Broadmoor to Bagshot Woods and Heaths is a biological

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

(SSSI) in

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

and

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

that extend from a minority of the parish of

Crowthorne Crowthorne is a village, and civil parish, in the Bracknell Forest district of southeastern Berkshire, England. It had a population of 7,806 at the United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 census. Crowthorne is the location of Wellington College, Be ...

including around

Broadmoor Hospital Broadmoor Hospital is a high-security psychiatric hospital in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England. It is the oldest of England's three high-security psychiatric hospitals, the other two being Ashworth Hospital near Liverpool and Rampton Secure ...

in the west to

Bagshot Bagshot is a large village in the Surrey Heath borough of Surrey, England, approximately southwest of central London. In the past, Bagshot served as an important staging post between London, Southampton and the West Country, evidenced by the ...

south-east,

Bracknell Bracknell () is a town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, the westernmost area within the Greater London Built-up Area, Greater London Urban Area and the administrative centre of the borough of Bracknell Forest. It lies to the east of Re ...

north-east, and Sandhurst, south. It is part of the Thames Basin Heaths

Special Protection Area A special protection area (SPA) is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and cer ...

. Two nature reserves which are managed by the

Surrey Wildlife Trust Surrey Wildlife Trust (SWT) was founded in 1959 as Surrey Naturalists' Trust and it is one of forty-six The Wildlife Trusts, wildlife trusts covering Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Isle of Man and Alderney. ...

are in the SSSI, Barossa nature reserve and Poors Allotment. Broadmoor Bottom, which is part of Wildmoor Heath, also falls within the SSSI; this reserve is managed by the

Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust The Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) is a Wildlife Trust covering the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire in England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part ...

Environment

This area has an extensive mosaic of broadleaved

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

, coniferous plantation, dry and wet

heathland A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...

, valley mire, a series of base-poor ponds and a scarce breeding invertebrate assemblage (topsoil and plants). In particular, the heathland and coniferous plantation supports internationally important populations of

woodlark The woodlark or wood lark (''Lullula arborea'') is the only extant species in the lark genus ''Lullula''. It is found across most of Europe, the Middle East, western Asia and the mountains of north Africa. It is mainly resident (non-bird migrati ...

, Eurasian nightjar and

Dartford warbler The Dartford warbler (''Curruca undata'') is a typical warbler from the warmer parts of western Europe and northwestern Africa. It is a small warbler with a long thin tail and a thin pointed bill. The adult male has grey-brown upperparts and is d ...

, and have a nationally important

dragonfly A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of dragonflies are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threat ...

and

damselfly Damselflies are flying insects of the suborder Zygoptera in the order Odonata. They are similar to dragonflies (which constitute the other odonatan suborder, Epiprocta) but are usually smaller and have slimmer bodies. Most species fold the win ...

population. The site includes the

peatland A peatland is a type of wetland whose soils consist of Soil organic matter, organic matter from decaying plants, forming layers of peat. Peatlands arise because of incomplete decomposition of organic matter, usually litter from vegetation, du ...

valley bogs of Broadmoor Bottom and Wishmoor Bottom which form the most important remaining examples of this type of habitat in the region. The site encloses a variety of habitats, but especially some open

as well as forestry plantations. The underlying geology includes recent deposits such as the Barton sands, part of the

Bagshot Formation In geology, the Bagshot Beds are a series of sands and clays of shallow-water origin, some being fresh-water, some marine. They belong to the upper Eocene formation of the London and Hampshire basins, in England and derive their name from Bagsh ...

with local gravel deposits. They form a well-drained

subsoil Subsoil is the layer of soil under the topsoil on the surface of the ground. Like topsoil, it is composed of a variable mixture of small particles such as sand, silt and clay, but with a much lower percentage of organic matter and humus. The su ...

, so the area is mainly dry. Pockets of clay near the surface result in relatively shallow, sheltered pools.

