Celebrating Life on the Mendips and Surrounding Areas

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FREE Celebrating life on Mendip the Mendips and surrounding areas TimesVOLUME 12 ISSUE 1 JUNE 2016 FREE FREE FREE Celebrating life on CelebratingFREE life on Celebrating life on Celebrating life on Mendip the Mendips and Mendip the Mendips and Mendip the Mendips and Mendip the Mendips and surrounding areas surrounding areas surrounding areas surrounding areas TimesVOLUME 11 ISSUE 1 JUNE 2015 TimesVOLUME 11 ISSUE 4 SEPTEMBER 2015 TimesVOLUME 11 ISSUE 7 DECEMBER 2015 TimesVOLUME 11 ISSUE 10 MARCH 2016

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Local people, local history, local places, local events and local news Winscombe feature:Layout 1 19/5/16 09:04 Page 48

MENDIP TIMES

Settlement of Winscombe in mid-ground and Wavering Down and Crook Peak in background (taken from Sandford Hill)

The Vale of Winscombe: an unsung natural treasure I HAVE lived in the square here. and boulders into the upper valley, West Country for 25 For the most part, the central/western contributing to the undulating topography years and in the Vale Mendips consist of a wide undulating of Vale of Winscombe; while finer of Winscombe in the plateau, incised in a few places by steep grained mudstones were more readily Mendip Hills for the rocky gorges. To the west of Black transported by floodwaters and deposited last two. As a Down, however, the hills divide to reveal lower down across the broad flat plain of geographer and an a wide low-lying basin, roughly 4.5 miles the Lox Yeo Valley. By Dr LINCOLN GARLAND ecologist, it long and 1.5 miles across. The basin has The special visual attributes of the Vale immediately struck two key components; the Vale of of Winscombe and Lox Yeo Valley are a me that the topography and landscape of Winscombe on the upper eastern side and product of these geological processes in the vale and the adjoining Lox Yeo the Lox Yeo Valley on the lower ground combination with various ecological and Valley, are very different from anything to the west. cultural influences and are reflected else in the central/western Mendips. The Strawberry Line Path, which through inclusion within the Mendip Hills These natural and physical extends north to south across the basin, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty characteristics are rarely celebrated in roughly marks the transition between the (AONB). AONB status means that the the many published accounts of this two. The basin is enclosed by the valley and the wider central/western area, which is an omission I hope to Dolebury, Sandford and Banwell Mendip area is considered to represent ridgelines to the north; the Shute Shelve one of the nation’s most distinctive and Hill – Callow Hill and Crook Peak – naturally beautiful landscapes. Wavering Down – ridgelines to the south; While the ridgelines encompassing the and Bleadon Hill to the west. basin define this treasured terrain and To understand this distinctive landscape provide a sense of enclosure and we must first go back to the sanctuary, the wide valley bottom in itself Carboniferous period, 300-350 million also greatly contributes to the years ago, when tropical shallow seas attractiveness of the landscape, affording bathed the Mendip area, gradually laying far-reaching views in all directions, down the limestone rock that dominates which encapsulate some of the Mendips’ the geology today (recall that limestone most striking ridgelines and hilltops. consists of the skeletal fragments of Further to this, the contrasting countless millions of marine organisms landscape of the valley floor also such as corals and molluscs). deserves recognition here. While the At the end of this period, tectonic entire valley is pastoral in character, pressures were uplifting the limestone variance between the Vale of Winscombe and other sedimentary deposits, creating and the Lox Yeo Valley is clearly evident. the Mendip Hills, or rather mountains as In addition to its rolling topography, the they then were. Fast forward a 100-150 vale is also characterised by its tapestry million years to the desert environment of of extensively farmed fields; sunken the Triassic and these mountains were lanes, tracks and droves; small Spectacular display of Wild Garlic in Kings undergoing rapid erosion, which broadly woodlands; and overgrown hedgerows. Wood on the slopes of Cross Plain on the formed the expansive basin evident today. The time-honoured status of the southern edge of the valley Flash flooding washed gravels, stones hedgerows is evident from the wide Dr Garland is an ecological consultant working for Biodiversity by De

