| Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
The ponds to the north of Red Moor SSSI, created from old tin mining pits |
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Shown within Cornwall (mainland)
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| Area of Search | Cornwall |
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| Grid reference | SX072613 |
| Interest | Biological |
| Area | 89.1 hectares (0.8910 km2; 0.3440 sq mi) |
| Notification | 1979 |
| Natural England website | |
Red Moor is a nature reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), noted for its biological interest, in central Cornwall, England, UK.
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The 89 hectares (220 acres) SSSI, notified in 1979, is located mainly within Lanlivery civil parish, 2 miles (3.2 km) north-west of the town of Lostwithiel.[1][2]
The nature reserve is owned by the Cornwall Wildlife Trust/Cornwall Trust for Nature.[3]
The river coursing out of the north of the site, a tributary of the River Par, was found to flow through tin-bearing gravels by the early mediaeval period[4] This part of Red Moor was mined for loose tin until the end of the 19th century[5] and the oxidised metal is thought to give the moor its descriptive name.[4]
This SSSI used to belong to the Red Moor–Breney Common SSSI, the two sites having split in the 1986 revision where both sites were expanded.[5]
There are two main habitat types within the site; the dry dwarf-shrub heath to the north and wetter marshy grassland, wetland heath and bog-land in the low-lying basin to the south.[5] The bog contains a variety of Sphagnum peat mosses - that disperse their spores from June to August[3] - bog asphodel (Narthecium ossifragum), cottongrass (Eriophorum vaginatum), and marsh cinquefoil (Potentilla palustris). Other flora on the site include the climbing corydalis (Ceratocapnos claviculata) and the Royal fern (Osmunda regalis).[5]
On the site can be found 13 species of dragonfly and damselfly, which include the Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly, a nationally rare species. Aquatic beetles are also present on the moor, the very scarce Hydrochus nitidicollis being one, as well as 2 uncommon spiders.[5]
Birds recorded on the site include the Willow Tit, Tree Pipit, European Nightjar and the Eurasian Sparrowhawk.[5]
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