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".
Chester-le-Street is a town in County Durham, England. Its history goes back to the building of a Roman fort called Concangis. This Roman fort is the "Chester" of the town's name; the "Street" refers to the paved Roman road that ran north–south through the town, and which is now called Front Street.
County Durham is a county in North East England. The county town is Durham, a cathedral city. The largest settlement is Darlington, closely followed by Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees. It borders Tyne and Wear to the north east, Northumberland to the north, Cumbria to the west and North Yorkshire to the south. The county's historic boundaries stretch between the rivers Tyne and Tees, thus including places such as Gateshead, Jarrow, South Shields and Sunderland.
Waldridge Fell was first notified as an SSSI in 1965. The designated area was revised in 1985, the boundary being extended in some places, while portions around Waldridge village were deleted from the SSSI.[1]
Waldridge is a village in County Durham, in England. The population at the 2001 Census was 215. Prior to the 2011 Census the parish boundaries changed and the population shown at this census was 4,215. It is situated to the south west of Chester-le-Street. It is known as either Waldridge Fell or Waldridge Village, the 'Fell' referring to the surrounding area of moorland. The village used to be known as Waldridge Colliery. The current village dates back to the 1890s, the original village having been located on the fell which overlooks the present location. Rainwater runs into the Cong Burn to the north and the South Burn to the south, both of which flow into the River Wear which is a few miles to the east.
The area is important as one of the largest expanses of lowland heath in County Durham, which is close to northern limit for this type of habitat,[2] and is one of the few such areas in North East England.[3] Lowland heath is a threatened habitat in the United Kingdom, which holds around 20 per cent of the world's stock of the habitat: over the last 200 years some 80 percent of the lowland heath in England has been destroyed, and in the UK as a whole only 44 per cent of the area that existed before 1940 still remains.[4]
Lowland Heath is a Biodiversity Action Plan habitat as it is a type of ancient wild landscape. Natural England's Environmental Stewardship scheme describes lowland heath as containing dry heath, wet heath and valley mire communities, usually below 250 metres in altitude, on acidic soils and shallow peat, typically comprising heathers, gorses, fine grasses, wild flowers and lichens in a complex mosaic. Heathers and other dwarf shrubs usually account for at least 25% of the ground cover. By contrast, upland heath, which is above 300 metres in altitude, is called Moorland, Dartmoor being an example.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a sovereign country located off the north-western coast of the European mainland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state, the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east, the English Channel to the south and the Celtic Sea to the south-west, giving it the 12th-longest coastline in the world. The Irish Sea separates Great Britain and Ireland. The United Kingdom's 242,500 square kilometres (93,600 sq mi) were home to an estimated 66.0 million inhabitants in 2017.
Also significant is that the Wanister Bog, an area of seasonally-flooded wetland on the south-east side of the fell, is the only valley-mire in lowland County Durham.[1]
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded by water, either permanently or seasonally, where oxygen-free processes prevail. The primary factor that distinguishes wetlands from other land forms or water bodies is the characteristic vegetation of aquatic plants, adapted to the unique hydric soil. Wetlands play a number of functions, including water purification, water storage, processing of carbon and other nutrients, stabilization of shorelines, and support of plants and animals. Wetlands are also considered the most biologically diverse of all ecosystems, serving as home to a wide range of plant and animal life. Whether any individual wetland performs these functions, and the degree to which it performs them, depends on characteristics of that wetland and the lands and waters near it. Methods for rapidly assessing these functions, wetland ecological health, and general wetland condition have been developed in many regions and have contributed to wetland conservation partly by raising public awareness of the functions and the ecosystem services some wetlands provide.
The area currently designated as an SSSI occupies 113.5ha, of which 98.5ha is classed as dwarf shrub heath, 13ha is broadleaved woodland, and the remainder is marsh.[5]
The SSSI shares a common boundary on the south-west side with Daisy Hill Local Nature Reserve,[6][7] while the north-east corner abuts the Cong Burn Wood Local Nature Reserve.[8][9]
Geography, geology and ecology
Waldridge Fell SSSI is a broadly rectangular area, lying between the valleys of two tributaries of the River Wear, the Cong Burn to the north-west and the South Burn to the south-east. Most of the area lies between 80 and 120 metres above sea level, with a high point of 129 metres.
