Skiddaw Group SSSI

Skiddaw Forest is the ancient name of an expanse of land to the east of Skiddaw summit, with the word "forest" referring here to a medieval pattern of land ownership.{{cite book|first=Angus|last=Winchester|title=The Harvest of the Hills: Rural Life in Northern England and the Scottish Borders, 1400-1700|publisher=Keele University Press|date=2000|isbn=978-1853312397|pages=10,14|quote=[Forests here were] the upland portions of great baronial estates anchored in the surrounding lowlands, a relationship seen particularly clearly in the Lake District. Their status as forest placed the uplands directly under the control of great feudal landowners.}}{{cite journal|journal=Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society|volume=66|date=1966|page=110|first=H.W.|last=Liddell|title=The private forests of S.W. Cumberland}} In 2024 the forest area within the Underskiddaw civil parish area,{{efn|The SSSI boundary overlaps with a number of civil parishes. Clockwise from the north, these are:

Caldbeck; Mungrisdale; Threlkeld; Underskiddaw; Bassenthwaite; and Ireby and Uldale. The Skiddaw Forest nature reserve lies within Underskiddaw.}} essentially SSSI units 30 and 31 together with the summits of Skiddaw and Great Calva, was purchased by Cumbria Wildlife Trust as a {{cvt|1200|ha|sqmi}} nature reserve.{{cite news|newspaper=The Guardian|first=Patrick|last=Barkham|date=5 September 2024|title='A 100-year vision': Skiddaw's barren peak to spring to life in ambitious rewilding |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/sep/05/skiddaw-forest-cumbria-rewilding-england-nature-reserve}}{{cite news|newspaper=Forestry Journal|date=21 October 2024|first=Maureen|last=Hodges|title=Nature restoration work on Skiddaw Forest can now begin|url=https://www.forestryjournal.co.uk/news/24665932.nature-restoration-work-skiddaw-forest-can-now-begin/}} The long term biodiversity and rewilding goals include encouraging tree growth to create tracts of temperate rainforest, and restoring peatlands.{{cite web|url=https://www.cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk/nature-reserves/skiddaw-forest|title=Skiddaw Forest|website=Cumbria Wildlife Trust|accessdate=11 June 2025}}

Unit 30, Skiddaw Forest West, was assessed in 2021 as having "favourable" conditions for invertebrate and breeding bird features, but "unfavourable – recovering" blanket bog and upland dry heath habitats.{{cite web|url=https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/UnitDetail.aspx?UnitId=1018097&SiteCode=s1002461|title=Skiddaw Group SSSI - SKIDDAW FOREST WEST (030)|website=Natural England|series=Unit detail|accessdate=12 June 2025}} Conditions in unit 31, Skiddaw Forest East were assessed as "favourable" in 2021.{{cite web|url=https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/UnitDetail.aspx?UnitId=1018098&SiteCode=s1002461|title=Skiddaw Group SSSI - SKIDDAW FOREST EAST (031)|series=Unit detail|website=Natural England|accessdate=12 June 2025}}

{{See also|German mines at Caldbeck}}

The SSSI designation includes a number of sites of former mines, noted today for the presence of minerals in spoil heaps and erosion sites.

Spoil heaps at Red Gill Mine ({{Ordnance Survey coordinates|NY295347}}) include rare, crystallised lead sulphates, carbonates and phosphates. An adjacent mine at Roughtongill ({{Ordnance Survey coordinates|NY302344}}) reveals supergene minerals including copper and zinc varieties. English Heritage undertook a detailed survey of Roughtongill in 2001 and reported on its history and archaeology.{{cite journal|title=Roughton Gill Mine and Silver Gill Mine, Cumbria|first1=Marcus| last1=Jecock|first2=Christopher|last2=Dunn|first3=Amy|last3=Lax|journal=Archaeological Investigation report|issn=1478-7008|orig-date=2001|date= 24 June 2016|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/research/results/reports/123-2001}}

