Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
![]() | |
Location | Somerset |
---|---|
Grid reference | ST270210 |
Coordinates | 50°59′01″N3°02′29″W / 50.9837°N 3.0413°W |
Interest | Biological |
Area | 26.7 hectares (0.267 km2; 0.103 sq mi) |
Notification | 1963 |
Natural England website |
Thurlbear Wood and Quarrylands (grid reference ST270210 ) is a 26.7 hectare (65.8 acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south of Stoke St Mary in Somerset, notified in 1963.
Thurlbear Wood is a species-rich woodland, formerly managed in a traditional coppice-with-standards system and situated on soils derived from Rhaetic shales and limestones. It is managed by the Somerset Wildlife Trust. The recorded history of the site, its Medieval embankments and the presence of several plants normally confined to primary woods, all suggest that Thurlbear is of considerable antiquity. The woodland has been used for educational and research work for more than 60 years. The 'quarrylands' are an area of calcareous grassland, and scrub occupying 19th-century workings in Lias limestone. Over 80 species of flowering plant occur. There is an outstanding butterfly fauna, with 29 species recorded. Breeding birds associated with the site include buzzard (Buteo buteo), nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos), and grasshopper warbler (Locustella naevia). [1]
The Polden Hills in Somerset, England are a long, low ridge, extending for 10 miles (16 km), and separated from the Mendip Hills, to which they are nearly parallel, by a marshy tract, known as the Somerset Levels. They are now bisected at their western end by the M5 motorway and a railway, the Bristol and Exeter Railway, part of the Great Western Main Line.
Orchard Portman is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Taunton. The village has a population of 150.
Leigh Woods is a 2-square-kilometre (0.77 sq mi) area of woodland on the south-west side of the Avon Gorge, close to the Clifton Suspension Bridge, within North Somerset opposite the English city of Bristol and north of the Ashton Court estate, of which it formed a part. Stokeleigh Camp, a hillfort thought to have been occupied from the third century BC to the first century AD and possibly also in the Middle Ages, lies within the reserve on the edge of the Nightingale Valley. On the bank of the Avon, within the reserve, are quarries for limestone and celestine which were worked in the 18th and 19th centuries are now derelict.
Folly Farm is a traditionally managed working farm and nature reserve run by the Avon Wildlife Trust. It is located between Stowey, Clutton and Stanton Wick in the civil parish of Stowey in the English county of Somerset.
Goblin Combe is a dry valley in North Somerset which stretches for approximately 3½ km from Redhill, near Bristol International Airport on the A38, through to Cleeve on the A370. The combe is located at, and is a 52-hectare (128-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) originally notified in 1999, with 9 hectares being managed as a nature reserve by the Avon Wildlife Trust. The Combe runs along the southern edge of a large woodland. "Combe" is the same as the Welsh word "cwm" which means valley.
Weston Big Wood is a 37.48 hectare woodland west of the town of Portishead, North Somerset, England. It is a nature reserve and biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, notified in 1971. The wood takes its name from the nearby village of Weston-in-Gordano.
Chancellor's Farm is a 34.2-hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest just north of Priddy in the Mendip Hills, Somerset, notified in 1984.
Crook Peak to Shute Shelve Hill is a 332.2 hectare (820.9 acre) geological and biological Site of Special Scientific Interest near the western end of the Mendip Hills, Somerset. The line of hills runs for approximately 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from west to east and includes: Crook Peak, Compton Hill, Wavering Down, Cross Plain and Shute Shelve Hill. Most of the site is owned by the National Trust, which bought 725 acres (293 ha) in 1985, and much of it has been designated as common land. It was notified as an SSSI by Natural England in 1952.
Cheddar Wood is an 86.9-hectare (215-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest at Cheddar in the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England, notified in 1967.
Rodney Stoke is a 69.6 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, just north of the village of Rodney Stoke in the Mendip Hills, Somerset, notified in 1957.
The Cheddar Complex is a 441.3-hectare (1,090-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Cheddar around the Cheddar Gorge and north east to Charterhouse in the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England, notified in 1952.
Aller and Beer Woods is a 56.9 hectares biological Site of Special Scientific Interest. off the A372 Othery to Langport road near Aller in Somerset. It was notified in 1952.
Great Breach and Copley Woods is a 64.8 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest 1 km south of Compton Dundon and 5 km south-east of Street in Somerset, England, notified in 1972.
There are several nature reserves in the surroundings of Nailsea, North Somerset, England, which is located at 51°25′55″N2°45′49″W.
Wotton Hill is a hill on the edge of the Cotswold Hills in Gloucestershire, England, 0.5 miles (0.80 km) north of Wotton-under-Edge. The Cotswold Way passes over the hill.
Bull Cross, The Frith and Juniper Hill is a 42.33-hectare (104.6-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified in 1954. The site is listed in the ‘Stroud District’ Local Plan, adopted November 2005, Appendix 6 as an SSSI and Regionally Important Geological Site (RIGS).
Lineover Wood is a 20.3-hectare (50-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified in 1986.
East Wood and is a 0.82-hectare (2.0-acre) nature reserve in Gloucestershire, England. The west site is 0.45-hectare (1.1-acre). The east site is 0.37-hectare (0.91-acre). It is part of a larger area of woodland called East Wood, which is adjacent to Oakhill Wood and Woolaston Wood (east). The site was leased from the Forestry Commission in 1986 and is managed by the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust. The site is listed in the 'Forest of Dean Local Plan Review' as a Key Wildlife Site (KWS).
Ridley Bottom is a 1.1-hectare (2.7-acre) nature reserve in Gloucestershire. The site is listed in the 'Forest of Dean Local Plan Review' as a Key Wildlife Site (KWS).
Castern Wood is a nature reserve of the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust. It is an ancient woodland, with scrub and grassland, on the eastern slopes of the Manifold Valley, about 1 mile south of Wetton, in Staffordshire, England.