| Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
 | |
  Location within Somerset | |
| Area of Search | Somerset |
|---|---|
| Grid reference | ST404305 |
| Coordinates | 51°04′15″N2°51′07″W / 51.07072°N 2.85202°W Coordinates: 51°04′15″N2°51′07″W / 51.07072°N 2.85202°W |
| Interest | Biological |
| Area | 140.6 acres (0.569 km2; 0.2197 sq mi) |
| Notification | 1952 |
| Natural England website | |
Aller and Beer Woods (grid reference ST404305 ) is a 56.9 hectares (141 acres) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest. off the A372 Othery to Langport road near Aller in Somerset. It was notified in 1952.
The Ordnance Survey National Grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references used in Great Britain, distinct from latitude and longitude. It is often called British National Grid (BNG).
The parish and village of Othery, established in 1515, sits on a detached extension of Sowy island on the Somerset Levels. It is 7 miles (11 km) east of Bridgwater and 4 miles (6 km) north-west of Langport. It borders the hamlets and villages of Pathe, Burrowbridge, Middlezoy, Westonzoyland and Aller, which it meets at Beer Wall. The border with Burrowbridge was defined in 1985, reducing Othery to 553 ha. Many of these borders are defined by rhynes (ditches) and walls (embankments) created and rearranged, from the 13th century onwards, to drain and channel the waters of the River Cary and the River Parrett as they flooded the low-lying levels on their leisurely journey to the Bristol Channel.
Langport is a small town and civil parish in Somerset, England, 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Somerton in the South Somerset district. The parish has a population of 1,081. Langport is contiguous with Huish Episcopi, a separate parish that includes much of the town's outskirts.
This Somerset Wildlife Trust reserve, which is about 3.5 kilometres (2 mi) north-west of Langport and 11 kilometres (7 mi) south-east of Bridgwater, consists of large blocks of semi-natural ancient woodland along the west-facing slope of Aller Hill, overlooking King's Sedgemoor. The reserve is about 40 ha (99 acres) and the underlying geology of most of it is Lias limestone. Prior to the twentieth century it appears to have been managed for centuries as traditional coppice woodlandd. [1]
Somerset Wildlife Trust is a wildlife trust covering the county of Somerset, England.
Bridgwater is a large historic market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. Its population currently stands at around 35,886 as of 2011. Bridgwater is at the edge of the Somerset Levels, in level and well-wooded country. The town lies along both sides of the River Parrett, and has been a major in-land port and trading centre since the industrial revolution. Most of its industrial bases still stand today. Its larger neighbour Taunton, is linked to Bridgwater via a canal, the M5 motorway and the GWR railway line.
In the United Kingdom, an ancient woodland is a woodland that has existed continuously since 1600 or before in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Before those dates, planting of new woodland was uncommon, so a wood present in 1600 was likely to have developed naturally.
Aller and Beer Woods are outstanding examples of ancient, escarpment woodland managed in a traditional coppice-with-standards system. The woodland is a variant of the calcareous ash/Wych elm stand-type, with pedunculate oak (Quercus robur), and ash (Fraxinus excelsior) the dominant canopy trees throughout, and with scattered concentrations of Wych elm (Ulmus glabra). Ancient woodland indicators include small-leaved lime (Tilia cordata), and wild service tree (Sorbus torminalis), both of which are locally common. Plants of particular interest include bird's nest orchid (Neottia nidus-avis), greater butterfly orchid (Platanthera chlorantha) and the very rare Red Data Book species purple gromwell (Lithospermum purpurocaeruleum). [2]
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 600 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus, as well as in those of unrelated species such as Grevillea robusta and the Casuarinaceae (she-oaks). The genus Quercus is native to the Northern Hemisphere, and includes deciduous and evergreen species extending from cool temperate to tropical latitudes in the Americas, Asia, Europe, and North Africa. North America contains the largest number of oak species, with approximately 90 occurring in the United States, while Mexico has 160 species of which 109 are endemic. The second greatest center of oak diversity is China, which contains approximately 100 species.
Ulmus glabra, the wych elm, Scotch elm or Scots elm, has the widest range of the European elm species, from Ireland eastwards to the Urals, and from the Arctic Circle south to the mountains of the Peloponnese in Greece; it is also found in Iran. A large, deciduous tree, it is essentially a montane species, growing at elevations of up to 1500 m, preferring sites with moist soils and high humidity. The tree can form pure forests in Scandinavia and occurs as far north as latitude 67°N at Beiarn in Norway. Wych elm has also been successfully introduced to Narsarsuaq, near the southern tip of Greenland (61°N).
Tilia cordata is a species of Tilia native to much of Europe. It is found from Britain through central Fennoscandia, to central Russia, and south to central Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, the Caucasus, and western Asia. In the south of its range it is restricted to high elevations.
Nearby is the Aller Hill SSSI.
