Westhay Moor

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Westhay Moor
Westhay: Roundhouse at Peat Moors Centre
Area of Search	Somerset
Grid Reference	ST455445
Interest	Biological
Area	513.7 hectare (1269.3 acre)
Notification	1971
Location Map	English Nature

Westhay Moor (grid reference ST455445) is a 513.7 hectare (1269.3 acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest 2.5km north-east of Westhay village and 4km from Wedmore in Somerset, 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.

Westhay Moor originally lay at the centre of the most northerly of the two lowland raised bogs that formed in the lower Brue Valley. They reached their greatest extent at the end of the Iron Age. The peat from both raised bogs were extensively dug for fuel up until the end of World War 2 after which they were dug for horticultural peat. Large parts of Westhay Moor have now been dug back to the underlying clay exposing estuarine deposits dating from about 6000 BP before isolation from the sea and peat formation began. In 1970 the Somerset Wildlife Trust bought the first part of the last 30 acres (10 hectares) of acid raised bog vegetation left on the Somerset Moors undamaged by peat digging or agriculture. Since then SWT have bought or been given 100 hectares or former peatworkings. These were sculpted and restored to wetland as the experimental area for the Avalon Marshes. The wetland on the clay is dominated by Phragmites reed, catstail and open water. This was the term given in the late 1980s to describe the wetland restored from peat workings in the Brue Valley. The wetland restoration has been a great success and was declared a National Nature Reserve in 1995. Peat working on is now beginning to draw to a close on Westhay Moor and the majority of the remaining peatworkings are now being restored to wetland as they are completed.

Westhay Moor, forms part of the nationally important grazing marsh and ditch systems of the Somerset Levels and Moors. Over much of the moor, the water table is high throughout the year with extensive winter flooding occurring regularly. Water tables in the peat excavations are artificially lowered during active working, but excavations often fill with water for much of the year. Westhay Moor supports a nationally outstanding community of terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates. At least 28 nationally notable invertebrate species also occur on the moor. The meadows, ditches, abandoned peat workings and hedgerows provide suitable breeding habitats for a diverse and nationally important breeding bird community. ^[1]