Moorhouse and Cross Fell

Moorhouse and Cross Fell
Moorhouse and Cross Fell
	Summit of Cross Fell, with Great Dun Fell in the distance
	Site of Special Scientific Interest
Location	MAGiC MaP
Nearest town	Alston, Cumbria
Coordinates	54°43′N2°23′W / 54.717°N 2.383°W
Area	13,707 ha (52.92 sq mi)
Established	1951 / 1963
Governing body	Natural England
Website	Moorhouse and Cross Fell SSSI

Last updated July 04, 2024

Moorhouse and Cross Fell is a Site of Special Scientific Interest covering an extensive area of moorland in the Wear Valley district of west County Durham and the Eden district of Cumbria, England. It is contiguous with Upper Teesdale SSSI to the east and Appleby Fells SSSI to the south. The area covered extends roughly from an arc through the villages of Gamblesby, Leadgate and Garrigill southward as far as Milburn in the west and Cow Green Reservoir in the east. It includes the whole of Cross Fell, the summit of which, at 893 metres asl, is the highest point in the Pennines and in England outside the Lake District.

Ornithology

More than forty species of birds breed in the area, including several raptors — merlin, peregrine, common buzzard, common kestrel, short-eared owl —and waders — Eurasian golden plover, dunlin, common sandpiper, northern lapwing, Eurasian curlew, common redshank, and common snipe —whose survival is threatened; four (merlin, peregrine, golden plover and short-eared owl) are listed in Annex 1 of the European Commission's Birds Directive as requiring special protection and others (including lapwing and dunlin) are listed in the United Kingdom's Red Data Book (Birds).^[1]^[2]

Flora and fauna

The invertebrate fauna is best known from studies conducted over many years at the Moor House NNR.^[3] The area shares many characteristics with the Cairngorms region of Scotland but there are some notable rarities, including a rove beetle, Olophrum assimile , which is known from only one other locality in Britain, a carabid beetle, Nebria nivalis , which has not been found anywhere else in the North Pennines and is known elsewhere in Britain only from North Wales, the Cairngorms and Scafell Pike, and a leiodid beetle, Hydnobius spinipes , which is known from only four other localities in Britain. In all, some 27 endangered species and over 70 nationally scarce species have been recorded from the Moor House reserve.^[1]

Although the area has a variety of habitats, it is the montane vegetation that is particularly notable. The summit of Cross Fell is dominated by a heath in which the moss Racromitium lanuginosum is dominant and is the most extensive area of such heath in England. Other notable montane and sub-montane species include hair sedge, Carex capillaris , northern bedstraw, Galium boreale , mountain everlasting, Antennaria dioica , and alpine forget-me-not, Myosotis alpestris .^[1]

Geology

Within the site are five localities of geological interest, of which the following are particularly notable:^[1]

Knock Fell Caverns — situated at the head of Knock Ore Gill, this is the most extensive maze cave system in Britain.
Cross Fell — together with the Dun Fells and Knock Fell, this area is important both for its examples of periglacial landforms and because some periglacial processes are still active.

SSSI history

In 1975, Moor House NNR was the first site in Britain to be declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO.

Moorhouse and Cross Fell SSSI was created in 1990 as part of a substantial revision of existing SSSIs that had originally been notified under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. In the course of the revision, parts of the Cross Fell SSSI and Upper Teesdale and Appleby Fells SSSI were amalgamated with Moor House NNR to form the new Moorhouse and Cross Fell SSSI.

The site is within the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is one of a group of SSSIs underlying the North Pennines Moors Special Protection Area designated in 2001 under the European Union Birds Directive.^[4]

Related Research Articles

The North Pennines is the northernmost section of the Pennine range of hills which runs north–south through northern England. It lies between Carlisle to the west and Darlington to the east. It is bounded to the north by the Tyne Valley and to the south by the Stainmore Gap.

Teesdale is a dale, or valley, located principally in County Durham, North East England. It is one of the Durham Dales, which are themselves part of the North Pennines, the northernmost part of the Pennine uplands.

The West Pennine Moors is an area of the Pennines covering approximately 90 square miles (230 km²) of moorland and reservoirs in Lancashire and Greater Manchester, England. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Abernethy Forest is a remnant of the Caledonian Forest in Strathspey, in the Highland council area of Scotland. It lies within the Cairngorms National Park, close to the villages of Nethy Bridge, Boat of Garten, and Aviemore. The forest is an RSPB reserve, close to Loch Garten Osprey Centre, which is also owned by the RSPB. It is popular with walkers, as there are various trails throughout the reserve. The forest forms part of the wider Abernethy National Nature Reserve.

Catcott, Edington and Chilton Moors SSSI is a 1083 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Somerset, England notified in 1967. It is close to the villages of Edington and Catcott.

Curry and Hay Moors is a 472.8 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Somerset, notified in 1992.

The South Pennine Moors are areas of moorland in the South Pennines in northern England. The designation is applied to two different but overlapping areas, a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) covering a number of areas in West Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, Lancashire and Greater Manchester, and a much larger Special Area of Conservation (SAC) covering parts of Derbyshire, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, and small areas of Cheshire, Staffordshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and North Yorkshire.

