Buckshraft Mine & Bradley Hill Railway Tunnel

Buckshaft Mine & Bradley Hill Railway Tunnel
Site of Special Scientific Interest
	Location within Gloucestershire
Location	Gloucestershire
Grid reference	SO655121 and SO662104
Coordinates	51°48′25″N2°30′04″W / 51.806919°N 2.50106°W Coordinates: 51°48′25″N2°30′04″W / 51.806919°N 2.50106°W
Interest	Biological
Area	5.66 hectare
Notification	1998
	Natural England website

Last updated April 28, 2022

Buckshaft Mine & Bradley Hill Railway Tunnel ( SO655121 and SO662104 ) is a 5.66-hectare (14.0-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified in 1998.^[1] This site comprises two separate locations. One is Buckshaft Mine which is near the village of Ruspidge. The other location is Bradley Hill Railway Tunnel which is near the village of Soudley.^[2]

Location and habitat

The mine and railway tunnel comprise one of a series of Sites of Special Scientific Interest within the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley (Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire). These sites support (between them) breeding and hibernation roosts for Lesser and Greater horseshoe bats. This is of European importance. Other sites in the group in Gloucestershire (all of which are SSSIs) include the breeding sites of Blaisdon Hall, Caerwood And Ashberry Goose House, Dean Hall Coach House & Cellar and Sylvan House Barn. Hibernation sites include Devil's Chapel Scowles, Old Bow And Old Ham Mines, Westbury Brook Ironstone Mine and Wigpool Ironstone Mine.^[2]

The Buckshaft Mine and Bradley Railway Tunnel sites are mostly used by Greater Horseshoe bats, but a small number of Lesser Horseshoe bats also use the sites.^[2]

Greater horseshoe bats from the breeding roost at Woodchester Park hibernate at Buckshaft Mine which is at least 15 kilometres away.^[2]

The deciduous woodlands and sheltered valleys of the Forest of Dean and the Wye Valley provide a good feeding area, and the underground systems provide roosting and breeding sites. A ring of iron-ore bearing Carboniferous Limestone in the Forest of Dean has created a series of ancient and more recent mines which provide hibernation sites.^[2]

The citations for the series of sites provide common information.

Example - Lesser Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus hipposideros) Kleine Hufeisennase cropped.jpg — Example - Lesser Horseshoe Bat *(Rhinolophus hipposideros)*

Related Research Articles

Littledean Hall is a country house in the village of Littledean, Gloucestershire, England. It is has been described as one of the most haunted houses in England and is thought to be the oldest house in the United Kingdom which is still occupied. Saxon and Celtic remains have been uncovered in the cellars. Part of the house is designated an SSSI as it is a proven breeding roost for the Greater Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum).

Chilmark Quarries is a 9.65 hectare biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), in the ravine south of the village of Chilmark in Wiltshire, England.

Fonthill Grottoes is a 0.69 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, in woodland adjacent to Fonthill Lake in Wiltshire, notified in 1994. Its SSSI designation is due to its roosting bats: the site is the sixth largest hibernaculum in Britain.

Box Mine is a 56.6 ha biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, near the village of Box in Wiltshire, England, notified in 1991.

Old Iron Works, Mells is a 0.25 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, in the Wadbury Valley, south of the village of Mells in Somerset, notified in 1987. The site is a ruined iron works, which mainly produced agricultural edge-tools that were exported all over the world, and is now, in addition to its unique and major importance in relation to industrial archaeology, used as a breeding site by horseshoe bats. The block of buildings adjacent to the entrance is listed Grade II* and most of the rest of the site is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. It is included in the Heritage at Risk Register produced by English Heritage.

Winsley Mines is a 1.48 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, near the village of Winsley in Wiltshire, England, notified in 1989.

Sylvan House Barn is a 0.005-hectare (0.012-acre) stone built barn near the village of St Briavels, in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. Because of its breeding bats, the site was notified as a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1995.

Swanpool Wood and Furnace Grove is a 13.59-hectare (33.6-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, in Gloucestershire in South West England. The site is listed in the 'Forest of Dean Local Plan Review' as a Key Wildlife Site (KWS).

Lady Park Wood National Nature Reserve is a 45-hectare (110-acre) nature reserve straddling the borders of Gloucestershire in England and Monmouthshire in Wales. Most of the wood is in Wales – where it forms Wales' easternmost point – but it is managed under agreement with Natural England.

