Fishburn Grassland is a

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 ...

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It lies between the villages of

Fishburn Fishburn is a village and civil parish in County Durham, in England. It is situated about west of Hartlepool. The population was 2,454, increasing to 2,588 at the 2011 Census. Location The village lies scattered along a dry swell of magnesia ...

and

Trimdon Trimdon is a village in County Durham, in England. Name and etymology The name ''Trimdon'' is recorded in the forms ''Tremeldon'' (1196) and ''Tremedon'' (1262) during the Medieval era. It appears to be of Old English origin, with the a meani ...

, just north of the former. The site consists of a small area of species-rich

magnesian limestone The Magnesian Limestone is a suite of carbonate rocks in north-east England dating from the Permian period. The outcrop stretches from Nottingham northwards through Yorkshire and into County Durham where it is exposed along the coast between Ha ...

grassland, a

vegetation type Vegetation classification is the process of classifying and mapping the vegetation over an area of the Earth's surface. Vegetation classification is often performed by state based agencies as part of land use, resource and environmental management ...

that is rare nationally and mainly restricted to County Durham and

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England. It borders Northumberland to the north and County Durham to the south, and the largest settlement is the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. The county is ...

. There are two distinct plant communities, the larger of which, dominated by blue moor-grass, '' Sesleria albicans'', and small scabious, ''

Scabiosa columbaria ''Scabiosa columbaria'', called the small scabious or dwarf pincushion flower, is a widespread species of flowering plant in the genus ''Scabiosa'', native to Europe, Africa, and western Asia, from Sweden to Angola. In the garden it is a short-li ...

'', is known only from east Durham. The other community, dominated by upright brome, ''

Bromus erectus ''Bromus erectus'', commonly known as erect brome, upright brome or meadow brome, is a dense, course, tufted perennial grass. It can grow to . Like many brome grasses the plant is hairy. The specific epithet ''erectus'' is Latin, meaning "erect" ...

'', is common on limestone in southern England but is at its northern limit in Durham, where there are no other protected sites.

References

Sites of Special Scientific Interest in County Durham {{Durham-geo-stub