in which well over a thousand clumps of summer snowflake occur.
The summer snowflake population appears to be thriving in the humid conditions provided at Culham Brake.
* The Red Data Book documents those species that are rare or threatened in Great Britain