Broadmoor to Bagshot Woods and Heaths

Broadmoor to Bagshot Woods and Heaths
Site of Special Scientific Interest
	Track through Swinley Forest
	Location within Berkshire
Location	Berkshire; Surrey
Grid reference	SU 877 640
Coordinates	51°22′19″N0°44′29″W / 51.37190°N 0.74147°W Coordinates: 51°22′19″N0°44′29″W / 51.37190°N 0.74147°W
Interest	Biological
Area	1,696.3 hectares (4,192 acres)
Notification	2000
Location map	Magic Map

Last updated September 20, 2022

Broadmoor to Bagshot Woods and Heaths is a 1,696.3-hectare (4,192-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Berkshire and Surrey ^[1]^[2] that extend from a minority of the parish of Crowthorne including around Broadmoor Hospital in the west to Bagshot south-east, Bracknell north-east, and Sandhurst, south. It is part of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area.^[3] Two nature reserves which are managed by the Surrey Wildlife Trust are in the SSSI, Barossa nature reserve ^[4] and Poors Allotment.^[5] Broadmoor Bottom, which is part of Wildmoor Heath, also falls within the SSSI; this reserve is managed by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust.^[6]

Environment

This area has an extensive mosaic of broadleaved woodland, coniferous plantation, dry and wet heathland, valley mire, a series of base-poor ponds and a scarce breeding invertebrate assemblage (topsoil and plants). In particular, the heathland and coniferous plantation supports internationally important populations of woodlark, Eurasian nightjar and Dartford warbler, and have a nationally important dragonfly and damselfly population. The site includes the peatland valley bogs of Broadmoor Bottom and Wishmoor Bottom which form the most important remaining examples of this type of habitat in the region. The site encloses a variety of habitats, but especially some open heathland as well as forestry plantations. The underlying geology includes recent deposits such as the Barton sands, part of the Bagshot Formation with local gravel deposits. They form a well-drained subsoil, so the area is mainly dry. Pockets of clay near the surface result in relatively shallow, sheltered pools.

Adjoining forest and military use

The area is partly used by Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst and is partially within Swinley Forest, the main woodland of Bracknell Forest district.

Bird life

The mixture of open heathland, some valley bottom bogs and woodland provides habitats for heathland birds including the European stonechat Saxicola rubicola, common redstart Phoenicurus phoenicurus, and three particularly vulnerable species of bird, woodlark Lullula arborea, nightjar Caprimulgus europaeus and Dartford warbler Sylvia undata. The site also has a small breeding population of the hobby Falco subbuteo . Forestry management of the coniferous woodland, which includes rotational clearance and subsequent replanting, provides temporary areas of developing heathland. These areas, together with open storm damaged areas and the developing heathland alongside broad forest rides, are utilised as breeding habitat by woodlark, the Hobby (bird) and nightjar. They have expanded as Sitka spruce plantations have been cut down, such as in and around Caesar's Camp.

Archaeology

One feature of note within the area is an Iron Age hill fort called Caesar's Camp.^[2] It is one of the largest hillforts in the south of England, but has not been excavated systematically. Some of the coniferous woodland has been cleared from the site, enabling greater visibility of the massive earthworks of the ramparts. It has produced a few Iron Age coins. An important Roman road, the Devil's Highway (Roman Britain) also cuts across the woods and heathland from east to west, leading to the Roman town of Calleva Atrebatum. It is also linked to the Iron Age fort by a short road which cuts through a small Roman settlement known as Wickham Bushes. The site has produced random scatters of pottery, tiles, nails and brick, as well as Samian ware, suggesting it may have been a staging post on the road, but again, has never been excavated scientifically. There are also numerous redoubts made by soldiers practicing engineering skills during the Napoleonic wars.

