Meathop Moss is a

raised bog Raised bogs, also called ombrotrophic bogs, are acidic, wet habitats that are poor in mineral salts and are home to flora and fauna that can cope with such extreme conditions. Raised bogs, unlike fens, are exclusively fed by precipitation (ombrot ...

located north of Meathop in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. ...

, England. Protected as a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

by the Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Meathop Moss is notable for its insect life. In 1965 it was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest under the

National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 The National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which created the National Parks Commission which later became the Countryside Commission and then the Countryside Agency, which becam ...

. Along with two other raised bogs near the Kent estuary, it has been included in the Witherslack Mosses

Special Area of Conservation A Special Area of Conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and a ...

which was designated in 2005.

Etymology

Meathop is a locality near the village of Lindale. ''Moss'' is a dialect word meaning bog.

History

The bog developed above a

shingle beach A shingle beach (also referred to as rocky beach or pebble beach) is a beach which is armoured with pebbles or small- to medium-sized cobbles (as opposed to fine sand). Typically, the stone composition may grade from characteristic sizes rangi ...

after the last glaciation.

Charles Rothschild and the "Rothschild List"

The site was identified by the

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

Charles Rothschild Nathaniel Charles Rothschild (9 May 1877 – 12 October 1923), known as "Charles", was an English banker and entomologist and a member of the Rothschild family. He is remembered for The Rothschild List, a list he made in 1915 of 284 sites acro ...

(1877–1923) as being of ecological importance. He was particularly interested in the site as the habitat of the large heath butterfly and the

silver-studded blue The silver-studded blue (''Plebejus argus'') is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It has bright blue wings rimmed in black with white edges and silver spots on its hindwings, lending it the name of the silver-studded blue. ''P. argus'' can be ...

. This was to lead to the creation of the nature reserve in 1919. Other than the prevention of the over-collection of butterflies, the reserve did not have a management plan. According to an article in ''Cumbrian Wildlife'', the magazine of the Cumbria Wildlife Trust, the creation of the reserve was not driven by conservation in the modern sense, it was an example of rich collectors protecting their collecting sites from the riff-raff. However a more positive assessment could be made of the overall achievement of Rothschild in relation to conservation. In 1899 Rothschild (at the age of 22) bought

Wicken Fen Wicken Fen is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest west of Wicken in Cambridgeshire. It is also a National Nature Reserve, and a Nature Conservation Review site. It is protected by international designations as a Ramsar wetland ...

and presented it to the National Trust: it was arguably Britain's first nature reserve. He organized surveys of other sites deserving protection and a "Rothschild list" of 284 sites in Britain and Ireland, including Meathop Moss, was drawn up. It was published in 1915 by the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves (the forerunner of

The Wildlife Trusts The Wildlife Trusts, the trading name of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts, is an organisation made up of 46 local Wildlife Trusts in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and Alderney. The Wildlife Trusts, between them, look after more than 2, ...

). In the century after the surveys took place many of these habitats became degraded.Rothschild, Miriam and Marren, Peter (1997) ''Rothschild's Reserves: time & fragile nature''. London: Harley () Meathop Moss received more protection than most, being leased by the society as a nature reserve.

SSSI

In 1965 it was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Cumbria Wildlife Trust

The Cumbria Wildlife Trust, which was created in the 1960s as the Lake District Naturalists' Trust, took on the reserve. However, the Trust did not purchase the reserve until 1998. It was helped by the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

References

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External links

Meathop Moss
Cumbria Wildlife Trust Nature reserves in Cumbria Protected areas established in 1920 Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Cumbria Sites of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1965 Nature reserves of the Cumbria Wildlife Trust