The area is underlain by Carboniferouscoal measures, which are capped by glacial deposits of varying thickness. Spring-lines are prominent on the lower valley slopes and have a significant effect on the vegetation. The soils are predominantly gley and acidic, well-drained and covered with a thin peaty layer on the higher ground, wetter and with a deeper layer of peat in less well-drained areas.[10]
Wanister Bog occupies a depression in which rainwater from higher up the fell has accumulated and created fen conditions. The characteristic species are Sphagnum mosses, which have also contributed largely to the thick layer of peat that now underlies the bog. Other species that are locally dominant are rushes, Juncus spp., and sedges, Carex spp.[10]
Fauna and flora
The varied habitats within the SSSI support a number of plant and insect species that are rare or local in North East England.
One of the rarest is the red-tipped clearwing, Synanthedon formicaeformis, which was recorded three times in July 2006; this inconspicuous and elusive moth had only been recorded 12 times before in County Durham, the last occasion being in 1948, also in the Waldridge Fell area.[11]
Other notable insects include two other moths, northern drab, Orthosia opima, and dingy shell, Euchoeca nebulata, and a butterfly, the green hairstreak, Callophrys rubi.[1] Another butterfly, the small pearl-bordered fritillary, Boloria selene, used to be common at Waldridge Fell but within County Durham is now confined to only four locations, all on heathland at around 300metres above sea level.[2]
The most notable plant species are found in the alder woodland along the spring-lines on the lower valley slopes. They include royal fern, Osmunda regalis, and narrow buckler fern, Dryopteris carthusiana, hemlock water dropwort, Oenanthe crocata, and smooth-stalked sedge, Carex laevigata, all of which are rare or have a localised distribution in North East England.[1]
Rare plants that occur in Wanister Bog include devil's-bit scabious, Succisa pratensis, and marsh violet, Viola palustris.[12] The former is the food plant of the marsh fritillary, Euphydryas aurinia, and the narrow-bordered bee hawk-moth, Hemaris tityus, while the latter is the food plant of the pearl-bordered fritillary, Boloria euphrosyne, and the small pearl-bordered fritillary.
The fell is believed to support a significant population of the slowworm, Anguis fragilis, a protected species in the UK.[2]
Other uses
Waldridge Fell SSSI is broadly coterminous with Waldridge Fell Country Park, which is a popular recreational facility for walkers, dog owners and country lovers.[13] The road between Chester-le-Street and Edmondsley cuts across the northern part of the fell and there are several car parks, from which footpaths radiate over the area, including one all-weather footpath for the disabled.[14]
Coal mining took place on and around Waldridge Fell until late in the 20th century—the last mine in the area, Smithydene drift mine—did not close until 1992. Evidence of coal mining activities is still visible in the form of waste tips, subsidence, and the remains of the old waggonway along which the coal was transported.
Conservation issues
The fell is actively managed by Durham County Council, in an effort to maintain a broad range of heathland species, including such desirable species as heath bedstraw, Galium saxatile, and common tormentil, Potentilla erecta.[5] Bracken is particularly troublesome because it crowds out the heather and associated species. The County Council has used a combination of burning and selective herbicides to control the bracken, and in 2007 embarked on a three-year trial of a more environmentally-friendly method, using heavy horses to pull a roller that crushes the bracken.[15][16] These measures have not been entirely successful; areas that have been burnt are susceptible to invasion by rosebay willowherb, Epilobium angustifolium, while crushed areas have been colonised by the alien invasive heath star moss, Campylopus introflexus.[5]
The last time Natural England surveyed the condition of Wanister Bog, it was losing water through a breach in the surrounding bund and, despite active management, the wetland was being invaded by Salix scrub and saplings. To remedy this, Durham County Council has gained approval for a 10-year programme which will involve fencing the bog and introducing highland cattle. It is hoped that a combination of grazing and trampling by the cattle will restore the bog to a favourable condition. Grazing is already being used successfully on the adjacent Daisy Hill LNR, but could not be introduced to Wanister Bog any earlier because Waldridge Fell is common land and approval to fence off part of the common could not be sought until other management options had been tried and shown to be ineffective.[17]
Related Research Articles
Chobham Common is a 655.7-hectare (1,620-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Chobham in Surrey. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I and a National Nature Reserve. It is part of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area and the Thursley, Ash, Pirbright and Chobham Special Area of Conservation. It contains three Scheduled Monuments. Most of the site is managed by the Surrey Wildlife Trust as the Chobham Common nature reserve, but the SSSI also includes a small private reserve managed by the Trust, Gracious Pond.
