Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
Location | Cornwall |
---|---|
Grid reference | SS212174 |
Coordinates | 50°54′54″N4°33′36″W / 50.9149°N 4.5599°W Coordinates: 50°54′54″N4°33′36″W / 50.9149°N 4.5599°W |
Interest | Biological |
Area | 342.8 hectares (3.43 km2; 1.32 sq mi) |
Notification | 1973 |
Natural England website |
Steeple Point to Marsland Mouth is a coastal Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Cornwall, England, UK, noted for its biological characteristics.
The 343-hectare (850-acre) site, notified in 1973, is situated on the north Cornish coast, within Morwenstow civil parish, 5 miles (8.0 km) north of the town of Bude. It starts at Steeple Point in the south, following the shores of the Celtic Sea in the Atlantic Ocean to Marsland Mouth in the north, which is on the Cornwall-Devon border. This site is contiguous with the Bude Coast, Duckpool to Furzey Cove and Marsland to Clovelly Coast (in Devon) chain of SSSIs on this section of coastline. [1] [2]
The South West Coast Path runs through the SSSI and parts of the coastline are owned by the National Trust. The SSSI also covers the Cornish side of Marsland Valley nature reserve, jointly owned by the Devon and Cornwall Wildlife Trusts. [2] [3]
The SSSI is sited on a geological formation of Upper Carboniferous Culm Measures, which support a variety of habitats including maritime grassland, woodland, maritime heath, scrub, bodies of water as well as rocky foreshore and cliffs. [4]
Amongst the cliff edge grassland buckshorn plantain ( Plantago coronopus ), carline thistle ( Carlina vulgaris ), red fescue ( Festuca rubra ), thrift ( Armeria maritima ) and wild thyme ( Thymus praecox ) can be found. Along with some of these species bell heather ( Erica cinerea ), heather ( Calluna vulgaris ), burnet rose ( Rosa pimpinellifolia ), catsear ( Hypochaeris ), eyebright (of the genus Euphrasia ), western gorse ( Ulex gallii ) and yarrow ( Achillea millefolium ) grow in the heathlands. [4]
The SSSI supports a wide variety of invertebrates, in particular butterflies and 14 species of dragonfly. [4]
Uncommon species of butterfly found include brown hairstreak (Thecla betulae), grayling (Hipparchia semele), grizzled skipper (Pyrgus malvae), high brown fritillary (Argynnis cydippe) and marsh fritillary (Euphydryas aurinia). [4] The coastline of the SSSI supported one of the last known British colonies of breeding large blue butterfly (Maculinea arion), which was declared nationally extinct in 1979. Thereafter, from 1983 the butterfly was reintroduced to the country, including at locations on this site. [4] [5]
The coastal habitats support bird-life including the great black-backed gull ( Larus marinus ) and European stonechat ( Saxicola rubicola ), while the common buzzard (Buteo buteo), dipper ( Cinclus cinclus ), sparrowhawk ( Accipiter nisus ) and wood warbler (Phylloscopus sibilatrix) can be found in the woodland areas. [4]
Roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) are also found in the Marsland Valley section of the site. [3]
Aire Point to Carrick Du SSSI is a Site of Special Scientific Interest on the Penwith Peninsula, Cornwall, England. It is 5.98 square kilometres in extent, stretching from grid reference SW360279 to grid reference SW513410. The site is designated both for its biological and its geological interest.
Barle Valley is a 1,540 acres (620 ha) Site of Special Scientific Interest within Exmoor National Park, situated in the counties of Devon and Somerset through which the River Barle flows. It was notified in its current form under the Wildlife and Countryside Act in 1988. The site includes the Somerset Wildlife Trust's Mounsey Wood Nature Reserve and the Knaplock and North Barton SSSI which has been notified since 1954.
Lambert's Castle is an Iron Age hillfort in the county of Dorset in southwest England. Since 1981 it has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on account of its geology, archaeology and ecology. The hillfort is designated a scheduled monument together with a bowl barrow, the sites of a post-medieval fair and a telegraph station. The site was on the Heritage at Risk Register but was removed in 2022 as a result of the Hillforts and Habitats Project.