Corrie Fee is a glacier-carved corrie situated at the head of Glen Clova in the Angus Glens of Scotland. It forms part of Corrie Fee National Nature Reserve (NNR), which is managed by NatureScot and lies within the Cairngorms National Park. The adjoining Corrie Sharroch and the slopes of Craig Rennet are also included in the NNR.

Bollihope, Pikestone, Eggleston and Woodland Fells is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in the Teesdale district of west County Durham, England. It covers a broad expanse of moorland to the north and east of Middleton-in-Teesdale.

Upper Teesdale is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in the west County Durham, England. It encompasses an extensive upland area that includes the headwaters of the River Tees and the surrounding catchment area upstream of the village of Langdon Beck.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hexhamshire Moors</span>

Hexhamshire Moors is a Site of Special Scientific Interest covering an extensive area of moorland in the Wear Valley district of north-west County Durham and the Tynedale district of south-west Northumberland, England.

Lune Forest is a Site of Special Scientific Interest covering an extensive area of moorland in the Teesdale district of west Durham, England. In the north, where it adjoins the Upper Teesdale and Appleby Fells SSSIs, it extends from Mickle Fell eastward almost as far as Harter Fell, above the hamlet of Thringarth. Its southern limit is marked by the River Balder, upstream from Balderhead Reservoir, where it shares a boundary with Cotherstone Moor SSSI to the south. Grains o' th' Beck Meadows and Close House Mine SSSIs are entirely surrounded by Lune Forest, but do not form part of it.

Appleby Fells is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in the Eden district of Cumbria, England, near Appleby-in-Westmorland. The area is approximately a triangle with a right angle in the North East at Cow Green Reservoir. It extends westwards to near Knock and southwards to near Helbeck. The area overlaps the North Pennines AONB. The fells rise steeply above the Eden Valley, the scarp slope being deeply dissected by streams. Natural England states that "the great importance of the area lies in its rich variety of habitats and associated plant and animal species" and that "geologically there are important exposures of the Great Whin Sill quartz dolerite". According to data from Natural England the condition of 93% of the SSSI is designated "Unfavourable Recovering" and less than 5% is "Favourable".

Muggleswick, Stanhope and Edmundbyers Commons and Blanchland Moor is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in County Durham and Northumberland, England. It consists of two separate areas, the larger—encompassing the upland areas of Muggleswick, Stanhope and Edmundbyers Commons—in the Derwentside and Wear Valley districts of north Durham, the smaller—Blanchland Moor—in the Tynedale district of south-west Northumberland.

Teesdale Allotments is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in the Teesdale district of County Durham, England. It consists of two large upland areas north of the Tees valley, one to the north and east of the village of Newbiggin, the other to the north-east of Middleton-in-Teesdale.

Moor House-Upper Teesdale National Nature Reserve covers 7,400 ha of the Pennine moors in the north of England. It straddles Cumbria and County Durham. It was designated a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 1976.

Upham Meadow and Summer Leasow is a 104.0-hectare (257-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest on the border between Gloucestershire and Herefordshire & Worcestershire, at Twyning and near Bredon, notified in 1991.

Allendale Moors is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Northumberland, England. The upland moorland ridge site is listed for its heath, flush and upland grassland which provide a habitat for a nationally important assemblage of moorland breeding birds.

Invereshie and Inshriach is a national nature reserve on the western flank of the Cairngorms in the Highland council area of Scotland. The reserve covers habitats at a range of different altitudes, ranging from Caledonian Forest beside the River Feshie in the west, via bog and open moorland, to an arctic-alpine environment on the Cairngorm plateau. The Munro summit of Sgòr Gaoith (1118 m) lies on the eastern boundary of the reserve. The forested areas of the reserve form part of an expanse of Caledonian pinewood that stretches from Glen Feshie to Abernethy, and which as a whole forms the largest single area of this habitat remaining in Scotland. The reserve is owned and managed jointly by NatureScot and Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS): NatureScot own the Invereshie portion of the reserve and FLS the Inshriach area.

References

1 2 3 4 5 "Moorhouse and Cross Fell : Reasons for SSSI status" (PDF). Natural England. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
↑ Eaton, M A; A F Brown; D G Noble; A J Musgrove; R Hearn; N J Aebischer; D W Gibbons; A Evans; R D Gregory (2009). "Birds of Conservation Concern 3: the population status of birds in the United Kingdom, Channel Islands and the Isle of Man". British Birds . 102: 296–341.
↑ Downie, I S; J C Coulson; L J Bauer; J E L Butterfield; L Davies; S A Goodyear (1994). "The invertebrate fauna of Cross Fell and Dun Fell summits". Vasculum. 79: 48–62.
↑ "Designated sites". English Nature.

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[SSSI_Citation-1] 1 2 3 4 5 "Moorhouse and Cross Fell : Reasons for SSSI status" (PDF). Natural England. Retrieved 1 April 2022.

[2] Eaton, M A; A F Brown; D G Noble; A J Musgrove; R Hearn; N J Aebischer; D W Gibbons; A Evans; R D Gregory (2009). "Birds of Conservation Concern 3: the population status of birds in the United Kingdom, Channel Islands and the Isle of Man". British Birds . 102: 296–341.

[3] Downie, I S; J C Coulson; L J Bauer; J E L Butterfield; L Davies; S A Goodyear (1994). "The invertebrate fauna of Cross Fell and Dun Fell summits". Vasculum. 79: 48–62.

[EN-4] "Designated sites". English Nature.

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