Related Research Articles

Bracknell Forest is a unitary authority area in Berkshire, southern England. It covers the two towns of Bracknell and Sandhurst and the village of Crowthorne and also includes the areas of North Ascot, Warfield and Winkfield. The borough borders Wokingham and the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead in Berkshire, and also parts of Surrey and Hampshire.

Sandhurst is a town and civil parish in the Bracknell Forest borough in Berkshire, England. It is in the south eastern corner of Berkshire, and is situated 32 miles (51 km) west-southwest of central London, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) north west of Camberley and 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Bracknell. Sandhurst is known worldwide as the location of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Despite its close proximity to Camberley, Sandhurst is also home to a large and well-known out-of-town mercantile development. The site is named "The Meadows" and has a Tesco Extra hypermarket and a Marks & Spencer, two of the largest in the country. A large Next clothing and homeware store is open on the site of the old Homebase.

Chobham Common is a 655.7-hectare (1,620-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Chobham in Surrey. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I and a national nature reserve. It is part of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area and the Thursley, Ash, Pirbright and Chobham Special Area of Conservation. It contains three scheduled monuments. Most of the site is managed by the Surrey Wildlife Trust as the Chobham Common nature reserve, but the SSSI also includes a small private reserve managed by the Trust, Gracious Pond.

Holt Heath is a 4.88 square kilometres (1.88 sq mi) common situated four miles north-east of Wimborne Minster in east Dorset, southern England, close to the village of Holt. The reserve includes dry and wet heathland, bog and ancient woodland. The common has several nature conservation designations: national nature reserve, Special Protection Area, Special Area of Conservation and Site of Special Scientific Interest. It is owned by the National Trust and managed in association with Natural England. The heath is one of the few places where all six native British reptile species occur, and it also supports many other heathland animals, plants and birds. Rare heathland birds such as Eurasian Hobby, nightjar, Dartford warbler and woodlark have been recorded as breeding on the reserve.

Barle Valley is a 1,540 acres (620 ha) Site of Special Scientific Interest within Exmoor National Park, situated in the counties of Devon and Somerset through which the River Barle flows. It was notified in its current form under the Wildlife and Countryside Act in 1988. The site includes the Somerset Wildlife Trust's Mounsey Wood Nature Reserve and the Knaplock and North Barton SSSI which has been notified since 1954.

Swinley Forest is a large expanse of Crown Estate woodland managed by Forestry England mainly within the civil parishes of Windlesham in Surrey and Winkfield and Crowthorne in Berkshire, England.

The River Bourne is the name given to a Thames tributary in northwest Surrey, England which has a longer tributary, the Windle Brook, that rises nears Bagshot Park in the south of Swinley Forest, Berkshire, merging with it while flowing through villages north of Woking; downstream the Bourne joins the Thames near Weybridge.

Ash to Brookwood Heaths is a 1,576.3-hectare (3,895-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest west of Guildford in Surrey. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I. It is part of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area and the Thursley, Ash, Pirbright and Chobham Special Area of Conservation. An area of 1,392 hectares is managed as a nature reserve by the Surrey Wildlife Trust.

Colony Bog and Bagshot Heath is a 1,130.5-hectare (2,794-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Camberley and Woking in Surrey, England. Part of it is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I. It is part of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area and the Thursley, Ash, Pirbright and Chobham Special Area of Conservation. It includes Brentmoor Heath, a Local Nature Reserve which is managed by the Surrey Wildlife Trust

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esher Commons</span> Several large wooded areas to the south-west of Esher

Esher Commons is a 360.1-hectare (890-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south-west of Esher in Surrey. It includes Esher Common, Fairmile Common, West End Common and Oxshott Heath. Esher Common and West End Common are Local Nature Reserves.

Thursley Common is a national nature reserve in Surrey, England, and has also been designated as a Ramsar wetland. It is also part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest called Thursley, Hankley and Frensham Commons.