Dry Gill Lead Mine ({{Ordnance Survey coordinates|NY324345}}) has a unique form of mimetite, known as 'campylite'. Natural England surveyed the site (SSSI Unit 10) in 2022 and found the exposed mineral veins had been damaged by collectors in the past but not recently. Burdell Gill ({{Ordnance Survey coordinates|NY307324}}) "is of national importance as the only relatively abundant source of the rare arsenic mineral, pharmacosiderite, in Britain." A vein at Wet Swine Gill ({{Ordnance Survey coordinates|NY314321}}) includes stibnite and fuloppite but the 2022 survey (SSSI Unit 2) found that geological specimen collecting continued to cause damage. In the Carrock Mine – Brandy Gill spoil heaps ({{Ordnance Survey coordinates|NY322338}}) the mineralisation is tungsten-rich. The Carrock Tungsten Mine ({{Ordnance Survey coordinates|NY323329}}){{cite web|url= https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/511069/1/OR15033.pdf |last=Shaw|first=R.P.|date=2015|title=The Underground Geology of part of the Carrock Tungsten Mine, Caldbeck Fells|publisher=British Geological Survey Internal Report|number=OR/15/033}} and Carrock End Copper Mine{{cite book|first=Ian|last=Tyler|title=Carrock and the mines of Skiddaw and Blencathra|date=2003|publisher=Blue Rock Publications|isbn=0952302896}} are Scheduled Monuments.{{cite web|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1019958|website=Historic England|title=Carrock Fell tungsten, lead, copper, and arsenic mines and the remains of an early 20th century tungsten mill|accessdate=21 May 2025}}{{cite web|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1019956|website=Historic England|title=Carrock End copper mine 230m and 490m south west of Linewath|accessdate=31 May 2025}}

There are other mine sites not mentioned in the SSSI designation, such as in the wider Grainsgill area ({{Ordnance Survey coordinates|NY327327}}),{{cite journal|journal=Geological Conservation Review|volume=17: Caledonian Igneous Rocks of Great Britain|title=Chapter 4: Lake District and northern England|at=Grainsgill, Caldew valley, GCR ID: 1409|date=1999| first=S.C.|last=Loughlin|url=https://jncc.gov.uk/jncc-assets/GCR/gcr-site-account-1409.pdf}} near to Carrock mine. A 2021 survey in that area (SSSI Unit 8) observed "ordovician igneous geological features". Breafell lead mine ({{Ordnance Survey coordinates|NY299357}}) was downstream from Redgill and Roughtongill on the Dale Beck, a tributary of the Whelpo. Driggith lead mine{{cite web|url=http://www.dmm.org.uk/colliery/d911.htm|title=Driggith Mine (Lead Ore)|website=Durham Mining Museum|accessdate=19 June 2025}} was downstream from Drygill mine. Sandbeck lead and copper mine ({{Ordnance Survey coordinates|NY332362}}) was {{convert|1800|m|mi}} north east of High Pike.{{cite journal|

journal=Journal of the Russell Society|title=A review of the mineralisation at Driggith and Sandbed Mines, Caldbeck Fells, Cumbria|first1=David I.|last1=Green|first2=Michael S.|last2=Rumsey|first3=Trevor F.|last3=Bridges|first4=Andrew G.|last4=Tindle|first5=Rob A.|last5=Ixer|pages=4-38|volume=9|date=2006|url=https://www.mindat.org/jrs/JRS%20Vol%2009.pdf}}; {{cite journal|journal=Journal of the Russell Society|title=A review of the mineralogy of Brae Fell Mine, Caldbeck Fells, Cumbria|first1=Trevor F.|last1= Bridges|first2=David I.|last2=Green|first3=Michael S.|last3=Rumsey|pages=39-44|volume=9|date=2006|url=https://www.mindat.org/jrs/JRS%20Vol%2009.pdf}}; {{

cite journal|journal=Journal of the Russell Society|volume=12|pages=27–32|date=2009|title=Mineralogical Fraud – An Appraisal of an Unpublished Manuscript by A.W.G. Kingsbury|first=Trevor F.|last=Bridges|url=https://russellsoc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/JRS12-2009-Web-v2.pdf}}; {{cite journal|journal=Journal of the Russell Society|volume=12|pages=33-45|title=A Review of the Mineralisation at Ingray Gill, Caldbeck Fells, Cumbria|first1=David I.|last1=Green|first2=

Michael S.|last2=Rumsey|first3=Trevor F.|last3=Bridges|first4=Norman|last4=Thomson|url=https://russellsoc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/JRS12-2009-Web-v2.pdf}}

File:House at the foot of Carrock Fell - geograph.org.uk - 5163753.jpg

The Skiddaw Group SSSI includes the headwaters of the Whelpo (Cald) Beck and Caldew (upper) 'water bodies' (catchments). These are part of the Caldew operational catchment.{{efn|name=jargon|Natural England groups catchments ('Water Bodies') into 'operational catchments'. Those are grouped into 'management catchments', which are grouped into 'river basin districts'.}}