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MENDIP TIMES FOCUS ON WINSCOMBE

variety of tree and shrub species present, including many mature oaks, and also their rich colourful ground flora comprising abundant bluebells, wild garlic, lesser stichwort and primroses. Conversely, the Lox Yeo Valley is a much flatter open landscape, distinguished in particular by the valley’s eponymously named river and its many short tributaries. The prominence of Crook Peak, which stands sentry over Loxton Pass, the gateway to the Somerset Levels, is also a defining feature of the lower valley. Loxton and other passes add greatly to the landscape quality, providing splendid views south-west to Brent Knoll and and wild garlic each spring. Notable disappear underground into a huge sub- beyond to the Quantocks and Exmoor; fauna includes the secretive dormouse surface river system; the Mendips is said and also northwest to Weston Woods, and and, in Banwell Woods, the greater to have the largest in Britain. The Vale of across the Severn Estuary as far as the horseshoe bat. Winscombe includes many springs from Brecon Beacons. These bats hibernate within hillside which sub-surface streams re-emerge. The geology and varied landscape have caves which form one component of the These mostly feed into the Lox Yeo in turn encouraged a rich variety of designated North Somerset and Mendip River which meanders down the valley habitats, plants and animals to establish. Bats SAC. The combination of stock for roughly three miles before joining The many flower-rich limestone grazed pasture and long-standing with the River Axe just south of Loxton grasslands that fringe the hillsides are woodlands, both within the valley and Pass. Sea trout, brown trout and dependent on the shallow nutrient- across the wider Mendips, provides ideal bullhead are all said to inhabit the deficient and lime-rich soils. Such habitat for this bat species. river. impoverished conditions prevent With respect to the valley floor, Max Much has been written about the domination by a small number of large Bog on the western edge of Winscombe Strawberry Line and so I do not intend to aggressive plant species, thereby allowing is the jewel-in-the-crown from a go into detail here other than to reiterate a wide diversity of herbs and fine grasses biodiversity perspective. This site, which what a fantastic wildlife and recreational to flourish. is also designated a SSSI, is a lime-rich resource it is. Sadly house-builders see The limestone grasslands of greatest lowland mire, supporting a tremendous the line, which is designated as a local ecological worth can be found between variety of wetland rushes, sedges, grasses nature reserve, as a boundary up to Shute Shelve Hill and Crook Peak, and and herbs, including many rarities. Wet which they should develop. also on Dolebury Warren. The former woodland copses complement the If this trend continues, however, there represents one part of the Mendip wetland habitat mosaic. is a risk that housing will enclose the line Limestone Grasslands Special Area of One meadow in particular, visible from on one side or the other (or both) for Conservation (SAC), while both are Sites Max Mill Lane, performs an amazing most of its route across the valley, of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). wildflower display in early summer, detracting from its very special qualities While locals instinctively recognise the producing masses of yellow rattle, ragged and also people’s enjoyment of the wider beauty and ecological value of these sites, robin, buttercups, orchids and many other AONB. few probably appreciate that SACs and colourful herbs. Breeding birds which can The Vale of Winscombe/Lox Yeo SSSIs are sites that have been formally be seen at Max Bog include kestrel, Valley is a unique component of the recognised as being of European and willow warbler, reed bunting and spotted Mendip Hills. Nowhere else can be National biodiversity value respectively. flycatcher, all species which probably found such a long and expansive valley Ancient woodlands also skirt the valley breed nowhere else on the valley floor floor, including a network of spring fed sides, and include Banwell, Sandford and (kestrel being the possible exception). streams, and encircled on all sides by Broad Knoll. To be considered as ancient Please enjoy the fragile habitats of Max some of the Mendips’ most distinctive a woodland must have existed Bog from the public right of way only, hilltops and ridgelines. continuously since 1600 or before. unless issued with a visitor’s permit from It’s a landscape that has been created Having had hundreds of years to develop the Avon Wildlife Trust. At Max Bog, the over millions of years by geological, complex and interrelated plant, animal Winscombe Brook feeds into the Lox Yeo climatic and ecological processes, and and fungal communities, ancient River, the latter being the only stream of more recently by rural land management woodlands support prodigious significance in the central/western that on the whole has proven relatively biodiversity. Mendips. benign. Let us hope that new The undisturbed soils of these, and The paucity of surface level streams on development and ongoing farming other longstanding woodlands in the the Mendips is once more explained by practices will be undertaken sustainably valley, nearly all produce spectacular and the geology. On reaching limestone, to preserve this exceptional and sensitive deeply cherished displays of bluebells which is permeable, streams rapidly environment for posterity. Dr Garland is an ecological consultant working for Biodiversity by Design. Contact him on [email protected]

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