Curry And Hay Moors
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Curry and Hay Moors () is a 472.8
hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...
(1168.1 acre)
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 ...
in
Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...
, notified in 1992. Curry and Hay Moors form part of the complex of grazing marshes known as the
Somerset Levels The Somerset Levels are a coastal plain and wetland area of Somerset, England, running south from the Mendips to the Blackdown Hills. The Somerset Levels have an area of about and are bisected by the Polden Hills; the areas to the south ...
and Moors. The low-lying site is situated adjacent to the
River Tone The River Tone is a river in the English county of Somerset. The river is about long. Its River source, source is at Beverton Pond near Huish Champflower in the Brendon Hills, and is dammed at Clatworthy Reservoir. The reservoir outfall con ...
which annually overtops, flooding the fields in winter. Soils are predominantly alluvial clays overlying Altcar series peats. The
flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...
and
fauna Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...
of the ditches and rhynes is of national importance. Over 70 aquatic and bankside vascular plants have been recorded including frogbit (''Hydrocharis morsus-ranae''), flowering rush (''Butomus umbellatus''), wood club-rush (''Scirpus sylvaticus'') and lesser water-plantain (''Baldellia ranunculoides''). Over 100 species of aquatic
invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...
s inhabit the ditches including one nationally rare
soldier fly The soldier flies (Stratiomyidae, sometimes misspelled as Stratiomyiidae, from Greek - soldier; - fly) are a family of flies (historically placed in the now-obsolete group Orthorrhapha). The family contains over 2,700 species in over 380 exta ...
, (''Odontomyia ornata'') and 13 nationally scarce species including the water beetles '' Agabus uliginosus'', '' Hydaticus transversalis'' and '' Helophorus nanus''. In winter the flooded fields provide food for large numbers of waterfowl with several thousand
northern lapwing The northern lapwing (''Vanellus vanellus''), also known as the peewit or pewit, tuit or tewit, green plover, or (in Ireland and Great Britain) pyewipe or just lapwing, is a bird in the lapwing subfamily. It is common through temperate Palearcti ...
, hundreds of common snipe and smaller numbers of golden plover and dunlin regularly present. Over two hundred
Bewick's swan The tundra swan (''Cygnus columbianus'') is a small swan of the Holarctic. The two taxa within it are usually regarded as conspecific, but are also sometimes split into two species: Bewick's swan (''Cygnus bewickii'') of the Palaearctic and the ...
s have been recorded, making the site an internationally important wintering ground for this species. Raptor species such as
short-eared owl The short-eared owl (''Asio flammeus'') is a widespread grassland species in the family Strigidae. Owls belonging to genus ''Asio'' are known as the eared owls, as they have tufts of feathers resembling mammalian ears. These "ear" tufts may or ...
,
merlin The Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) is an interferometer array of radio telescopes spread across England. The array is run from Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire by the University of Manchester on behalf of UK Re ...
and peregrine regularly hunt over the site in winter. Vertebrate species present include barred grass snake and
common frog The common frog or grass frog (''Rana temporaria''), also known as the European common frog, European common brown frog, European grass frog, European Holarctic true frog, European pond frog or European brown frog or simply the frog, is a semi ...
.
Eurasian otter The Eurasian otter (''Lutra lutra''), also known as the European otter, Eurasian river otter, European river otter, common otter, and Old World otter, is a semiaquatic mammal native to Eurasia and the Maghreb. The most widely distributed member o ...
s are regularly recorded on the site. The moor was flooded during the winter flooding of 2013–14 on the Somerset Levels.


References

{{SSSIs Somerset biological Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Somerset Sites of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1992 Somerset Levels Wetland Sites of Special Scientific Interest BCurry