Monkswood Valley () is a 30.7-

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. ...

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) near the village of

Cold Ashton Cold Ashton is a village in South Gloucestershire, England. It is located north of Bath, near the junction between the A46 and A420 roads. The village church has a 14th-century tower and the rest of the church was rebuilt in the 16th century ...

South Gloucestershire South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. Towns in the area include Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Kingswood, Thornbury, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke. The southern p ...

, notified in 1990. Monkswood Reservoir, built in 1896 and now owned by

Wessex Water Wessex Water Services Limited, known as Wessex Water, is a water supply and sewerage utility company serving an area of South West England, covering 10,000 square kilometres including Bristol, most of Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire and parts of ...

, is situated in the valley of the SSSI. The SSSI is woodland and grassland on the sloping land north and south of the reservoir and its tributary. The woodlands contain

Fraxinus excelsior ''Fraxinus excelsior'', known as the ash, or European ash or common ash to distinguish it from other types of ash, is a flowering plant species in the olive family Oleaceae. It is native throughout mainland Europe east to the Caucasus and Alb ...

Acer campestre ''Acer campestre'', known as the field maple, is a flowering plant species in the family Sapindaceae. It is native plant, native to much of continental Europe, Britain, southwest Asia from Turkey to the Caucasus, and north Africa in the Atlas Mou ...

Mercurialis perennis ''Mercurialis perennis'', commonly known as dog's mercury, is a poisonous woodland plant found in much of Europe as well as in Algeria, Iran, Turkey, and the Caucasus, but almost absent from Ireland, Orkney and Shetland.St. Catherine's Valley St. Catherine's Valley () is a 156.1 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest southwest of the village of Marshfield, South Gloucestershire South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Glouce ...

SSSI is immediately to the north-east. The

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

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 ...

border runs through the reservoir and SSSI. The SSSI is adjacent to the

Limestone Link The Limestone Link is a Long-distance footpaths in the United Kingdom, long-distance footpath in England, from the Mendip Hills in Somerset to Cold Ashton in Gloucestershire. It is marked by an ammonite waymarker. The Mendip section starts b ...

long-distance footpath.

References

External links

Monkswood Valley SSSI
*} Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Avon Bath and North East Somerset South Gloucestershire District Sites of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1990 {{England-SSSI-stub