Stanley Ghyll

Also within

Cumbria County LAKE DISTRICT National Park

Condition (Natural England)

Climate exposure

This is about exposure to a nationwide pressure this habitat type carries — not a verdict on this site's own management.

Habitats

Fast flowing river and stream

Geology & landscape

Geological Feature: Gorge / Ravine · Rock Type: Granite

Landscape processes: Coastal, Fluvial, Glacial, Volcanic / Igneous

Description

Area, 8.20 hectares 20.2 ac Description Stanley Ghyll is a deep stream gorge cut into the Eskdale Granite on the southern valley slopes of the River Esk. The gorge carries the Birker Beck northwards, via a series of waterfalls, to meet the River Esk by the village of Beckfoot, 9 kilometres up river from its estuary at Ravenglass. The tributary of the Esk has been left 'hanging' above the main valley floor as a result of glacial action. The lower reaches of the stream lie some 90 metres below the start of the waterfalls. The site includes the deeply incised Stanley Ghyll and flanking woodlands. This wooded ghyll is one of the finest waterfall ravines in the Lake District and the humid, sheltered conditions within protect a very rich assemblage of mosses, lichens, liverworts and ferns including notable rarities. The ghyll and adjacent woodlands form the most important site for these plants in southwest Lakeland. The damp, shaded rock faces are often covered by locally extensive patches of Wilson's filmy fern Hymenophyllum wilsonii and a variety of moss species. These include the rarities Isothecium holtii, Chionoloma tenuirostre, Hygrohypnum eugyrium and Fissidens curnovii. In the same habitat several rare liverworts are also present; Jubula hutchinsiae in dripping crevices and Lophocolea fragrans in the spray zones of the waterfalls, two notable species in an association of unusual liverworts more typical of warmer, southern oceanic conditions. The same sheltered conditions have favoured the survival of a number of 'old forest' lichens growing on the trunks of oak trees in the ghyll, e.g. Thelotrema lepadinum, Menegazziaterebrata, Cetrelia cetrariodes, Mycoblastus sanguinarius, Parmelia laevigata and P.taylorensis. These form a characteristic 'upland, leached bark' association of epiphytic lichens. The site is also the only locality in northern England for Menegazzia tenebrata and another Parmelia species, P. arnoldii. The flanking woodlands on either side of the stream conform to a number of recognisable associations though these have been modified by past planting of ornamental species. Birch sessile oak woods cover much of the higher ground with oak hazel ash woods within the ghyll. The lower reaches of the stream are dominated by oak hazel stands. Plants of the woodland floor include some species more typical of southern woodlands, e.g. three nerved sandwort, enchanter's nightshade and wood millet Milium effusum. Other species such as wood rush, oak fern Gymnocarpium dryopteris, beech fern Phegopteris connectilis and lemon scented fern Oreopteris limbosperma are more characteristic of north western woodlands.

Species mentioned

Plant communities