Purn Hill

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Purn Hill
Area of Search Avon
Grid Reference ST332573
Interest Biological
Area 6.1 hectare
Notification 1990
Location Map English Nature

Purn Hill (grid reference ST332573) is a 6.1 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest near the village of Bleadon, Somerset, notified in 1990. The site is a small promontory of Carboniferous Limestone projecting southward from the main Mendip ridge.

The SSSI citation sheet describes the site as having an "exceptionally diverse unimproved calcareous grassland flora". The richest grassland communities are situated on the thin and stony soils of the steeper west-facing flanks of the hill. Over 200 species occur in the sward, including Salad Burnet (Sanguisorba minor), Dropwort (Filipendula vulgaris), Fairy Flax (Linum catharticum), Kidney Vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria) and Dwarf Thistle (Cirsium acaule). The rare plants are mainly associated with the small exposures of Dolomitic limestone in the southern part of the site. Purn Hill is one of only five British sites for the nationally rare coastal limestone umbellifer species Honewort (Trinia glauca). White Rock-rose (Helianthemum apenninum) is found at the site and hybridises with Common Rock-rose (H. nummularium) to form the hybrid H. x sulphureum. Forty species of grass occur at the site, including Somerset Hair-grass (Koeleria vallesiana) which in Britain is confined to the western Mendips.

[edit] Source

v • d • e
Biological Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Avon
Ashton Court • Avon Gorge • Banwell Caves • Biddle Street, Yatton • Bishop's Hill Wood • Blagdon Lake • Bodkin Hazel Wood • Brockley Hall Stables • Brown's Folly • Burledge Sidelands and Meadows • Burrington Combe • Chew Valley Lake • Cleaves Wood • Cleeve Wood, Hanham • Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines • Compton Martin Ochre Mine • Congrove Field and The Tumps • Dolebury Warren • Ellenborough Park West • Folly Farm • Goblin Combe • Gordano Valley • Harptree Combe • Hawkesbury Meadow • Hinton Charterhouse Field • Horseshoe Bend, Shirehampton • Iford Manor • King's Wood and Urchin Wood • Long Dole Wood and Meadows • Lower Woods • Max Bog • Middle Hope • Midger • Monkswood Valley • Plaster's Green Meadows • Purn Hill • Puxton Moor • Severn Estuary • Shiplate Slait • St. Catherine's Valley • Steep Holm • Tickenham, Nailsea and Kenn Moors • Uphill Cliff • Upton Coombe • Walton Common • Weston Big Wood  • Yanal Bog


Neighbouring areas: Gloucestershire • Somerset • Wiltshire
  This Somerset location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
  SSSI This article about a Site of Special Scientific Interest is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Coordinates: 51.311° N 2.959° W