Yewdale Beck

Site of Special Scientific Interest · 54.3776, -3.0680

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Also within

Cumbria County LAKE DISTRICT National Park

Condition (Natural England)

Favourable (1)
UnitFeatureConditionArea (ha)Assessed
SD307985 — Favourable 0.65 2014-07-28

Habitats

Fast flowing river and stream

Geology & landscape

Geological Period: Ordovician, Silurian

Description

Description Yewdale Beck is located approximately one kilometre north east of the village of Coniston. The site consists of a short stream section with rock exposures in the banks, bed and river cliffs of Yewdale Beck. Rock sections at this site show strata belonging to the Ashgill Formation and Skelgill Formation straddling the Ordovician – Silurian boundary. These rocks are of graptolitic facies. This is the best exposures in the western Lake District in these strata and yields the graptolite Glyptograptus persculptus, the index of the highest pre Silurian graptolite Zone and a species of restricted distribution in Cumbria. Similarly the overlying earliest Silurian graptolite Zone that of Orthograptus acuminatus is better developed here than in the eastern Lake District. These differences reflect the presence of active faults and barriers in the Lake District in late Ordovician and early Silurian times. This site is a key site for the study of early Silurian stratigraphy and palaeogeography in Britain.

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