Caesar's Camp is an Iron Age hill fort around 2400 years old. It is located just in Crowthorne civil parish to the south of Bracknell in the English county of Berkshire. It falls within the Windsor Forest and is well wooded, although parts of the fort have now been cleared of some trees. The area is managed by the Forestry Commission but owned by Crown Estate, and is open and accessible to the public. The hill fort covers an area of about 17.2 acres and is surrounded by a mile-long ditch, making it one of the largest in southern England.

Sandhurst to Owlsmoor Bogs and Heaths is an 85.8-hectare (212-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on the northern outskirts of Sandhurst in Berkshire. Part of the SSSI is Wildmoor Heath nature reserve, which is managed by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust. and the SSSI is part of Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area.

Decoy Pit, Pools and Woods is a 17.7-hectare (44-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south of Aldermaston in Berkshire. An area of 8 hectares is a nature reserve called Decoy Heath, which is managed by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust.

Blaxhall Common is a nature reserve in the parish of Blaxhall in the East Suffolk District of Suffolk. The reserve is owned by Blaxhall Parish Council and managed by Suffolk Wildlife Trust. It is designated a 45.9 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest as Blaxhall Heath. It is part of the Sandlings Special Protection Area under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds, and of the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. A Bronze Age bowl barrow is a Scheduled Monument.

The Thames Basin Heaths are a natural region in southern England in Berkshire, Hampshire and Surrey, a slightly mottled east-west belt of ecologically recognised and protected land.

Wildmoor Heath is a 91-hectare (220-acre) nature reserve south of Crowthorne in Berkshire. It is managed by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust. The reserve is part of two Sites of Special Scientific Interest: Wildmoor Heath itself is part of Sandhurst to Owlsmoor Bogs and Heaths and a separate area called Broadmoor Bottom is part of Broadmoor to Bagshot Woods and Heaths.

Brentmoor Heath is a 28.6-hectare (71-acre) Local Nature Reserve east of Camberley in Surrey. It is part of Brentmoor Heath and Folly Bog nature reserve, the ownership of which is divided between the Ministry of Defence, Surrey County Council and Surrey Heath Borough Council, and is managed by Surrey Wildlife Trust. The site is also part of Colony Bog and Bagshot Heath site of Special Scientific Interest, Thursley, Ash, Pirbright & Chobham Special Area of Conservation and Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area.

Barossa is a 498-hectare (1,230-acre) nature reserve north of Camberley in Surrey. It is owned by the Ministry of Defence and managed by the Surrey Wildlife Trust. It is part of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area and the Broadmoor to Bagshot Woods and Heaths Site of Special Scientific Interest

Poors Allotment is a 76-hectare (190-acre) nature reserve north of Camberley in Surrey. It is owned by Windlesham United Charities and managed by the Surrey Wildlife Trust. It is part of Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area and Broadmoor to Bagshot Woods and Heaths Site of Special Scientific Interest.

References

1 2 3 4 "Designated Sites View: Broadmoor to Bagshot Woods and Heaths". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
1 2 "Map of Broadmoor to Bagshot Woods and Heaths". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
↑ "Designated Sites View: Thames Basin Heaths". Special Protection Areas. Natural England. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
↑ "Barossa". Surrey Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
↑ "Poors Allotment". Surrey Wildlife Trust. Archived from the original on 24 October 2018. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
↑ "Wildmoor Heath". Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 9 November 2019.

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[dsv-1] 1 2 3 4 "Designated Sites View: Broadmoor to Bagshot Woods and Heaths". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 5 November 2018.

[map-2] 1 2 "Map of Broadmoor to Bagshot Woods and Heaths". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 5 November 2018.

[3] "Designated Sites View: Thames Basin Heaths". Special Protection Areas. Natural England. Retrieved 2 November 2018.

[4] "Barossa". Surrey Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 12 November 2018.

[5] "Poors Allotment". Surrey Wildlife Trust. Archived from the original on 24 October 2018. Retrieved 13 November 2018.

[6] "Wildmoor Heath". Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 9 November 2019.

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