Holt Heath is a 4.88 square kilometres (1.88 sq mi) common situated four miles north-east of Wimborne Minster in east Dorset, southern England, close to the village of Holt. The reserve includes dry and wet heathland, bog and ancient woodland. The common has several nature conservation designations: National Nature Reserve, Special Protection Area, Special Area of Conservation and Site of Special Scientific Interest. It is owned by the National Trust and managed in association with Natural England. The heath is one of the few places where all six native British reptile species occur, and it also supports many other heathland animals, plants and birds. Rare heathland birds such as hobby, nightjar, Dartford warbler and woodlark have been recorded as breeding on the reserve.
Scotstown Moor is in the north of Aberdeen, Scotland.
Hothfield Common is a 56.5-hectare (140-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north-east of Ashford in Kent. It is also a Local Nature Reserve, and is part of the 86-hectare (210-acre) Hothfield Heathlands nature reserve owned by Ashford Borough Council and managed by Kent Wildlife Trust.
Gentleshaw Common is an area of common land situated in Gentleshaw on the northern side of Burntwood in Staffordshire, England. The area is a Site of Special Scientific Interest as it is an area of globally rare lowland heathland. The common plays host to a series of fun public events throughout the year, including scrub bashing and countryside walks.
Esher Commons is a 360.1-hectare (890-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south-west of Esher in Surrey. It includes Esher Common, Fairmile Common, West End Common and Oxshott Heath. Esher Common and West End Common are Local Nature Reserves.
Woolmer Forest is a 1,298.5-hectare (3,209-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south of Bordon in Hampshire and West Sussex. It is also a Special Area of Conservation and part of the Wealden Heaths Phase II Special Protection Area. Two areas are Nature Conservation Review sites, Grade I.
Sound Heath, also known as Sound Common, is an area of common land in Sound, near Nantwich in Cheshire, England, which includes heathland, grassland, scrub, woodland and wetland habitats. The majority of the area is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Local Nature Reserve.
Bollihope, Pikestone, Eggleston and Woodland Fells is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in the Teesdale district of west County Durham, England. It covers a broad expanse of moorland to the north and east of Middleton-in-Teesdale.
Green Croft and Langley Moor is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in the Derwentside district in north County Durham, England. It consists of three separate areas, two to the south of Annfield Plain and one just west of Quaking Houses, between the towns of Consett, to the west, and Stanley, to the east.
Hexhamshire Moors is a Site of Special Scientific Interest covering an extensive area of moorland in the Wear Valley district of north-west County Durham and the Tynedale district of south-west Northumberland, England.
Moorhouse and Cross Fell is a Site of Special Scientific Interest covering an extensive area of moorland in the Wear Valley district of west County Durham and the Eden district of Cumbria, England. It is contiguous with Upper Teesdale SSSI to the east and Appleby Fells SSSI to the south. The area covered extends roughly from an arc through the villages of Gamblesby, Leadgate and Garrigill southward as far as Milburn in the west and Cow Green Reservoir in the east. It includes the whole of Cross Fell, the summit of which, at 893 metres asl, is the highest point in the Pennines and in England outside the Lake District.
Pow Hill Bog is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in the Wear Valley district of County Durham, England. It lies alongside Derwent Reservoir, approximately 2 km north-west of the village of Edmundbyers and adjacent to the Edmundbyers Common portion of the Muggleswick, Stanhope and Edmundbyers Commons and Blanchland Moor SSSI.
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.
Blaxhall Common is a nature reserve in the parish of Blaxhall in the Suffolk Coastal district of Suffolk. The reserve is owned by Blaxhall Parish Council and managed by Suffolk Wildlife Trust. It is designated a 45.9 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest as Blaxhall Heath. It is part of the Sandlings Special Protection Area under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds, and of the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. A Bronze Age bowl barrow is a Scheduled Monument.
Poor's Allotment is a 28.57-hectare (70.6-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified in 1954. The site is listed in the 'Forest of Dean Local Plan Review' as a Key Wildlife Site (KWS).
Hartland Moor is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on the south side of Poole Harbour near the town of Wareham in Dorset, England. It consists of lowland heathland.
1 2 Wong, Ming-Hung. "Vegetation Pattern Related to the Edaphic and Biotic Variables on Waldridge Fell". New Asia College Academic Annual. XVI: 437–454.
↑ Coult, Terry (2006). "The 2006 status of County Durham clearwing moths". The Vasculum. 91.
↑ "A 'special' place"(PDF). Durham County News. Durham County Council. June 2009. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2011-08-13. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
↑ Simpson, David (26 September 2007). "Prized natural asset that was once home to industry". The Northern Echo.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
