Brown Moss is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, Local Nature Reserve and important wetland area rich in wildlife close to Whitchurch, Shropshire. It is open to visitors and contains a number of self-guided walking trails. The name 'moss' derives from the local word for a peat bog. [1]
Located within 2 miles (3 km) of Whitchurch and to the east of the A41, Brown Moss covers an area of 31 hectares (77 acres). It is thought that the area was used for peat cutting by the people of Whitchurch from the Middle Ages and it was considered to be an area of common land. Shropshire County Council bought the site in 1952 to maintain access for residents as a recreation site. [1]
Brown Moss became a Local Nature Reserve and countryside site in 2000. [2] [3] It is also a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a Special Area of Conservation and a Ramsar site – meaning it is wetland of international importance. [4] [5] [6]
The site is made up of marshes, pools, heathland and woodland habitats that support more than 200 species of rare plants such as floating water plantain. Wildlife recorded at the site includes common and great crested newt, great spotted woodpeckers and jays. [7] There are 30 species of breeding birds at the site and many visitors, including wetland birds, such as Canada goose, mallard and great crested grebe. [1] During the summer, froglets and dragonflies are found around water and woodland edges. [7]
Brown Moss is a flat site that was created at the end of the last ice age, over 10,000 years ago. [8] As glaciers retreated, pools were formed by the stranded ice rocks, forming kettle holes [8] Peat is still being created and Sphagnum moss – which is very important for the creation of peat – is found in abundance. [9]
This site contains a number of circular walks (including a family-friendly walk), but the area is often boggy so suitable footwear is recommended. [6]
The site is now threatened by a non-native invasive plant Crassula helmsii (New Zealand Pygmy Weed), which smothers other plants due to its fast growth rate. To limit the spread and protect the marsh habitats, visitors are asked to walk on designated paths and stay away from pool edges. [6]
The current habitat management regime involves removing scrub and young trees. Without this intervention, the area would transform into a dense scrubland losing the pools, and marshes that contribute to its importance as a wildlife site. [6] Shropshire Council is looking to introduce grazing as a way to manage the site. [6]
Risley Moss is an area of peat bog situated near Birchwood in Warrington, England. It is a country park, Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Local Nature Reserve. It covers an area of 210.5 acres (85.2 ha) and is one of the last remaining fragments of the raised bogs that once covered large areas of South Lancashire and North Cheshire.
Walmore Common is a 57.78-hectare (142.8-acre) nature reserve on the flood-plain of the River Severn, west of the city of Gloucester in England and north of the village of Chaxhill. It was notified as a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1966. The site is listed in the 'Forest of Dean Local Plan Review' as a Key Wildlife Site (KWS).
The Cotswold Water Park is the United Kingdom's largest marl lake system, straddling the Wiltshire–Gloucestershire border, northwest of Cricklade and south of Cirencester. There are 180 lakes, spread over 42 square miles (110 km2).
Fenn's, Whixall and Bettisfield Mosses National Nature Reserve is a national nature reserve (NNR) which straddles the border between England and Wales, near Whixall and Ellesmere in Shropshire, England and Bettisfield in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It comprises three peat bogs, Bettisfield Moss, Fenn's Moss and Whixall Moss. With Wem Moss and Cadney Moss, they are collectively a Site of Special Scientific Interest called The Fenn's, Whixall, Bettisfield, Wem & Cadney Moss Complex and form Britain's third-largest lowland raised bog, covering 2,388 acres (966 ha). The reserve is part of the Midland Meres and Mosses, an Important Plant Area which was declared a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention in 1997. It is also a European Special Area of Conservation.
Ballynahone Bog is a raised bog, situated in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, about 3 km south of Maghera, on low-lying ground immediately north of the Moyola River about 14 km from its mouth at Lough Neagh. It is one of the largest lowland raised bogs in Northern Ireland.
Ingrebourne Valley is a local nature reserve (LNR) in Hornchurch in the London Borough of Havering. It is owned and managed by Havering Council, and has a visitor centre managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust. Most of it is in Hornchurch Country Park west of the River Ingrebourne, but there are also areas north and south of the park which are part of the LNR. It has a wide range of habitats, including woodland, grassland, the river and marshes. It is an important site for a range of species of plants, animals and birds, including great crested newts, slow worms, the harvest mouse and the water vole.
