Hog's Hole

Last updated April 07, 2019

Hog's Hole is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) based in berkshire near Combe. It is within the North Wessex Downs.^[1]

A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man. SSSI/ASSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in the United Kingdom are based upon them, including national nature reserves, Ramsar sites, Special Protection Areas, and Special Areas of Conservation. The acronym "SSSI" is often pronounced "triple-S I".

Berkshire is one of the home counties in England. It was recognised by the Queen as the Royal County of Berkshire in 1957 because of the presence of Windsor Castle, and letters patent were issued in 1974. Berkshire is a county of historic origin, a ceremonial county and a non-metropolitan county without a county council. The county town is Reading.

Combe is a village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire. It is situated in the district of West Berkshire, on the top of the downs near Walbury Hill and Combe Gibbet, overlooking the village of Inkpen and the valley of the River Kennet. Historically part of Hampshire, Combe has been administered with Berkshire since 1895. It is in the civil parish olf West Woodhay.

Geography

Hog's hole has an area of 23.5 hectares (58 acres).^[2] The site is one of three nationally important chalk grassland sites that lie within the North Wessex Downs along with Rushmore and Conholt Downs (SSSI) and part of Inkpen and Walbury Hills (SSSI).^[1]

Walbury Hill is a hill in Berkshire, England. At 297 metres (974 ft) above sea level, it is the highest hill in Berkshire and the highest natural point in South East England, just 3 metres (10 ft) higher than Leith Hill in Surrey.

Hogs Hole consists of a dry valley, or combe, cut in the Middle and Upper Chalk. The steep east and west-facing valley sides support only thin rendzina soils, an unusual feature being lines of bare chalk and flint scree. The valley opens out in its southern part, the remainder of the site consisting of a moderately steep and undulating south-facing slope and a steep west-facing slope rising to a plateau area.^[2]

Rendzina is a soil type recognized in various soil classification systems, including those of Britain and Germany as well as some obsolete systems. They are humus-rich shallow soils that are usually formed from carbonate- or occasionally sulfate-rich parent material. Rendzina soils are often found in karst and mountainous regions.

History

The site has been predominately used for grazing sheep.^[2] In 1985 it was registered as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.^[2]

Fauna

The site has the following Fauna:^[2]

Birds

The willow warbler is a very common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe and Asia, from Ireland east to the Anadyr River basin in eastern Siberia. It is strongly migratory, with almost all of the population wintering in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The garden warbler is a common and widespread small bird that breeds in most of Europe and in western Asia. It is a plain, long-winged and long-tailed typical warbler with brown upperparts and dull white underparts; the sexes are similar and juveniles resemble the adults. Its two subspecies differ only slightly and interbreed where their ranges overlap. Due to its lack of distinguishing features, this species can be confused with a number of other unstreaked warblers. The garden warbler's rich melodic song is similar to that of the blackcap, its closest relative, which competes with it for territory when nesting in the same woodland.

The lesser whitethroat is a common and widespread typical warbler which breeds in temperate Europe, except the southwest, and in western and central Asia. This small passerine bird is strongly migratory, wintering in Africa just south of the Sahara, Arabia and India.

Flora

The site has the following Flora:^[2]

Trees

Crataegus, commonly called hawthorn, quickthorn, thornapple, May-tree, whitethorn, or hawberry, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, Asia and North America. The name "hawthorn" was originally applied to the species native to northern Europe, especially the common hawthorn C. monogyna, and the unmodified name is often so used in Britain and Ireland. The name is now also applied to the entire genus and to the related Asian genus Rhaphiolepis.

Sambucus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Adoxaceae. The various species are commonly called elder or elderberry. The genus was formerly placed in the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae, but was reclassified as Adoxaceae due to genetic and morphological comparisons to plants in the genus Adoxa.

Ligustrum vulgare is a species of Ligustrum native to central and southern Europe, north Africa and southwestern Asia, from Ireland and southwestern Sweden south to Morocco, and east to Poland and northwestern Iran.

Related Research Articles

The North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is located in the English counties of Berkshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. The name North Wessex Downs is not a traditional one, the area covered being better known by various overlapping local names, including the Berkshire Downs, the North Hampshire Downs, the White Horse Hills, the Lambourn Downs, the Marlborough Downs, the Vale of Pewsey and Savernake Forest.

