EVERY year we hear of a complaint or two about cattle grazing on the meadows adjacent to Clifton Ings.

While not everyone is delighted to see cattle grazing on Rawcliffe Meadows, they are natural, traditional and a necessity.

The site, although owned by the Environment Agency, receives no direct funding. Its sole source of management funding is from the Countryside Stewardship scheme operated by Natural England.

Neither Clifton Ings nor Rawcliffe Meadows are public parks; they are the remnants of ancient flood meadows, which are an internationally rare resource containing certain uncommon plants. As flood meadows, they need to be managed in an appropriately agricultural manner.

One of the requirements placed on the site is that it is grazed following the hay being cut. An alternative would to be cut once or twice more, but this is neither affordable nor practical.

The process of cutting and grazing compensates in ecological terms for river residues deposited during flooding and keeps nutrient levels in balance to ensure a rich herb crop within the hay.

These flood meadows protect York in times of flood, which protects them from building development.

The site has now been proposed as a Site of Special Scientific Interest by Natural England on the basis of the rare grassland and the tansy beetle habitat.

Dr Mick Phythian, York Natural Environment Trust, Monkton Road, York.