Stretton-on-Fosse Pit

Site of Special Scientific Interest · 52.0403, -1.6808

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Also within

Warwickshire County

Condition (Natural England)

Favourable (2)
UnitFeatureConditionArea (ha)Assessed
SP219380 — Favourable 0.32 2014-10-02
SP220381 — Favourable 0.27 2014-10-02

Habitats

Fast flowing river and stream

Geology & landscape

Geological Period: Quaternary

Landscape processes: Fluvial, Glacial

Description

Area, 0.6 ha. 1.5 ac. Description This site consists of two small areas providing important exposures of a complex sequence of deposits formed during the middle Pleistocene Ice Ages. The lowest deposits consist of fluvial sands, laid down by a river and contain mammal remains of inter glacial type, reflecting a phase of warm climate between major glacial phases. These are overlain by gravels containing mammoth remains, thought to represent a deposit formed at the onset of a phase of glacial conditions. Overlying this is an important sequence of beds attributed to the Wolstonian glaciation phase of the Midlands, consisting mainly of till laid down beneath an ice sheet with layers of clay formed on the bed of a lake. Some authors have claimed that the lowest deposits seen here, the fluvial sands, were formed by a river flowing through the Cotswolds via the Moreton Gap, thereby crossing the watershed between the rivers Evenlode and Stour. This is of great potential importance since these rivers lie in the basins of the Thames and Severn respectively and this site may therefore offer an important opportunity for linking the sequences of Pleistocene deposits preserved separately in the two basins. This site is therefore of considerable significance for future studies of the Pleistocene deposits of Southern England.

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