Adjoining forest and military use

The area is partly used by

Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial officer training centre. It is located in the town o ...

and is partially within

Swinley Forest Swinley Forest is a large expanse of Crown Estate woodland managed by Forestry England mainly within the civil parishes of Windlesham in Surrey and Winkfield and Crowthorne in Berkshire, England. Coverage Situated to the south-west of Wind ...

, the main woodland of

Bracknell Forest Bracknell Forest is a unitary authority area in Berkshire, southern England. It covers the two towns of Bracknell and Sandhurst and the village of Crowthorne and also includes the areas of North Ascot, Binfield, Warfield, and Winkfield. The b ...

district.

Bird life

The mixture of open heathland, some valley bottom bogs and

provides habitats for

birds including the

European stonechat The European stonechat (''Saxicola rubicola'') is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a subspecies of the common stonechat. Long considered a member of the thrush family, Turdidae, genetic evidence has placed it and its relative ...

''Saxicola rubicola'',

common redstart The common redstart (''Phoenicurus phoenicurus''), or often simply redstart, is a small passerine bird in the genus '' Phoenicurus''. Like its relatives, it was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family, (Turdidae), but is now known to be ...

''Phoenicurus phoenicurus'', and three particularly vulnerable species of bird, woodlark ''Lullula arborea'', nightjar ''Caprimulgus europaeus'' and

''Sylvia undata''. The site also has a small breeding population of the hobby '' Falco subbuteo''. Forestry management of the coniferous woodland, which includes rotational clearance and subsequent replanting, provides temporary areas of developing heathland. These areas, together with open storm damaged areas and the developing heathland alongside broad forest rides, are utilised as breeding habitat by woodlark, the

Hobby (bird) A hobby is a fairly small, very swift falcon with long, narrow wings. There are four birds called "hobby", and some others which - although termed "falcon" - are very similar. All specialise in being superb aerialists. Although they take prey on ...

and nightjar. They have expanded as

Sitka spruce ''Picea sitchensis'', the Sitka spruce, is a large, coniferous, evergreen tree growing to just over tall, with a trunk diameter at breast height that can exceed 5 m (16 ft). It is by far the largest species of spruce and the fifth- ...

plantations have been cut down, such as in and around Caesar's Camp.

Archaeology

One feature of note within the area is an

Iron Age hill fort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...

called Caesar's Camp. It is one of the largest hillforts in the south of England, but has not been excavated systematically. Some of the coniferous woodland has been cleared from the site, enabling greater visibility of the massive earthworks of the ramparts. It has produced a few Iron Age coins. An important Roman road, the

Devil's Highway (Roman Britain) The Devil's Highway was a Roman roads in Britain, Roman road in Roman Britain, Britain connecting Londinium (London) to Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester) via Pontes (Roman Britain), Pontes (Staines-upon-Thames, Staines). The road was the principal ...

also cuts across the woods and

from east to west, leading to the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

town of

Calleva Atrebatum Calleva Atrebatum ("Calleva of the Atrebates") was an Iron Age oppidum, the capital of the Atrebates tribe. It then became a walled town in the Roman province of Britannia, at a major crossroads of the roads of southern Britain. The modern vi ...

. It is also linked to the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

fort by a short road which cuts through a small Roman settlement known as Wickham Bushes. The site has produced random scatters of pottery, tiles, nails and brick, as well as

Samian ware Terra sigillata is a term with at least three distinct meanings: as a description of medieval medicinal earth; in archaeology, as a general term for some of the fine red ancient Roman pottery with glossy surface slips made in specific areas ...

, suggesting it may have been a staging post on the road, but again, has never been excavated scientifically. There are also numerous

redoubt A redoubt (historically redout) is a Fortification, fort or fort system usually consisting of an enclosed defensive emplacement outside a larger fort, usually relying on Earthworks (engineering), earthworks, although some are constructed of ston ...

s made by soldiers practicing engineering skills during the

Napoleonic wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

References

{{Authority control Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Berkshire Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Surrey Forests and woodlands of Berkshire Special Protection Areas in England

Environment

Adjoining forest and military use

Bird life

Archaeology

See also

References