Fernbrae Meadows June 2019 JPEG Image Height 720px m186333

Fernbrae Meadows is a public greenspace in

South Lanarkshire South Lanarkshire (; ) is one of 32 unitary authorities of Scotland. It borders the south-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains some of Greater Glasgow's suburban towns, as well as many rural towns and villages. It also shares bor ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, located on high ground to the south of

Rutherglen Rutherglen (; , ) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having previously existed as a separate Lanarkshire burgh, in 1975 Rutherglen lo ...

, specifically directly south of the Fernhill neighbourhood. It is a local nature reserve. Metal_deer_sculpture_at_Fernbrae_Meadows

History

The park was created between 2015 and 2019, following the closure of Blairbeth Golf Course, which had operated there since 1956. It was named Fernbrae Meadows following consultation with the local community. The park lies adjacent to Cathkin Braes Country Park.The Cityford Burn
Rutherglen Heritage Society In 1854, journalist Hugh MacDonald published ''Rambles Round Glasgow'' in which he describes a visit to the area thus:

From Stonelaw to Cathkin the road gradually ascends through a delightful succession of gently swelling knolls and fields in a high state of cultivation, interspersed with clumps of wood and fine belts of planting, the haunts of numerous birds, and at this season of love ringing merrily with their sweetest melodies.

Archaeologists and antiquarians have drawn attention to the existence of prehistoric burial mounds and cairns in the surrounding area.

Biodiversity

The recent development of Fernbrae Meadows has created a number of habitats, including

wildflower A wildflower (or wild flower) is a flower that grows in the wild, rather than being intentionally seeded or planted. The term implies that the plant is neither a hybrid nor a selected cultivar that is any different from the native plant, eve ...

meadow,

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

s and marshy

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

. The grasslands contain

holcus lanatus ''Holcus lanatus'' is a perennial flowering plant in the grass family Poaceae. The specific epithet ' is Latin for 'woolly' which describes the plant's hairy texture. Common names include Yorkshire fog, tufted grass, and meadow soft grass. In Nor ...

rough meadow-grass ''Poa trivialis'' (rough bluegrass; ''UK:'' rough-stalked meadow-grass or rough meadow-grass), is a perennial plant regarded in the US as an ornamental plant. It is part of the grass family. Description It is very common in meadows and pasture ...

meadow foxtail ''Alopecurus pratensis'', known as the meadow foxtail or the field meadow foxtail, is a perennial grass belonging to the grass family (Poaceae). It is native to Europe and Asia. This common plant is found on grasslands, especially on neutral so ...

, bush vetch,

common hogweed ''Heracleum sphondylium'', commonly known as hogweed or common hogweed, is a herbaceous perennial plant in the carrot family Apiaceae, which includes fennel, cow parsley, ground elder and giant hogweed. It is native to most of Europe, western As ...

, sweet vernal-grass, meadow vetchling,

broad-leaved dock ''Rumex obtusifolius'', commonly known as bitter dock, broad-leaved dock, bluntleaf dock, dock leaf, dockens or butter dock, is a perennial plant in the family Polygonaceae. It is native to Europe, but is found on all temperate continents. It i ...

, field forget me not,

common sorrel Sorrel (''Rumex acetosa''), also called common sorrel or garden sorrel, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Polygonaceae. Other names for sorrel include spinach dock and narrow-leaved dock ("dock" being a common name for the genus ''Ru ...

and

bracken Bracken (''Pteridium'') is a genus of large, coarse ferns in the family (biology), family Dennstaedtiaceae. Ferns (Pteridophyta) are vascular plants that undergo alternation of generations, having both large plants that produce spores and small ...

. Wet areas contain meadowsweet, soft-rush,

marsh Thistle ''Cirsium palustre'', the marsh thistle or European swamp thistle, is a herbaceous biennial (or often perennial) flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. Description ''Cirsium palustre'' is a tall thistle which reaches up to in height. The s ...

, sharp-flowered Rush, common yellow sedge, oval sedge, marsh-bedstraw and

marsh marigold ''Caltha palustris'', known as marsh-marigold and kingcup, is a small to medium sized perennial herbaceous plant of the buttercup family, native to marshes, fens, ditches and wet woodland in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. It flowe ...

References

External links

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Friends of Fernbrae Meadows
on Facebook {{Areas of Rutherglen and Cambuslang Parks in South Lanarkshire 2019 establishments in Scotland Rutherglen Urban public parks in the United Kingdom Defunct golf clubs and courses Parks established in the 2010s