Black Lake Nature Reserve

Black Lake Nature Reserve

Black Lake NR within Cheshire

Type Nature reserve and SSSI
Location Delamere Forest, Cheshire
OS grid SJ537709
Coordinates 53°14′00″N 2°41′40″W / 53.2333°N 2.6944°WCoordinates: 53°14′00″N 2°41′40″W / 53.2333°N 2.6944°W
Area 0.4 ha
Elevation 75m[1]
Operated by Cheshire Wildlife Trust
Open any reasonable time

Black Lake is a nature reserve in Delamere Forest, Cheshire, England. It lies in the southwestern corner of the Forest, just south of the Manchester–Chester railway.[1] It is managed by the Cheshire Wildlife Trust (CWT)[2] on behalf of the Forestry Commission, and as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) is monitored by Natural England.[3]

The site is designated as an SSSI because "it represents a very early stage of a Schwingmoor type basin fen and occurs in association with dystrophic open water."[4] A Schwingmoor or quaking bog occurs when plants such as Sphagnum mosses and cotton grass Eriophorum sp. colonise the surface of a waterbody and form a floating mat of vegetation; at Black Lake the Sphagnum raft covers around half the lake surface. The SSSI (which includes the surrounding catchment area) covers an area of 1.74 hectares (4.3 acres);[4] the CWT reserve is 0.40 hectares (0.99 acres) in area.[2]

The site is also noted for its uncommon dragonflies, which formerly included the White-faced Darter Leucorrhinia dubia.

History

The depression containing Black Lake was created by the melting of an ice-block at the end of the last Ice Age some 10,000 years ago. The lake was enlarged as a duck pond in the 1820s. By the 1940s it was completely covered by Sphagnum moss, and in 1973 had developed a hummocked appearance and had been colonised by young trees. The building of a crushed-limestone road nearby changed the acidity of the conditions and the moss Sphagnum cuspidatum, which hosted the nymphs of the White-faced Darter, disappeared. In 1995 the limestone material was removed, and the raft of vegetation began to recover, but the White-faced Darter has not been recorded since 1997.[3]

Key species

The following species of dragonflies and damselflies have been recorded at Black Lake: White-faced Darter Leucorrhinia dubia (last recorded 1997), Brown Hawker Aeshna grandis, Four-spotted Chaser Libellula quadrimaculata, Common Darter Sympetrum striolatum, Black Darter Sympetrum danae, Large Red Damselfly Pyrrhosoma nymphula and Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum.[3]

Unusual plants for the area include Common Sundew Drosera rotundifolia, White Sedge Carex curta, Common Cottongrass Eriophorum angustifolium[4] and Bilberry Vaccinium myrtillus.[3]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Northwich & Delamere Forest (Map). 1:25000. Explorer Series. Ordnance Survey.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Black Lake". Cheshire Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Interpretative notice on site
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "SSSI citation: Black Lake, Delamere". Natural England. Retrieved 11 July 2012.

External links