Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
Area of Search | Somerset |
---|---|
Grid reference | ST370300 |
Coordinates | 51°03′57″N2°54′02″W / 51.06586°N 2.90046°W Coordinates: 51°03′57″N2°54′02″W / 51.06586°N 2.90046°W |
Interest | Biological |
Area | 196.1 hectares (1.961 km2; 0.757 sq mi) |
Notification | 1985 |
Natural England website |
Southlake Moor (grid reference ST370300 ) is a 196.1 hectare (484.6 acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Burrow Mump and Burrowbridge in Somerset, notified in 1985.
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).
The hectare is an SI accepted metric system unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides, or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is about 0.405 hectare and one hectare contains about 2.47 acres.
Burrow Mump is a hill and historic site overlooking Southlake Moor in the village of Burrowbridge within the English county of Somerset. It is a scheduled monument, with the ruined church on top of the hill a Grade II listed building.
Southlake Moor forms part of the extensive grazing marsh and ditch system of Somerset Levels and Moors. Southlake Moor is unusual in that, when conditions in the River Parrett are suitable, it may be deliberately flooded in winter by means of a sluice in the river floodbank. Some 96 species of aquatic and bankside vascular plant species have been recorded from Southlake Moor, of particular interest is the greater water-parsnip (Sium latifolium). When the moor is flooded, large numbers of wildfowl may be present; with up to 22,000 wigeon (Anas penelope), 250 Bewick's swan (Cygnus bewickii) and good numbers of pochard (Aythya ferina), teal (Anas crecca) and tufted duck (Aythya fuligula). Regular signs of the otter (Lutra lutra) are to be seen on the muddy banks of the River Parrett. The ditches on the east side of the site contain a population of the palmate newt (Triturus helveticus). [1]
The Somerset Levels are a coastal plain and wetland area of Somerset, England, running south from the Mendips to the Blackdown Hills.
The River Parrett flows through the counties of Dorset and Somerset in South West England, from its source in the Thorney Mills springs in the hills around Chedington in Dorset. Flowing northwest through Somerset and the Somerset Levels to its mouth at Burnham-on-Sea, into the Bridgwater Bay nature reserve on the Bristol Channel, the Parrett and its tributaries drain an area of 660 square miles (1,700 km2) – about 50 per cent of Somerset's land area, with a population of 300,000.
Sium latifolium is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae known by the common names great water-parsnip, greater water-parsnip, and wideleaf waterparsnip. It is native to much of Europe, Kazakhstan, and Siberia.
During 2009 and 2010 work was undertaken to upgrade sluice gates, watercourses and culverts to enable seasonal flooding during the winter diverting water from the Sowy River onto the moor. It has the capacity to hold 1.2 million cubic metres as part of a scheme by the Parrett Internal Drainage Board to restore ten floodplains in Somerset. In spring the water is drained away to enable the land to be used as pasture during the summer. [2] The scheme is also used to encourage water birds. [3]
The Sowy River is an artificial drainage channel in Somerset, England.
The River Huntspill is an artificial river, in the Somerset Levels, in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England. It was built in 1940 to supply process water to ROF Bridgwater, and has resulted in reduced flooding of the lower Brue Valley. Huntspill Sluice at the river's western end, also known as West Huntspill Sluice, separates it from the River Parrett.
The River Tone is a river in the English county of Somerset. The river is about 33 kilometres (21 mi) long. Its source is at Beverton Pond near Huish Champflower in the Brendon Hills, and is dammed at Clatworthy Reservoir. The reservoir outfall continues through Taunton and Curry and Hay Moors, which are designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Finally, it flows into the River Parrett at Burrowbridge.
The River Cary is a river in Somerset, England.
Northmoor Green is a village in south central Somerset, England, that is more commonly known as Moorland, and sometimes mistakenly called Fordgate even though it is a separate hamlet. These places being hamlets of Moorland in the civil parish of North Petherton.
The River Brue originates in the parish of Brewham in Somerset, England, and reaches the sea some 50 kilometres (31 mi) west at Burnham-on-Sea. It originally took a different route from Glastonbury to the sea, but this was changed by Glastonbury Abbey in the twelfth century. The river provides an important drainage route for water from a low-lying area which is prone to flooding which man has tried to manage through rhynes, canals, artificial rivers and sluices for centuries.
King's Sedgemoor Drain is an artificial drainage channel which diverts the River Cary in Somerset, England along the southern flank of the Polden Hills, to discharge into the River Parrett at Dunball near Bridgwater. As the name suggests, the channel is used to help drain the peat moors of King's Sedgemoor. There was opposition to drainage schemes from the local inhabitants, who feared that they would lose their common grazing rights. However, the main channel was constructed between 1791 and 1795, and despite some defects, brought some relief from flooding to the area.
The Westonzoyland Pumping Station Museum of Steam Power and Land Drainage is a small industrial heritage museum dedicated to steam powered machinery at Westonzoyland in the English county of Somerset. It is a Grade II* listed building.
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.
Langmead and Weston Level is a 168.8 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Somerset, notified in 1991.
Moorlinch is a 226.0 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest at Moorlinch in Somerset, notified in 1985.
Tealham and Tadham Moors is a 917.6 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south of Wedmore in Somerset, notified in 1985.
West Sedgemoor or West Sedge Moor is an area of the Somerset Levels, in Somerset, England, around 8 miles east of Taunton, which approximately coincides with the West Sedgemoor biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, a 1,016 hectare site notified as an SSSI in 1983. It is a flat, low-lying area of fields and meadows separated by water-filled rhynes and ditches. It is subject to controlled flooding in winter. It is drained by the River Parrett.
Westhay Moor is a 513.7-hectare (1,269-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) north-east of Westhay village and 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from Wedmore in Somerset, England, notified in 1971. Westhay Moor is also notified as part of the Somerset Levels and Moors Special Protection Area under the EU Birds Directive and as a Ramsar Site, and a National Nature Reserve.
Wet Moor is a 491.0-hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest east of Muchelney in Somerset, notified in 1985.
Floodplain restoration is the process of fully or partially restoring a river's floodplain to its original conditions before having been affected by the construction of levees (dikes) and the draining of wetlands and marshes.
From December 2013 onwards the Somerset Levels suffered severe flooding as part of the wider 2013-2014 Atlantic winter storms in Europe and subsequent 2013–2014 United Kingdom winter floods. The Somerset Levels, or the Somerset Levels and Moors as they are less commonly but more correctly known, is a coastal plain and wetland area of central Somerset, in South West England, running south from the Mendip Hills to the Blackdown Hills.