Hothfield Common is a 56.5-hectare (140-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north-east of Ashford in Kent. It is also a Local Nature Reserve, and is part of the 86-hectare (210-acre) Hothfield Heathlands nature reserve owned by Ashford Borough Council and managed by Kent Wildlife Trust.
Cors Caron is a raised bog in Ceredigion, Wales. Cors is the Welsh word for "bog". Cors Caron covers an area of approximately 349 hectares. Cors Caron represents the most intact surviving example of a raised bog landscape in the United Kingdom. About 44 different species groups inhabit the area including various land and aquatic plants, fish, insects, crustaceans, lichen, fungi, terrestrial mammals and birds.
Sound Heath, also known as Sound Common, is an area of common land in Sound, near Nantwich in Cheshire, England, which includes heathland, grassland, scrub, woodland and wetland habitats. The majority of the area is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Local Nature Reserve.
Quoisley Meres refers to two meres, Quoisley Big Mere and Quoisley Little Mere, near the village of Marbury, in Cheshire, England.
Danes Moss Nature Reserve is a 13.4-hectare (33-acre) nature reserve south of Macclesfield, Cheshire, England. A Site of Special Scientific Interest, it is managed by the Cheshire Wildlife Trust.
Barnby Broad and Marshes is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in the Waveney district of the English county of Suffolk. The site is 189.6 hectares in size. It is in the parishes of North Cove and Barnby, located between Beccles and Lowestoft in the north of the county. The site is bordered on its southern edge by the East Suffolk railway line and to the north by the River Waveney. It is a Special Area of Conservation, a Special Protection Area under the EC Birds Directive, and a Ramsar internationally important wetland site. There are two Suffolk Wildlife Trust nature reserves in the site, Castle Marshes and North Cove.
Roydon Common is a 194.9-hectare (482-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest east of King's Lynn in Norfolk. It is also a Grade I Nature Conservation Review site, a National Nature Reserve and a Ramsar site. It is part of the Roydon Common and Dersingham Bog Special Area of Conservation and Roydon Common and Grimston Warren nature reserve, which is managed by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust,
Colemere Countryside Site is a countryside heritage site. Due to its important conservation status it has two key designations being a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and an internationally important Ramsar wetland site. 3 miles (4.8 km) south-east of Ellesmere, Shropshire.
Hertford Heath nature reserve is a 28 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Hertford Heath in Hertfordshire. It is managed by the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust and the local planning authority is East Hertfordshire District Council.
Danbury Ridge Nature Reserves are a group of nature reserves totalling 101 hectares near Danbury in Essex, England. They are managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust, and most of them are in Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). Two areas, the Backwarden and Hitchcock's Meadow, are part of Danbury Common SSSI, and Woodham Walter Common, Birch Wood, Pheasanthouse Wood, Poors Piece, Scrubs Wood, and a small area in Pheasanthouse Farm, are part of Woodham Walter Common SSSI.
Blawhorn Moss is a raised bog located to the northwest of the village of Blackridge, about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) west of Armadale in the council area of West Lothian in central Scotland. It is the largest and least disturbed raised bog in the Lothians, and has been a National Nature Reserve since 1980. It is owned and managed by NatureScot, the public body responsible for Scotland's natural heritage.
Moine Mhòr encompasses a large area of raised bog in the Kilmartin Glen area of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. As well as raised bog there are areas of saltmarsh, brackish grassland, alder carr, fen and woodland, and the variety of habitats at Moine Mhòr provide important habitats for a variety of animal and plant species. The area was declared a national nature reserve (NNR) in 1987, and is now owned and managed by NatureScot. According to NatureScot lowland raised bogs like Moine Mhòr are some of the rarest and most threatened natural wildlife habitats in Europe, due to removal of peat, afforestation and reclamation of farmland.
Tadnoll and Winfrith Heath is a nature reserve of the Dorset Wildlife Trust, near the village of Winfrith Newburgh in Dorset, England. There is heathland and wetland in the reserve.