Spy Wood and Aldress Dingle

Site of Special Scientific Interest · 52.5563, -3.0624

Open in the interactive map →

Also within

Powys CountyShropshire County

Habitats

Fast flowing river and stream

Geology & landscape

Geological Period: Ordovician · Rock Type: Sandstone, Shale

Landscape processes: Volcanic / Igneous

Description

Description This site provides an outstanding cross-section through a large proportion of the middle to upper Ordovician rock succession of the Shelve area. These stream sections have been recently reinterpreted and expose a section that includes the Meadowtown Formation and Rorrington Shale Formation (of the Llandeilo Series) and the Spy Wood Sandstone Formation, Aldress Shale Formation, Hagley Volcanic Formation and Hagley Shale Formation (of the Caradoc Series). The rock exposures are designated as the standard or type sections of the Spy Wood Sandstone and Aldress Shale formations. The site is richly fossiliferous and particularly rich in graptolites, which have been the subject of a recent monograph. A number of species of trilobites and graptolites were first defined from specimens collected here. Fifteen species of graptolites representing the fauna of the Glyptograptus teretiusculus Biozone, the Nemagraptus gracilis Biozone and the Diplograptus multidens Biozone have been recorded from Deadman’s and Spy Wood Dingles. The site is of great importance in correlating the Llandeilo Series of the Shelve Inlier with the Llandeilo strata of other areas 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