X-Nico

29 unusual facts about Site of special scientific interest


Balerno

Red Moss is one of only four raised bogs of sphagnum moss surviving in the Lothian region and a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Barytocalcite

This mine is no longer operative, and it has been designated a site of Site of Special Scientific Interest so collecting is no longer allowed.

Brighstone

The entire parish lies within an area of the Isle of Wight AONB and its coastline is designated as Heritage Coast and Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Castlemorton

Much of Castlemorton is today within a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) due to some very rare fauna and flora living within its boundaries.

Fern, Buckinghamshire

Significant geological formations have been noted in the sides of the pit and this is now a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Hannah Hauxwell

In January 2008, she was still living in her retirement home in the village of Cotherstone, less than five miles (8 km) from Low Birk Hatt Farm, where the meadows have been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, Hannah's Meadows.

Hollins Green

Rixton Clay Pits is located at the west of the village and is an old clay extraction site; it is now a nature reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Kimberley West railway station

This line is now disused, the station is at one end of a railway cutting through which the branch line ran; this is now designated as a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest under the name of Kimberley Railway Cutting.

Lanteglos-by-Fowey

The South West Coast Path runs along the southern coasts of the parish and much of the southern part of the parish lies in the Polruan to Polperro Site of Special Scientific Interest managed by the National Trust.

Laverstock and Ford

Cockey Down, a grassy hill to the east of Laverstock, is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a protected area that has interesting flora and fauna.

Little Asby

Just outside the village, to the west, is Little Asby Common, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation because of the plant species that inhabit the limestone pavement areas, as well as the limestone geology of the area.

Muggleswick

The Common is part of the Muggleswick, Stanhope and Edmundbyers Commons and Blanchland Moor Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), designated as such by Natural England for its habitat diversity and the presence of a range of plant and bird species of national and international importance.

Pipewell

However this is uncertain as there are two Site of Special Scientific Interest woods at the top of the village and it is a conservation area with the Abbey site of historical interest.

Probus, Cornwall

Trehane Barton is the former home of the Stackhouse family and a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Prudhoe

It has been proposed that they be made 'sites of scientific interest'.

Shocklach

Interests include being a Site of Biological Importance (SBI), a Site and an Area of Nature Conservation Value(SNCV and ANCV respectively) and lastly a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

Shrawley

In 1955 Shrawley Wood (103.1 hectares or 254.8 acres), was designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest because of its Biological interest.

Shrewley, Warwickshire

It has the Grand Union Canal, which passes through a tunnel and cutting which is a SSSI, London Marylebone to Birmingham Snow Hill railway and M40 motorway all running parallel and in close proximity at the south-western end of Shrewley Common.

Shuttington

The pools, which attract a wide variety of bird species, have been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Sleightholme

Below the hamlet Sleightholme Beck passes through a narrow valley, known as The Troughs, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

St Hilary, Cornwall

Penberthy Croft Mine, to the north of the parish, was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1993 and is noted as the most important site in Britain for secondary ore minerals of lead, copper, and arsenic.

St Issey

Trelow Downs, to the south of the civil parish, is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest for the dry and wet heaths, valley mires and scrub.

St John, Cornwall

The St John's Lake SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) is designated mainly for its bird interests, with 6000 wildfowl and 10000 waders owerwintering on the mudflats.

St Mewan

It is a tor exposure of quartz-topaz-tourmaline rocks that has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for its geological characteristics.

Sutton cum Lound

The village is also very close to Wetlands Wildlife Park near Lound and many of its fishing lakes as well as the Idle Valley Nature Reserve wetlands Site of Special Scientific Interest to the east of the village within walking distance.

Tregonetha

Tregonetha Downs is situated half a mile south of the village and forms part of the Tregonetha & Belowda Downs SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest).

Woolhope

Woolhope is located about 7 miles east of Hereford, sat atop the 'Woolhope Dome', a region of particular geological interest; and near Haugh Wood, a Site of Special Scientific Interest due to its varied flora and fauna.

World's End, Buckinghamshire

It is now a nature reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest managed by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust.

Wybunbury

The parish also includes the lowland raised bog of Wybunbury Moss, a National Nature Reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest.


Briddlesford Copses

Briddleford Copses is a 167.2 hectare Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Special Area of Conservation (SAC) which is south of Wootton Bridge on the Isle of Wight in Britain.

Briddlesford Nature Reserve

The reserve encompasses a majority of the Briddlesford Copses Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Special Area of Conservation (SAC) together with about 50 hectares (~124 acres) of farmland.

Brockley, Somerset

Brockley Hall Stables, the former stable block of Brockley Hall, is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) because the roofspace hosts a large breeding colony of greater horseshoe bats during summer.

Burn Bridge

Some reaches of this river which passes through Burn Bridge are protected with associated SSSIs and SINCs, and freshwater fish and crayfish are protected under various Acts.

Chudleigh Knighton

The nearby Chudleigh Knighton Heath, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, is a habitat for many rare species including the ant, Formica exsecta.

Colne Brook

Colne Brook then enters the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, passes Wraysbury railway station then adjoins lakes made of former gravel pit at Wraysbury which make up a Site of Special Scientific Interest, before running into the River Thames between the M25 Runnymede Bridge and nearby Bell Weir Lock.

Cromford Mill

The nearby Cromford Canal towpath to High Peak Junction, and onwards towards Ambergate, is listed as a Biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

Ganllwyd

A large area of surrounding ancient oak woodland is a designated SSSI and has a particularly rich temperate maritime Bryophyte community.

Grovely Wood

Adjacent to Grovely, to the north, lies the grassland Site of Special Scientific Interest Ebsbury Down.

Kennet Valley Alderwoods

Kennet Valley Alderwoods is a 56.8 hectare (140.35 acre) Site of Special Scientific Interest in the civil parishes of Welford and Speen in the English county of Berkshire, notified in 1997.

Keyhaven, Pennington, Oxey and Normandy Marshes

The marshes fall within the Hurst Castle And Lymington River Estuary Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Loch of Harray

The loch is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and has a large number of pondweed species three of which are scarce, a rare caddis fly (Ylodes reuteri) and is the only known site in Scotland for a nerite snail Theodoxus fluviatilis which is more commonly found in English rivers.

River Lymn

It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Ramsar site, which provides a diverse habitat for birds such as grey plover and knot, plants including brackish water crowfoot and insects including the red-banded sand-wasp, among others.

Ryde Sands and Wootton Creek SSSI

Ryde Sands and Wootton Creek is a 424.2 hectare Site of special scientific interest which stretches along the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight, from Wootton Bridge past Ryde and Seaview to Seagrove Bay.

Sutton, West Sussex

Coates Castle is a Site of Special Scientific Interest within the parish which at one time contained the entire known remaining British population of the field cricket Gryllus campestris.

Tai Ho Wan

In 1999, the Hong Kong Government designated Tai Ho Stream as the 63rd Site of Special Scientific Interest due to the discovery of the Ayu (plecoglossus altivelis) in the river, which cannot be found anywhere in the world except for waters in Hokkaidō, and Hong Kong.

Thelnetham

North of the village and along the river is the Blo' Norton and Thelnetham Fen Site of Special Scientific Interest, an important calcarous fen wetland site supporting a range of rare species such as black bog rush Schoenus nigricans and saw sedge Cladium mariscus plant species.

Trewent Point

Stackpole Quay - Trewent Point is a cliff on the Castlemartin Peninsula of South Pembrokeshire South Wales and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (or SSSI).

Uley Bury

Part of the Bury is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) famous for abundant fossils of Lower Jurassic age which occur here in the stratum known as the Cephalopod Bed.