Bowerchalke Downs
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Bowerchalke Downs
Bowerchalke Downs () (also known as Woodminton, Marleycombe Down and Knowle Down), is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in southern Wiltshire, England, notified in 1971. The downs encompass the entire southern outlook of the village of Bowerchalke, about south-west of Salisbury, and are adjacent to both the Hampshire and Dorset county boundaries. The Bowerchalke Downs lie within the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and are part of the Southern England Chalk Formation. The English Nature citation from 1971 states that the site has an extensive area of floristically rich chalk grassland. Among the diverse plant species are sheep's-fescue ''Festuca ovina'', meadow oat-grass ''Avenula pratensis'', and dwarf sedge ''Carex humilis ''Carex humilis'' (also known as dwarf sedge) is a species of sedge that can be found in Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territorie ...
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Looking Towards Bowerchalke From Woodminton Down - Geograph
Looking is the act of intentionally focusing visual perception on someone or something, for the purpose of obtaining information, and possibly to convey interest or another sentiment. A large number of troponyms exist to describe variations of looking at things, with prominent examples including the verbs "stare, gaze, gape, gawp, gawk, goggle, glare, glimpse, glance, peek, peep, peer, squint, leer, gloat, and ogle".Anne Poch Higueras and Isabel Verdaguer Clavera, "The rise of new meanings: A historical journey through English ways of ''looking at''", in Javier E. Díaz Vera, ed., ''A Changing World of Words: Studies in English Historical Lexicography, Lexicology and Semantics'', Volume 141 (2002), p. 563-572. Additional terms with nuanced meanings include viewing, Madeline Harrison Caviness, ''Visualizing Women in the Middle Ages: Sight, Spectacle, and Scopic Economy'' (2001), p. 18. watching,John Mowitt, ''Sounds: The Ambient Humanities'' (2015), p. 3. eyeing,Charles John Smi ...
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Southern England Chalk Formation
Downland, chalkland, chalk downs or just downs are areas of open chalk hills, such as the North Downs. This term is used to describe the characteristic landscape in southern England where chalk is exposed at the surface. The name "downs" is derived from the Old English word dun, meaning "hill". Distribution The largest area of downland in southern England is formed by Salisbury Plain, mainly in Wiltshire. To the southwest, downlands continue via Cranborne Chase into Dorset as the Dorset Downs and southwards through Hampshire as the Hampshire Downs onto the Isle of Wight. To the northeast, downlands continue along the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills through parts of Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and into Cambridgeshire. To the east downlands are found north of the Weald in Surrey, Kent and part of Greater London, forming the North Downs. To the southeast the downlands continue into West Sussex and East Sussex as the South Downs. Similar cha ...
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Sites Of Special Scientific Interest In Wiltshire
__NOTOC__ The following is a list of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) in Wiltshire, England, United Kingdom. In England the body responsible for designating SSSIs is Natural England, which chooses a site because of its fauna, flora, geological or physiographical features. As of 2006, there are 134 sites designated in this Area of Search, of which the vast majority, 108, have been designated due to their biological interest, with just 21 due to their geological interest (and 5 for both). Natural England took over the role of designating and managing SSSIs from English Nature in October 2006 when it was formed from the amalgamation of English Nature, parts of the Countryside Agency and the Rural Development Service. Natural England, like its predecessor, uses the 1974–1996 county system and as such the same approach is followed here, rather than adopting the current local government or ceremonial county boundaries. The data in the table is taken from English Nature's ...
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Carex Humilis
''Carex humilis'' (also known as dwarf sedge) is a species of sedge that can be found in Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean .... References External linksBritish Wild Flowers humilis Flora of Europe Plants described in 1761 {{Carex-stub ...