Beacon Hill, Burghclere, Hampshire mountain in United Kingdom

Beacon Hill is near the village of Burghclere and Watership Down, in north Hampshire. The hill's name is derived from the fact that it was one of many Beacon Hills in England and beyond. This hill was once the site of the most famous beacon in Hampshire. It is 261 metres high and has one of England's most well known hill forts on its slopes, visible from the main A34 road which passes close by. From there, outstanding views of the surrounding area and much of Hampshire may be obtained. The site is open to the public and managed by Hampshire County Council. It is a site of special scientific interest and a national nature reserve.

Beacon Hill, Warnford, Hampshire is a chalk hill in the South Downs on the boundary of the parishes of Warnford and Exton. Part of the hill is a national nature reserve and 44.8 hectares biological SSSI, first notified in 1979.

Bratton Downs is a 395.8 hectare biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Wiltshire, near the villages of Bratton, Edington and Westbury. It was notified in 1971. The designated area consists mainly of chalk grassland, as well as some ancient woodland, and supports a diverse range of native flora and fauna. It overlays notable geological features—principally landforms created by glaciation in the Pleistocene.

Bowerchalke Downs, is a 128.6 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Wiltshire, notified in 1971. The downs encompass the entire southern outlook of the village of Bowerchalke in the Salisbury district of Wiltshire, England, and are adjacent to both the Hampshire and Dorset county boundaries. The Bowerchalke Downs are located within the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and are part of the Southern England Chalk Formation.

Pewsey Downs is a 305.3 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest on the southern edge of the Marlborough Downs north of Pewsey in Wiltshire, notified in 1951. It includes the Pewsey Downs National Nature Reserve.

Gallows Hill SSSI is a Site of Special Scientific Interest on the north side of the Ebble Valley in south Wiltshire. The area is chalk grassland and scrub which contains a number of animal and plant species that are nationally rare. The 27.8 hectares site was notified in 1965.

Tunstall Hills is an area of open space in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England. It is a Local Nature Reserve and Tunstall Hills And Ryhope Cutting has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest both for its geological and biological importance. The area consists of Green Hill and Rocky Hill and surrounding land.

Allolee to Walltown is the name given to a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Northumberland, England. The site, which follows the path of a section of Hadrian's Wall, is notable for an unusually wide range of grassland types growing on thin soil above the Whin Sill, a rock formation peculiar to the Northern Pennines.

Beltingham River Shingle is the name given to a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Northumberland in the north-east of England, notable for an unusual community of flora tolerant to the high levels of naturally occurring heavy metals in the sediment of a section of the River South Tyne.

Streatley Warren is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) based in Berkshire near Streatley. It is within the North Wessex Downs. The site is only available for public access from November to February to protect species that grow on this site.

Inkpen Crocus Fields is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) based in Berkshire near Inkpen. It is within the North Wessex Downs. The area is managed by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust. It is one of only two places in the UK containing wild Mediterranean crocuses. The site contains over 400,000 Wild Crocus.

Westfield Farm Chalk Bank is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) based in Berkshire near Eastbury. It is located within the North Wessex Downs.

White Shute is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) based in Berkshire near Eastbury. It is located within the North Wessex Downs.

Catmore and Winterly Copses is a site of Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). It is based near Kintbury in Berkshire. It is located within the North Wessex Downs.

Easton Farm Meadow is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) based in Berkshire near Westbrook. It is located within the North Wessex Downs.

Fognam Chalk Quarry is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) to the west of Upper Lambourn in Berkshire. It is located within the North Wessex Downs.

King's Copse is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in the extreme east of the civil parish of Bucklebury, between Chapel Row and Clay Hill, in the English county of Berkshire. It is located within the North Wessex Downs.

Combe Wood and Linkenholt Hanging is a site of Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). It is in between Combe in Berkshire and Linkenholt in Hampshire, England. It is located within the North Wessex Downs.

References

1 2 "LUC Standard Report Template-London" (PDF). Retrieved 2017-02-05.
1 2 3 4 5 6 "COUNTY:BERKSHIRE SITE NAME: HOGS HOLE" (PDF). Retrieved 2017-02-05.

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[nwdleaflet-1] 1 2 "LUC Standard Report Template-London" (PDF). Retrieved 2017-02-05.

[sssisubmission-2] 1 2 3 4 5 6 "COUNTY:BERKSHIRE SITE NAME: HOGS HOLE" (PDF). Retrieved 2017-02-05.