The Bottoms (SSSI)

The Bottoms
Site of Special Scientific Interest
LocationMAGiC MaP
Nearest city City of Durham
Coordinates54°44′13″N 1°26′24″W / 54.73694°N 1.44000°W / 54.73694; -1.44000
Area2.15 ha (5.3 acres)
Established1999
Governing bodyNatural England
WebsiteThe Bottoms SSSI

The Bottoms is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in County Durham, England. It lies just south of the A181 road, roughly midway between the Cassop and Wheatley Hill villages, some 10 km south-east of Durham city.

The site's interest lies in unimproved magnesian limestone grassland, where blue moor-grass, Sesleria albicans, and small scabious, Scabiosa columbaria, are the dominant species. This is a scarce vegetation type found only in County Durham, and the extent of which has been severely reduced by quarrying and intensive agriculture.[1]

Other grasses that are frequent in the sward include meadow oat-grass, Avenula pratensis, quaking grass, Briza media, sheep's fescue, Festuca ovina, crested hairgrass, and Koeleria macrantha. There is a rich variety of herbs, including rock-rose, Helianthemum nummularium, glaucous sedge, Carex flacca, spring sedge, C. caryophyllea, and mouse-ear hawkweed, Pilosella officinarum, and a small population of purple milk-vetch, Astragalus danicus, a local rarity on magnesian limestone.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b "Citation 2000340: The Bottoms SSSI" (PDF). designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk. Natural England. 27 April 1999. Retrieved 6 April 2021.


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