The North Devon Coast was designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in September 1959. The AONB contributes to a family of protected landscapes in the Southwest of England and a total of 38% of the region is classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as Category V Protected Landscapes. The twelve Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty extend to 30% of the region, twice the proportion covered by AONBs in England as a whole and a further two National Parks, Dartmoor and Exmoor, cover an additional 7%.
The Culm Measures are a thick sequence of geological strata originating during the Carboniferous Period that occur in south-west England, principally in Devon and Cornwall, now known as the Culm Supergroup. Its estimated thickness varies between 3600 m and 4750 m though intense folding complicates it at outcrop. They are so called because of the occasional presence in the Barnstaple–Hartland area of a soft, often lenticular, sooty coal, which is known in Devon as culm. The word culm may be derived from the Old English word for coal col or from the Welsh word cwlwm meaning knot.
Strawberry Banks is a 5.06-hectare (12.5-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified in 1993.
Gooseham is a hamlet in northeast Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated six miles (11 km) north of Bude and is approximately one kilometre south of the border with Devon. The Marsland Valley nature reserve is near the hamlet. It is in the civil parish of Morwenstow, and its size been described by a resident as consisting of just "two houses and a wood rick."
Marsland Valley is a nature reserve situated in two large valleys which straddle the northern end of the Devon-Cornwall border. It is a designated nature reserve jointly managed by the Devon Wildlife Trust and the Cornwall Wildlife Trust. The reserve is a Special Area of Conservation, as well as forming part of two Sites of Special Scientific Interest; Steeple Point to Marsland Mouth on the Cornish side and Marsland to Clovelly Coast in Devon.
The River Ottery is a small river in northeast Cornwall, United Kingdom. The river is about twenty miles (32 km) long from its source southeast of Otterham to its confluence with the River Tamar at Nether Bridge, two miles (3.2 km) northeast of Launceston.
Treen Cliff is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) located on the Penwith Peninsula in Cornwall, England, UK, 6 miles (9.7 km) south-west of Penzance. First notified in 1951, with a revision in 1973, and a further notification on 1 July 1986, it is 49.3 hectares in area, stretching from grid reference SW387220 to SW402225. Designated for both for its biological and geological interest, part of the site, Treryn Dinas, is a Scheduled Ancient Monument consisting of a "cliff castle" with four ramparts and ditches and the Logan Rock. It is within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), the Penwith Heritage Coast and is part owned and managed by the National Trust.
Dizzard is an area, in the civil parish of St Gennys, Cornwall, containing five farms. On the coast is Dizzard Point, and the unique, dwarf oak, Dizzard Wood, which is of international importance for its lichen communities.
Millook is a deep coastal valley and hamlet in the parish of Poundstock, on the north coast of Cornwall, England.
Boscastle to Widemouth is a coastal Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Cornwall, England, noted for its biological and geological characteristics. The Dizzard dwarf oak woodland is unique and of international importance for its lichen communities, with 131 species recorded.
Carricknath Point to Porthbean Beach is a coastal Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Cornwall, England, UK, noted for its biological interest.
Duckpool to Furzey Cove is a coastal Geological Conservation Review site and Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in north Cornwall, England, UK, noted for its geological interest.
Godrevy Head to St Agnes is a coastal Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in north Cornwall, England], noted for both its biological and geological characteristics. A number of rare and scarce plant species can be found on the site, along with many breeding seabirds.
Polruan to Polperro is a coastal Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Special Area of Conservation (SAC) in south-east Cornwall, England, UK, noted for its biological interest. It contains a wide variety of plant species and is a site for populations of breeding birds.
Lymsworthy Meadows is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in north Cornwall, England, UK, noted for its biological characteristics.
Rosenannon Downs is a nature reserve in mid Cornwall, England, UK, being designated Rosenannon Bog and Downs Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), noted for its biological characteristics. The site supports a wide variety of flora and fauna and includes Bronze Age barrows. Conservation work is carried out on the site by the owners, the Cornwall Wildlife Trust.
Rackenford and Knowstone Moors is a nature reserve of the Devon Wildlife Trust, situated about 8 miles (13 km) north-west of Tiverton, in Devon, England. The habitat is culm grassland.