| Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
 | |
  Location within Somerset | |
| Area of Search | Avon |
|---|---|
| Grid reference | ST610562 |
| Coordinates | 51°18′13″N2°33′39″W / 51.30358°N 2.56083°W Coordinates: 51°18′13″N2°33′39″W / 51.30358°N 2.56083°W |
| Interest | Biological |
| Area | 9.8 hectares (0.098 km2; 0.038 sq mi) |
| Notification | 1987 |
| Natural England website | |
Long Dole Wood and Meadows SSSI (grid reference ST610562 ) is a 9.8 hectares (24 acres) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) between the villages of Farrington Gurney and Hinton Blewitt in Bath and North East Somerset, notified in 1987.
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).
Farrington Gurney is an English village and civil parish in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority, at the junction of the A37 and the A362 in Somerset. It has a population of 901.
Bath and North East Somerset is the district of the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset Council that was created on 1 April 1996 following the abolition of the county of Avon. It is part of the ceremonial county of Somerset.
The majority of the SSSI is made up of the Hollow Marsh nature reserve run by the Somerset Wildlife Trust which covers 7.9 hectares (20 acres). [1] The site was previously called Holly Marsh. [2] The meadows are summer grazed, [1] with a heath grass and sedge environment with orchids. [3]
Somerset Wildlife Trust is a wildlife trust covering the county of Somerset, England.
The site is situated on the flood plain of a valley formed by a tributary of the Cam Brook and support two neutral grassland communities with a restricted British distribution. Two ancient woodland sites are also present with ash, oak, hazel, wych elm and other tree varieties which show evidence of coppicing. [1] The ground flora includes Solomon's seal (Polygonatum multiflorum). [3]
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.
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.
The hazel (Corylus) is a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae, though some botanists split the hazels into a separate family Corylaceae. The fruit of the hazel is the hazelnut.
When the site was recorded as an SSSI it supported a strong breeding population of the marsh fritillary (Eurodryas aurinia), [3] however this declined in the late 20th century, and this species is no longer found at the site. [4]
The marsh fritillary is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. Commonly distributed in the Palearctic region, the marsh fritillary got its common name due to its habitat: marshy, damp wetlands and grasslands. The prolonged larval stage lasts for approximately seven to eight months and includes a period of hibernation over the winter. The larvae are dependent on the host food plant Succisa pratensis not only for feeding but also for hibernation, because silken webs are formed on the host plant as the gregarious larvae enter hibernation. Because female butterflies lay eggs in batches on the host plant, females are selective about the location of oviposition. The cost of laying the batches of eggs at an unfavorable location is high and extensive.
