| Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
 | |
| Area of Search | Leicestershire |
|---|---|
| Grid reference | SK 531 125 [1] |
| Interest | Biological |
| Area | 1.3 hectares (3.2 acres) [1] |
| Notification | 2001 [1] |
| Location map | Magic Map |
Roecliffe Manor Lawns is a 1.3 hectares (3.2 acres) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south of Woodhouse Eaves in Leicestershire. [1] [2]
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".
Woodhouse Eaves is a village located on the side of Beacon Hill, in the Charnwood Forest area of Leicestershire, England. It has a mixture of small and large modern houses, although it is more dense in old houses, making it one of the most expensive villages in the county. At the 2011 census the population of around 1,300 was included in the civil parish of Woodhouse.
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warwickshire to the south-west, Staffordshire to the west, and Derbyshire to the north-west. The border with most of Warwickshire is Watling Street.
This grassland site on Precambrian rocks has a wide variety of fungi, including several species listed in the provisional Red Data Book of threatened species for fungi. There are many mushrooms of the genus Entoloma'. [3]
The Precambrian is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of the Phanerozoic eon, which is named after Cambria, the Latinised name for Wales, where rocks from this age were first studied. The Precambrian accounts for 88% of the Earth's geologic time.
Entoloma is a large genus of terrestrial pink-gilled mushrooms, with about 1000 species. They have a drab appearance, pink gills which are attached to the stem, a smooth thick cap, and angular spores. Most entolomas are saprobic but some are mycorrhizal. The best-known member of the genus is the livid agaric, responsible for a number of poisonings over the years in Europe and North America, and Entoloma rhodopolium in Japan. Some southern hemisphere species such as Entoloma rodwayi and Entoloma viridomarginatum from Australia, and Entoloma hochstetteri from New Zealand, are very colourful, with caps of unusual shades of green and blue-green. Most entolomas are dull shades of olive, brown, or grey.
The site is private land with no public access.
