Morecambe Bay Pavements is a multi-site Special Area of Conservation comprising limestone pavements around Morecambe Bay in North-West England. It was designated in 2005 under the Habitats Directive. [1] The SAC does not include any marine areas; Morecambe Bay itself is a separate SAC, which was designated the same year.
A Special Area of Conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora. They are to protect the 220 habitats and approximately 1000 species listed in annex I and II of the directive which are considered to be of European interest following criteria given in the directive. They must be chosen from the Sites of Community Importance by the State Members and designated SAC by an act assuring the conservation measures of the natural habitat.
A limestone pavement is a natural karst landform consisting of a flat, incised surface of exposed limestone that resembles an artificial pavement. The term is mainly used in the UK and Ireland, where many of these landforms have developed distinctive surface patterning resembling paving blocks. Similar landforms in other parts of the world are known as alvars.
Morecambe Bay is a large estuary in northwest England, just to the south of the Lake District National Park. It is the largest expanse of intertidal mudflats and sand in the United Kingdom, covering a total area of 310 km2 (120 sq mi). In 1974, the second largest gas field in the UK was discovered 25 miles (40 km) west of Blackpool, with original reserves of over 7 trillion cubic feet (tcf). At its peak, 15% of Britain's gas supply came from the bay but production is now in decline. It also one of the homes of the high brown fritillary butterfly.
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The SAC is designated for its biological rather geological interest, but the areas protected, on the margins of Morecambe Bay, have in common that they feature faulted outcrops of Lower Carboniferous Limestone. The limestone tends to form hills as it is more resistant to erosion than other rocks in the area.
Carboniferous Limestone is a collective term for the succession of limestones occurring widely throughout Great Britain and Ireland that were deposited during the Dinantian Epoch of the Carboniferous Period. These rocks formed between 363 and 325 million years ago. Within England and Wales, the entire limestone succession, which includes subordinate mudstones and some thin sandstones, is known as the Carboniferous Limestone Supergroup.
There are separate WP articles describing the sites (which are in the counties of Cumbria and Lancashire):
Cumbria is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's county town is Carlisle, in the north of the county, and the only other major urban area is Barrow-in-Furness on the southwestern tip of the county.
Cunswick Scar is a limestone scar in the Lake District, England. There are extensive views from the large cairn at the top. The scar is listed in the Scout Scar chapter of Wainwright's The Outlying Fells of Lakeland.
Hutton Roof Crags is a hill in south-eastern Cumbria in north-west England, located near to the village of Hutton Roof. It has extensive areas of limestone pavement as well as grassland and woodland. The hill forms the Hutton Roof Crags Site of Special Scientific Interest and is part of the Morecambe Bay Pavements Special Area of Conservation. A significant proportion of the UK's 20 km² of limestone pavement is to be found on Hutton Roof Crags and the neighbouring Farleton Knott.
Scout Scar, also called Underbarrow Scar, is a hill in the English Lake District, west of Kendal, Cumbria and above the village of Underbarrow. It reaches 771 feet (235 m). Scout Scar is the subject of a chapter of Wainwright's book The Outlying Fells of Lakeland, but the summit he describes is a lower summit at 764 feet (233 m), 270m south of the highest point. Wainwright's anticlockwise recommended route also includes Cunswick Scar at 679 feet (207 m). The higher summit of Scout Scar has a topographic prominence of 109m and is thus classified as a HuMP, a hill with a prominence of at least 100m.
