Winterbourne Railway Cutting

Site of Special Scientific Interest · 51.5166, -2.5071

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Gloucestershire County

Condition (Natural England)

Unfavourable Declining (2)
UnitFeatureConditionArea (ha)Assessed
ST649798 — Unfavourable Declining 2.07 2009-05-12
ST651799 — Unfavourable Declining 2.07 2009-05-12

Habitats

Fast flowing river and stream

Geology & landscape

Geological Period: Carboniferous

Description

Area, 1.99 ha. 4.91 ac. Description This locality shows an exposure of about seventy five metres of cross bedded Carboniferous sandstones and occasional shales, belonging to the Mangotsfield Group. The exposure is the best available for the examination of these early Westphalian D beds in the Bristol Coalfield and helps confirm that they were-deposited in what was at that time a north west flowing river system. Since this is the most easterly of the exposed coalfields in southern Britain, the information that it provides on the development of late Carboniferous sedimentation in this region is invaluable, especially for the help it affords in understanding the concealed coalfields of Oxfordshire and Kent. A nationally important locality for Westphalian stratigraphy.

Plant communities

A9 — Fast flowing river and stream, Marginal and inundation, Pond ditch and canal, Sluggish river and stream

Potamogeton natans community

Schoenoplectus lacustris, Juncus bulbosus, Sparganium angustifolium, Sparganium erectum, Sparganium minimum, Alisma plantago-aquatica, Lobelia dortmanna, Equisetum fluviatile, Myriophyllum alterniflorum, Elodea canadensis, Lemna minor, Lemna trisulca, Nymphaea alba, Callitriche platycarpa, Callitriche stagnalis, Littorella uniflora, Potamogeton natans, Ranunculus trichophyllus, Glyceria fluitans, Chara subspinosa

A14 — Fast flowing river and stream

Myriophyllum alterniflorum community

Isolepis fluitans, Juncus bulbosus, Fontinalis antipyretica, Lobelia dortmanna, Equisetum fluviatile, Myriophyllum alterniflorum, Lemna minor, Callitriche stagnalis, Littorella uniflora, Potamogeton filiformis, Potamogeton gramineus, Potamogeton natans, Ranunculus peltatus, Chara spp., Nitella hyalina

A17 — Chalk river and stream, Fast flowing river and stream

Ranunculus penicillatus ssp. pseudofluitans community

Berula erecta, Nasturtium officinale, Elodea canadensis, Lemna minor, Callitriche stagnalis, Veronica beccabunga, Polygonum amphibium, Polygonum hydropiper, Potamogeton crispus, Potamogeton pectinatus, Ranunculus penicillatus ssp. pseudofluitans

A18 — Fast flowing river and stream

Ranunculus fluitans community

Fontinalis antipyretica, Fontinalis squamosa var. curnowii, Myriophyllum alterniflorum, Myriophyllum spicatum, Elodea canadensis, Mentha aquatica, Lemna gibba, Lemna minor, Potamogeton perfoliatus, Ranunculus fluitans, Glyceria fluitans, Phalaris arundinacea