Chapel Hill

Site of Special Scientific Interest · 51.1137, -4.1586

Also within

Devon County

Condition (Natural England)

Unfavourable Recovering (1)
UnitFeatureConditionArea (ha)Assessed
SS490371 — Unfavourable Recovering 0.23 2010-06-21

Description

Chapel Hill SSSI Description Chapel Hill contains the largest population of penny royal Mentha pulegium known in Devon, a nationally vulnerable plant species. Since 1970, penny royal Mentha pulegium has only been recorded from about 15 localities in great Britain. At Chapel Hill in 1988 over 100 large plants were recorded in a sward dominated by grasses such as fescues Festuca spp. and bents Agrostis spp.

Species mentioned

English name
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Latin name
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IUCN / Red List Type Family
pennyroyal Mentha pulegium NT herb lamiaceae

Insects to look out for

These moths, butterflies and beetles are known to feed on plants recorded at this site, and carry a notable UK conservation status — but a host-plant being present doesn't mean the insect has actually been recorded here. Treat this as "worth watching for," not a confirmed sighting.

SpeciesStatusVia host-plant
Grey chi
Antitype chi
Near Threatened Mentha spp.

Host-plant data: Cook et al. (2025), Traits data for the butterflies and macro-moths of Great Britain and Ireland, 2024, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology / Butterfly Conservation; and Padovani et al. (2020), Database of Insects and their Food Plants (DBIF), UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (both Open Government Licence). Contains data supplied by UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology.