Wybunbury Moss

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Wybunbury Moss
Wybunbury Moss.jpg
Boardwalk towards the centre of Wybunbury Moss
Cheshire UK location map.svg
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Wybunbury Moss
The location of Wybunbury Moss within Cheshire
Location Cheshire
Nearest town Crewe
Coordinates 53°02′53″N2°27′14″W / 53.048°N 2.454°W / 53.048; -2.454 Coordinates: 53°02′53″N2°27′14″W / 53.048°N 2.454°W / 53.048; -2.454 [1]
Area16.5 ha (41 acres)
Elevation48 metres (157 ft) [1]
Designation National Nature Reserve [2]
Site of Special Scientific Interest [3]
Designated1955
Governing bodyNatural England

Wybunbury Moss is a National Nature Reserve (NNR) [2] and Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) [3] near the village of Wybunbury in Cheshire, England. It is a raised lowland bog, and a rare British example of a schwingmoor and a 'subsidence mire' (only two other British examples of the latter exist: Brookhouse Moss SSSI between Congleton and Sandbach, also in Cheshire, and Chartley Moss NNR in Staffordshire). [4]

Contents

The site was first notified as an SSSI in 1951, [3] and designated as an NNR in 1955, with further acquisitions added to the protected area in 1957 and 2009. [4] It is owned and managed by Natural England. [4]

Habitat and species

The most important part of the site is a central schwingmoor, a peat bog, in places only a metre thick, floating on a water-filled basin over 12 metres (39 ft) deep. This may have occurred because of subsidence of salt-bearing rocks below the site, also the cause of undermining of the nearby Wybunbury Tower, which leans from the vertical and has required underpinning.

The floating part of the bog is dominated by Sphagnum mosses and common cotton-grass, with cranberry, cross-leaved heath and round-leaved sundew also present. [4]

The reserve is important for its invertebrates, which include 95% of the British population of the ten-spotted pot beetle, Cryptocephalus decemmaculatus. [4]

Access

There are no public rights of way within the nature reserve, but a permitted wildlife walk leaves a public footpath north of Wybunbury Tower, running west over boardwalks towards the centre of the reserve, before heading north through woodland to rejoin the footpath network south of Cockshades Farm. The central, wettest part of the moss is not publicly accessible for safety and conservation reasons and can only be visited by permit-holders or by arrangement with Natural England. [4]

Folklore

The Moss is the setting for the children's book Nellie Longarms Will Get You... If You Don't Watch Out, by John Bailey and Rose Quigley. [5] In English folklore, the moss is also said to be the home to a headless horseman and 'Ginny Greenteeth'.

See also

Related Research Articles

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Moine Mhòr encompasses a large area of raised bog in the Kilmartin Glen area of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. As well as raised bog there are areas of saltmarsh, brackish grassland, alder carr, fen and woodland, and the variety of habitats at Moine Mhòr provide important habitats for a variety of animal and plant species. The area was declared a national nature reserve (NNR) in 1987, and is now owned and managed by NatureScot. According to NatureScot lowland raised bogs like Moine Mhòr are some of the rarest and most threatened natural wildlife habitats in Europe, due to removal of peat, afforestation and reclamation of farmland.

Hatherton Flush

Hatherton Flush is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) by the River Weaver in Hatherton, near Wybunbury, Cheshire, England. It is protected for its variety of wetland plants. Species found at the site include the locally rare plants marsh helleborine, marsh lousewort and tubular water dropwort. Hatherton Flush is the largest example of this kind of flush in the county. The site was assessed as being in an "unfavourable"/"recovering" condition in 2008.

References

  1. 1 2 257 Crewe & Nantwich (Map). 1:25000. Explorer. Ordnance Survey.
  2. 1 2 "Cheshire's National Nature Reserves". Natural England. 2 September 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 "Wybunbury Moss SSSI". Natural England. 1986. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Wybunbury Moss National Nature Reserve" (visitor leaflet). Natural England. 2015. ISBN   978-1-78367-163-2 . Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  5. ↑ "Nellie Longarms will get you... if you don't watch out". Brookmark Publications. Archived from the original on 21 March 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2018.


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