The Whelpo Beck catchment includes Brae Fell ({{cvt|586|m|ft}}), and the former mine sites at Red Gill and Roughtongill. When surveyed by Natural England in 2010, both mine sites (SSSI Units 3 and 11) were showing some signs of collector activity and erosion but were not considered to be under threat. The "dwarf shrub heath" habitats were surveyed in 2022 (SSSI Units 23 – Roughton Gill; 25 – Caldbeck North; and 26 – Brae Fell). They were all depleted by heavy grazing. Patches of bilberry were observed on Brae Fell.

The Caldew (upper) catchment accounts for 40% of the total area of the SSSI and the majority of its assessment units. The River Caldew flows there between the Blencathra uplands in the south-east of the SSSI, and the Skiddaw and Caldbeck Fells uplands to the west and north. The catchment includes Great Calva ({{cvt|690|m|ft}}) and Carrock Fell ({{cvt|661|m|ft}}). Around the edge of the catchment, Lonscale Fell, Skiddaw, Skiddaw Little Man, and Bowscale Fell form watersheds with the catchments in the Derwent Operational Catchment area. It includes the former mine sites at Dry Gill Mine, Carrock Mine-Brandy Gill, Burdell Gill and Wet Swine Gill. It also includes Bowscale Tarn ({{Ordnance Survey coordinates|NY336313}}), one of two glacial tarns in the SSSI, where quillwort isoetes lacustris, shoreweed littorella uniflora and water lobelia lobelia dortmanna have been found.

Heather moor predominates on sloping ground north and west of the River Caldew across several catchments. The east-facing slopes of Skiddaw, Little Man and Jenkin Hill exhibit degraded moss heath. Juniperus communis scrub, which is a nationally rare habitat, is most extensive on the steep, rocky south-facing slopes of Carrock Fell ({{Ordnance Survey coordinates|NY342336}}).

The Skiddaw Group SSSI includes headwaters of the Derwent management catchment,{{efn|name=jargon}} consisting of the Ellen (upper) catchment, which flows towards Maryport, and a number of catchments flowing towards Workington:

• Dash Beck
• Derwent US Bassenthwaite Lake and Derwent DS Bassenthwaite{{efn|In these catchment names, US and u/s mean "upstream of"; DS is "downstream of"}}
• Glenderaterra Beck
• Glenderamackin u/s Troutbeck and Glenderamackin (Greta)

The Ellen (upper) catchment is at the north of the SSSI in the Uldale Fells. It is bounded by Longlands Fell, Lowthwaite Fell, Little and Great Sca Fells, Meal Fell and Great Cockup. Great Cockup ({{Ordnance Survey coordinates|NY270334}}) is known for fossils of dendroid graptolites. Tremadoc–Llanvirn geology is visible in the crags around Great Cockup. The heathland lacks species diversity and shows signs of heavy grazing. For catchment management purposes, the main water body is the Dale Gill which rises between Great and Little Cockup. The River Ellen's headwaters, with numerous small tributaries, drain the Uldale Fells and join Dale Gill beyond the SSSI boundary.

file:Whitewater Dash - geograph.org.uk - 2137126.jpgThe SSSI includes the headwaters of the Dash Beck catchment, including short lengths of Dash Beck itself, and of a number of its tributaries. The part of the catchment within the SSSI stretches from Great Sca Fell in the north-east to Ullock Pike {{cvt|7|km|miles}} away in the south-west, with the Whitewater Dash waterfall ({{Ordnance Survey coordinates|NY272313}}) where the beck crosses the catchment midway between the two.{{cite web|url=https://environment.data.gov.uk/catchment-planning/WaterBody/GB112075070530|title=Dash Beck Water Body|website=Catchment Data Explorer|publisher=Environment Agency|accessdate=13 May 2025}} The area includes Bakestall where empetrum nigrum is the dominant dwarf-shrub. It also includes Broad End which has "the best developed example [of montane moss-grass heath in West Cumbria] at about {{cvt|700| m|ft}}" elevation. There are two monitoring units in the Dash beck catchment: Uldale South (SSSI Unit 19, {{Ordnance Survey coordinates|NY282322}}) has low species diversity with some areas recovering; Uldale North (SSSI Unit 18, {{Ordnance Survey coordinates|NY272342}}) includes calluna vulgaris, vaccinium spp, empetrum nigrum and erica tetralix but the sites are fragmented where they should be continuous. In the north-east of the catchment, the watershed is marked by Knott, Great Sca Fell, Meal Fell, and Great Cockup.

