Slapton Ley is a lake on the south coast of

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, England, separated from Start Bay by a

shingle beach A shingle beach, also known as either a cobble beach or gravel beach, is a commonly narrow beach that is composed of coarse, loose, well-rounded, and waterworn gravel, called ''shingle''. The gravel (shingle) typically consists of smooth, sphero ...

, known as Slapton Sands. Slapton Ley is the largest natural freshwater lake in south-west England being long and has two sections; the Lower Ley and the Higher Ley. The ley is fed by streams and a small river, The Gara, that flows into the Higher Ley. The site is a National Nature Reserve, 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 ...

and a

Geological Conservation Review The Geological Conservation Review (GCR) is produced by the UK's Joint Nature Conservation Committee. It is designed to identify those sites of national and international importance needed to show all the key scientific elements of the geological ...

site. The nature reserve covers over . The A379 between the Ley and the sea runs along the shingle ridge and was rebuilt after damage by

coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of Wind wave, waves, Ocean current, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts ...

in the early 2000s.

Ecology and wildlife

The Slapton Ley nature reserve is owned by the Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust and managed by the Field Studies Council. Slapton Ley’s beaches are affected by erosion but the beaches are formed from sediment; this makes them special because they are non-replaceable: once the sediment is moved it is gone. The beach can only become smaller. This threatens the security of the mainland because when the beaches are gone, mass amounts of water damage would occur on the land. The nature reserve would be destroyed and the site of special scientific interest would be lost. There is a field centre near to the Ley also run by Field Studies Council There is a large population of Cetti's warbler (''Cettia cetti'') at the site, and Eurasian bittern (''Botaurus stellaris'') are resident. The British endemic millipede, '' Anthogona britannica'', known only from sites in South Devon, was first discovered at Slapton Ley. Slapton Ley is the only UK site for strapwort ('' Corrigiola litoralis''), a plant identified by

Natural England Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...

as being at high risk of going extinct by 2020. Seed taken from the site, and grown at Paignton Zoo were successfully replanted at Loe Pool,

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

in May 2015; where it had previously been recorded since 1915. Slapton Ley is remarkable for the very large number of fungi recorded there, with around 3000 species, including 21 new to science, observed there up to 1996 as a result of study over many years by multiple specialists. As a result, for fungi, it is one of the most intensively explored places on the planet. By comparison, the site contains only about 490 species of

vascular plants Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes (, ) or collectively tracheophyta (; ), are plants that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They also have a specialized non-lignified tissue ( ...

, making the fungi about six times mor
speciose
This proportion, initially derived from Slapton Ley data, has been part of the evidence used to estimate the overall number of fungal species globally.

References

{{authority control Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Devon Nature Conservation Review sites National nature reserves in England Nature reserves in Devon Lakes of Devon Stokenham