Upper Wye Gorge is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), noted for its biological and geological characteristics, around Symonds Yat in the Wye Valley on the Wales–England border. The site is listed in the 'Forest of Dean Local Plan Review' as a Key Wildlife Site (KWS).

Blaisdon Hall is a Grade II* listed building at Blaisdon. It includes a 0.07-hectare (0.17-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified in 1995.

Caerwood And Ashberry Goose House is a 0.01-hectare (0.025-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, England, notified in 1991. The site was previously notified as Caerwood, Tidenham and lies within the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Devil's Chapel Scowles is a 44.79-hectare (110.7-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified England, in 1998. The site lies in the Forest of Dean and has four units of assessment by Natural England.

Highbury Wood is a 50.74-hectare (125.4-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified in 1983.

Old Bow And Old Ham Mines is a 40.3-hectare (100-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified in 1998.

Shorn Cliff And Caswell Woods is a 69.2-hectare (171-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified in 1986. The site is listed in the 'Forest of Dean Local Plan Review' as a Key Wildlife Site (KWS).

The Hudnalls is a 94.4-hectare (233-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified in 1972. The site is listed in the 'Forest of Dean Local Plan Review' as a Key Wildlife Site (KWS).

Westbury Brook Ironstone Mine is a 15.69-hectare (38.8-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified in 1998.

Wigpool Ironstone Mine is a 34.88-hectare (86.2-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified in 1998.

References

SSSI Source

External links

Lesser horseshoe bat recorded on a heterodyne bat detector set to 107 kHz (0:08)

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Natural England (SSSI information)

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[1] Forest of Dean District Local Plan Review, adopted November 2005, Appendix D 'Nature Conservation Site Designations Within the Forest of Dean District', Sites of Special Scientific Interest Archived 29 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine

[NE_citation-2] 1 2 3 4 5 Natural England SSSI information on the citation

[1]

[2]

v t e Biological Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire
Summarised data for all sites (biological and geological)
Ashleworth Ham Astridge Wood Badgeworth Barnsley Warren Barton Bushes Bigsweir Woods Blaisdon Hall Bourton Down Box Farm Meadows Boxwell Brassey Brooks Head Grove Buckshraft Mine & Bradley Railway Tunnel Bull Cross, The Frith and Juniper Hill Bushley Muzzard, Brimpsfield Caerwood and Ashberry Goose House Chaceley Meadow Clarke's Pool Meadow Cleeve Common Cockleford Marsh Collinpark Wood Coombe Hill Canal Coombe Hill Cotswold Commons and Beechwoods Cotswold Water Park Crickley Hill and Barrow Wake Daneway Banks Dean Hall Coach House & Cellar Devil's Chapel Scowles Dingle Wood Dixton Wood Dymock Woods Edge Common Elmlea Meadows Frampton Pools Highbury Wood Hobbs Quarry Hornsleasow Roughs Hucclecote Meadows Innsworth Meadow Juniper Hill, Edgeworth Kempley Daffodil Meadow Kingscote and Horsley Woods Lark Wood Leckhampton Hill and Charlton Kings Common Lineover Wood Lower Woods Lower Wye Gorge May Hill Midger Minchinhampton Common Nagshead Old Bow and Old Ham Mines Old River Severn, Upper Lode Pennsylvania Fields, Sedbury Poor's Allotment Puckham Woods Range Farm Fields River Wye Rodborough Common Rough Bank, Miserden Salmonsbury Meadows Selsley Common Severn Estuary Severn Ham, Tewkesbury Shorn Cliff and Caswell Woods Slade Brook Soudley Ponds Speech House Oaks Stenders Quarry Stinchcombe Hill Strawberry Banks Swanpool Wood and Furnace Grove Swift's Hill Sylvan House Barn The Hudnalls The Malvern Hills Tudor Farm Bank Turvey's Piece Upper Severn Estuary Upham Meadow and Summer Leasow Upper Wye Gorge Walmore Common Westbury Brook Ironstone Mine Whelford Meadow Wigpool Ironstone Mine Wildmoorway Meadows Winson Meadows Woodchester Park Workman's Wood Wotton Hill Yarley Meadows
Neighbouring areas Avon Herefordshire Oxfordshire Wiltshire Worcestershire