Dow Cave System

Site of Special Scientific Interest · 54.1582, -2.0173

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Also within

North Yorkshire County YORKSHIRE DALES National Park

Condition (Natural England)

Favourable (6)
UnitFeatureConditionArea (ha)Assessed
SD986742 — Favourable 17.36 2016-01-06
SD988732 — Favourable 29.99 2016-01-06
SD988733 — Favourable 1.25 2016-01-07
SD988738 — Favourable 29.99 2016-01-06
SD989733 — Favourable 0.38 2016-01-07
SD992730 — Favourable 33.33 2016-01-07

Habitats

Fast flowing river and stream

Geology & landscape

Geological Feature: Cave / Cavern

Landscape processes: Karst

Description

Area, 79.4 hectares 196.2 ac Description Dow Cave is the outlet to a single cave system of national physiographic significance which contains the unique fault guided rift of Dowbergill Passage. This passage is mostly 10 -25 metres high, but only one metre wide and runs completely straight for 1,500 metres. It is of purely solutional origin and carries a stream from a sink in one valley Dowber Gill through a spur of great Whernside to the rising at Dow Cave in Caseker Gill, the next valley to the north. The Hobson's Choice boulder choke which blocks the base of a major sink hole is one of the best and most accessible examples of these features in Britain. Other Information 1. Part of this site overlaps with Park Gill SSSI, notified separately for its biological interest. 2. This site is listed within the Geological Conservation Review.

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