The Glenderaterra Beck catchment includes Lonscale Fell (SSSI Unit 29, {{Ordnance Survey coordinates|NY289269}}, surveyed 2024) and Blencathra North West (SSSI Unit 32, {{Ordnance Survey coordinates|NY311274}}, surveyed 2019). Lonscale Fell ecology included some bracken and limited cover of ericoid shrubs in its "acidic grassland with bilberry" habitats. Blencathra North West had "blanket bog with abundant hare's-tail cotton grass and deer grass over locally abundant bog mosses".

There is a small area of Juniperus communis scrub in Glenderamackin u/s Troutbeck on The Tongue ({{Ordnance Survey coordinates|NY347302}}). The same catchment includes Scales Tarn (Blencathra), one of the two glacial tarns in the SSSI. The tarn has "low nutrient levels and [is] inherently species-poor." The area around the tarn has in the past been subject to heavy grazing. Mungrisdale East (SSSI Unit 35, {{Ordnance Survey coordinates|NY343297}}) includes hare's-tail cottongrass, abundant sphagnum and a good population of serrated wintergreen. Young Wood (SSSI Unit 38, {{Ordnance Survey coordinates|NY350307}}) is protected by fencing to keep grazing animals away and the oak woodland is recovering.{{cite book|last1=Wallace|first1=Carrie|last2=Atkins|first2=Roger|date=2013|chapter=Young Wood: a woodland beyond the edge|editor1-last=Rotherham|editor1-first=Ian D.|editor2-last=Handley|editor2-first=Christine|editor3-last=Agnoletti|editor3-first=Mauro|editor4-last=Samojlik|editor4-first=Tomasz|title=Trees beyond the wood: an exploration of concepts of woods, forests and trees|publisher=Wildtrack Publishing|location=Sheffield, UK|pages=311-332|chapter-url=https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/1522/1/Weatherall_YoungWood.pdf}}{{cite web|url=https://jerramecology.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/MungrisdaleSaddlebackBowscalellFellCommons-Fencing-Consultation-Summary-Sept2023-1.pdf|title=Mungrisdale, Saddleback and Bowscale Fell Commons (CL293, 66 & 60) Woodland Exclosure Permission Renewal Summary|first=Rigby |last=Jerram|date=11 September 2023|accessdate=22 May 2025}}

Skiddaw Group SSSI is a component of the Lake District High Fells, a Special Area of Conservation.{{cite web|url= https://sac.jncc.gov.uk/site/UK0012960|title=Lake District High Fells Designated Special Area of Conservation|website= Joint Nature Conservation Committee|accessdate=10 June 2025}} The SAC covers a number of SSSIs but, within the Skiddaw Group, the SAC documentation identifies a range of habitats:

• 4010 Northern Atlantic wet heaths with Erica tetralix{{cite web|url=https://sac.jncc.gov.uk/habitat/H4010/|title=Northern Atlantic wet heaths with Erica tetralix|website=Joint Nature Conservation Committee}}
• 4030 European dry heaths{{cite web|url=https://sac.jncc.gov.uk/habitat/H4030/|title=European dry heaths|website=Joint Nature Conservation Committee}}
• 4060 Alpine and Boreal heaths{{cite web|url=https://sac.jncc.gov.uk/habitat/H4060/|title=Alpine and Boreal heaths|website=Joint Nature Conservation Committee}}
• 5130 Juniperus communis formations on heaths or calcareous grasslands{{cite web|url=https://sac.jncc.gov.uk/habitat/H5130/|title=Juniperus communis formations on heaths or calcareous grasslands|website=Joint Nature Conservation Committee}}
• 7130 Blanket bogs{{cite web|url=https://sac.jncc.gov.uk/habitat/H7130/|title=Blanket bogs|website=Joint Nature Conservation Committee}}
• 8110 Siliceous scree of the montane to snow levels (Androsacetalia alpinae and Galeopsietalia ladani){{cite web|url=https://sac.jncc.gov.uk/habitat/H8110/|title=Siliceous scree of the montane to snow levels|website=Joint Nature Conservation Committee}}

Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS) are a UK government response to declining biodiversity.{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-nature-recovery-strategies/local-nature-recovery-strategies|author=DEFRA|series=Policy paper|title=Local nature recovery strategies|date=30 June 2023}} The local strategies are established to agree priorities and propose actions to reverse the decline. The Cumbria Local Nature Recovery Strategy was developed following initial "Vision and Priority" workshops held in March 2024,{{cite web|url=https://cumbrialnrs.org.uk/frequently-asked-questions|title=Frequently asked questions|website=Cumbria Local Nature Recovery Strategy|accessdate=15 June 2025}} with further consultation during 2025. The strategy includes the development of an interactive habitat map.{{cite web|url=https://www.cbdc.org.uk/about-us/projects/cumbria_lnrs_interactive_map/|title=Cumbria LNRS Interactive Map|website=Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre|accessdate=15 June 2025}} The map shows where habitats need enhancing or, in worse cases, restoring. For example SSSI Unit 22 "Carrock Fell" includes an area of "moorland, heathland and montaine" habitat which would benefit from enhancement. However the south west edge of the unit is in worse condition so would need restoration.

File:On Mungrisdale Common - geograph.org.uk - 3840350.jpg

The United Kingdom Biodiversity Action Plan identified a range of priority habitats which occur across the UK. The Skiddaw Group SSSI has large areas of grass moorland and upland heath, together with more fragmented areas of blanket bog.{{cite web|url=https://naturalengland-defra.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/Defra::priority-habitats-inventory-england/explore?location=54.672192%2C-3.075169%2C11.86|title=DEFRA Priority habitats inventory|website=Natural England|accessdate=17 June 2025}}{{cite book|chapter-url=https://data.jncc.gov.uk/data/aadfff3d-9a67-467a-ac65-45285e123607/UKBAP-BAPHabitats-03-BlanketBog.pdf|chapter=UK Biodiversity Action Plan Priority Habitat Descriptions: Blanket Bog|title=UK Biodiversity Action Plan; Priority Habitat Descriptions|editor-first=Ant|editor-last=Maddock|date=2008}} For example, the upland areas around Bannerdale Beck (SSSI Unit 35) contain {{convert|69|ha|sqmi}} of blanket bog, split across several smaller sites. More detailed mapping from DEFRA{{cite web|url=https://environment.data.gov.uk/explore/2e16f1f1-9a8b-4aa3-a7cc-724b7f0d72c9?download=true|website=DEFRA Data Services Platform|title=Blanket bog mapping|accessdate=17 June 2025}} (Note this link is occasionally slow or temporarily unavailable.) and the UK government open data resource{{cite web|url=https://www.data.gov.uk/dataset/ae8d3e06-831a-4cd8-bd10-299b969bfbb0/habitat-networks-england-blanket-bog|title=Habitat Networks (England) – Blanket Bog|publisher=Natural England|date=2 June 2025|accessdate=16 June 2025}} shows the same areas of blanket bog but additionally shows areas where the habitat could be restored, where it could potentially be created, and where smaller areas could be used to re-join existing fragmented ones.{{efn|The full Habitat Network classification is:

• Primary Habitat
• Associated Habitats
• Habitat Restoration-Creation
• Restorable Habitat
• Fragmentation Action Zone
• Network Enhancement Zone 1
• Network Enhancement Zone 2
• Network Expansion Zone}}

The Geological Conservation Review is produced by the UK's Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Their site list{{cite web|url=https://jncc.gov.uk/our-work/gcr-site-lists-igneous-and-mineralogy-blocks/#ordovician-igneous-rocks|title=GCR Site Lists|publisher=JNCC}} includes a number of locations within the SSSI.

Management of the SSSI has to balance ecological and recreational demands.{{cite web|url=https://thebmc.co.uk/en/skiddaw-rewilding-sept24|title=The BMC welcomes the new Skiddaw rewilding project in the Lake District|website=British Mountaineering Council|date=19 September 2024|accessdate=30 June 2025}} For example, the area contains a number of Nuttall and Hewitt mountains defined by the heights of their summits above the ordnance datum exceeding {{cvt|2000|ft|m}}, and their topographic prominence (relative height). Three of them are also Marylins, with prominences exceeding {{cvt|150|m|ft}}, and Skiddaw is also a Furth, by exceeding {{cvt|3000|ft|m}} in height.

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Category:Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Cumbria

Category:Lake District High Fells SAC