Whitelee Moor | |
---|---|
Location | near Carter Bar |
OS grid | NT 700 040 |
Coordinates | 55°19′44″N2°28′27″W / 55.32889°N 2.47417°W Coordinates: 55°19′44″N2°28′27″W / 55.32889°N 2.47417°W |
Area | 1,510 hectares (3,700 acres) |
Operated by | Northumberland Wildlife Trust |
Designation | National nature reserve Site of Special Scientific Interest Special Area of Conservation |
Website | www |
Whitelee Moor is nature reserve of the Northumberland Wildlife Trust, in Northumberland, England, near Carter Bar. A large part of the moor is blanket bog.
It is a national nature reserve, [1] and is in a Special Area of Conservation. [2] Being part of Kielderhead and Emblehope Moors, it is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. [3]
Whitelee Moor was bought by the Trust in 1999, with help from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Its area is 1,510 hectares (3,700 acres). [2]
There is blanket bog, heather moorland and grassland; also more than 35 hectares (86 acres) of new woodland. The River Rede and its tributaries provide diversity of habitat. [2]
Visitors are advised to have hill-walking experience if attempting long walks, as it is a remote area and the weather can change quickly. [2]
This kind of terrain evolves over acidic bedrock where rainfall exceeds loss of water through evaporation and plant transpiration; the species of plants in this environment do not break down, and peat accumulates. The vegetation, having a barrier of peat below it, is fed only by rainwater, and the bog becomes low in nutrients. Blanket bog in the United Kingdom began to develop 5000 to 6000 years ago; it is in the west and north, and most of it is in Scotland. [4]
The blanket bog has plants such as sphagnum moss, bog asphodel and cloudberry. Drainage channels, formerly dug across the bog, have been dammed to ensure that it remains wet. [2]
On the moorland, birds such as red grouse, peregrine falcon and hen harrier may be seen. Butterflies in summer include ringlet and small heath. A notable insect is the northern eggar moth. [2]
The new woodland contains birch, rowan and willow; there is ash and oak in sheltered places. [2]
The Cotswold Water Park is the United Kingdom's largest marl lake system, straddling the Wiltshire–Gloucestershire border, northwest of Cricklade and south of Cirencester. There are 180 lakes, spread over 42 square miles (110 km2).
Northumberland Wildlife Trust was established in 1971 to help conserve and protect the wildlife of Northumberland, Newcastle upon Tyne and North Tyneside in the UK. The Trust is a charity, and a member of The Wildlife Trusts partnership.
Shapwick Heath is a 394.0-hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest and national nature reserve between Shapwick and Westhay in Somerset, notified in 1967. It is part of the Brue Valley Living Landscape conservation project. The project commenced in January 2009 and aims to restore, recreate and reconnect habitat. It aims to ensure that wildlife is enhanced and capable of sustaining itself in the face of climate change while guaranteeing farmers and other landowners can continue to use their land profitably. It is one of an increasing number of landscape scale conservation projects in the UK.
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.
Kielderhead and Emblehope Moors are contiguous areas of moorland in northern Northumberland, England. A section of Kielderhead Moor is part of neighbouring Scotland. The moors are classified as a Biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) by the UK government.
Gun is a hill at the southern end of the Peak District, overlooking the town of Leek in the Staffordshire Moorlands. The hill is mainly moorland with some small wooded areas. Neighbouring peaks to the east are The Roaches, Hen Cloud and Ramshaw Rocks. It is a nature reserve of the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust.
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.
Colony Bog and Bagshot Heath is a 1,130.5-hectare (2,794-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Camberley and Woking in Surrey, England. Part of it is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I. It is part of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area and the Thursley, Ash, Pirbright and Chobham Special Area of Conservation. It includes Brentmoor Heath, a Local Nature Reserve which is managed by the Surrey Wildlife Trust
Driven grouse shooting is the hunting of the red grouse, a field sport of the United Kingdom. The grouse-shooting season extends from 12 August, often called the "Glorious Twelfth", to 10 December each year. Large numbers of grouse are driven to fly over people with shotguns. Driven grouse shooting first appeared around 1850 and became popular in the later Victorian era as a fashionable sport for the wealthy. The expanding rail network allowed relatively easy access into the remote upland areas of Britain for the first time and driven grouse shooting developed in tandem with this by providing shooting in a convenient and reliable form. Large numbers of birds are driven over a fixed position providing a regular supply of fast moving targets without the need to seek out the birds. The development of the breech-loading shotgun was also an essential ingredient in the development of the practice as it allowed more rapid reloading in the field matching the availability of target birds.
Ham Wall is an English wetland National Nature Reserve (NNR) 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) west of Glastonbury on the Somerset Levels. It is managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). Since the last Ice Age, decomposing plants in the marshes of the Brue valley in Somerset have accumulated as deep layers of peat that were commercially exploited on a large scale in the twentieth century. Consumer demand eventually declined, and in 1994 the landowners, Fisons, gave their old workings to what is now Natural England, who passed the management of the 260 hectares Ham Wall section to the RSPB.
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.
Red Moor is a nature reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), noted for its biological characteristics, near Lanlivery in mid Cornwall, England, UK.
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.
Nature Improvement Areas (NIAs) are a network of large scale initiatives in the landscape of England to improve ecological connectivity and improve biodiversity. They were launched in 2012.
Ventongimps Moor is a moorland nature reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), noted for its biological characteristics, in mid Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The site, important for the occurrence of the plant Dorset heath, was the first reserve to be purchased by the Cornwall Wildlife Trust.
Bewick and Beanley Moors is the name given to a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in north Northumberland, in the north-east of England. The moors are asserted to be of national importance by Natural England for the extent, quality and diversity of upland types including heaths, fens, wet grassland, flushes, mires and blanket bogs, together creating an extensive mosaic habitat supporting an exceptional community of amphibians. The moors are important, too, for their relict juniper woodland and scrub.
Wildmoor Heath is a 91-hectare (220-acre) nature reserve south of Crowthorne in Berkshire. It is managed by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust. The reserve is part of two Sites of Special Scientific Interest: Wildmoor Heath itself is part of Sandhurst to Owlsmoor Bogs and Heaths and a separate area called Broadmoor Bottom is part of Broadmoor to Bagshot Woods and Heaths.
The Avalon Marshes Partnership is a group of conservation organisations working together in the Somerset Levels. The members are Natural England,, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), the Somerset Wildlife Trust the Hawk and Owl Trust, Historic England, South West Heritage Trust and the Environment Agency. Between 2012 and 2016 the scheme was supported by a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £1,772,500 with additional investment of £920,080 from other sources. The Avalon Marshes Centre, run by Natural England, is near the Ham Wall reserve. The network of reserves and private land managed for conservation in the Avalon marshes means that wetland management can be carried out on a landscape scale.
Parsonage Moor is a 6-hectare (15-acre) nature reserve north-west of Abingdon-on-Thames in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom. It is managed by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust. It is part of Cothill Fen, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and Special Area of Conservation. Part of it is in Cothill Fen and Parsonage Moor Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I.