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Avenula Pratensis
''Helictotrichon pratense'', known as meadow oat-grass, is a species of perennial flowering plant in the grass family Poaceae, found in temperate parts of Europe, North Africa, and Asia. Its culms are erect and 30–85 cm long; leaves are mostly basal. It is restricted to shallow, calcareous soils such as those formed on chalk and limestone substrates. Synonyms * ''Arrhenatherum pratense'' (L.) Samp. * ''Avena pratensis'' L. * ''Avenochloa pratensis'' (L.) Holub * ''Avenula pratensis'' (L.) Dumort. * ''Avenula pratense'' * ''Helictochloa pratensis'' Romero Zarco References See also GrassBase entry
* * Rzut. Oka Jeogr. Fiz. Wol. Pod. 10. 1828 * Roser, M. 1995. Taxon 44:395. * Tutin, T. G. et al., eds. 1964–1980. Flora europaea. [''Avenula pratensis'' (L.) Dumort.]. * Tzvelev, N. N. 1976. Zlaki SSSR. Helictotrichon, pratense Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Pooideae-stub ...
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Festuca Ovina
''Festuca ovina'', sheep's fescue or sheep fescue, is a species of grass. It is sometimes confused with hard fescue (''Festuca trachyphylla''). General description It is a perennial plant sometimes found in acidic ground, and in mountain pasture, throughout Europe (with the exception of some Mediterranean areas) and eastwards across much of Asia; it has also been introduced to North America. It is one of the defining species of the British NVC community CG2, i.e. ''Festuca ovina'' – ''Avenula pratensis'' grassland, one of the calcicolous grassland communities. However, the species has a wide ecological tolerance in the UK, occurring on both basic and acid soils, as well as old mining sites and spoil heaps that are contaminated with heavy metals. Sheep's fescue is a densely tufted perennial grass. Its greyish-green leaves are short and bristle-like. The panicles are both slightly feathery and a bit one-sided. It flowers from May until June, and is wind-pollinated. It has no ...
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Chalk Grassland
Calcareous grassland (or alkaline grassland) is an ecosystem associated with thin basic soil, such as that on chalk and limestone downland. Plants on calcareous grassland are typically short and hardy, and include grasses and herbs such as clover. Calcareous grassland is an important habitat for insects, particularly butterflies and ants, and is kept at a plagioclimax by grazing animals, usually sheep and sometimes cattle. Rabbits used to play a part but due to the onset of myxomatosis their numbers decreased so dramatically that they no longer have much of a grazing effect. There are large areas of calcareous grassland in northwestern Europe, particularly areas of southern England, such as Salisbury Plain and the North and South Downs. The machair forms a different kind of calcareous grassland, where fertile low-lying plains are formed on ground that is calcium-rich due to shell sand (pulverised sea shells). See also * Alvar * Chalk heath * Edaphic * Gypcrust * Gypsum ...
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Flora
Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. Etymology The word "flora" comes from the Latin name of Flora, the goddess of plants, flowers, and fertility in Roman mythology. The technical term "flora" is then derived from a metonymy of this goddess at the end of the sixteenth century. It was first used in poetry to denote the natural vegetation of an area, but soon also assumed the meaning of a work cataloguing such vegetation. Moreover, "Flora" was used to refer to the flowers of an artificial garden in the seventeenth century. The distinction between vegetation (the general appearance of a community) and flora (the taxonomic composition of a community) was first made by Jules Thurmann (1849). Prior to this, the two terms were used indiscriminately.Thurmann, J. (1849). ''Essai de ...
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English Nature
English Nature was the United Kingdom government agency that promoted the conservation of wildlife, geology and wild places throughout England between 1990 and 2006. It was a non-departmental public body funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and gave statutory advice, grants and issued licences. The Nature Conservancy Council (NCC) (formerly the Nature Conservancy) was established by the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 to cover nature conservation issues across the whole of Great Britain. The NCC was split into four by the Environmental Protection Act 1990—its English duties being given to English Nature. In Scotland, its functions were merged with those of the Countryside Commission for Scotland to form Scottish Natural Heritage, and similarly in Wales there was a merger to form the Countryside Council for Wales. A much smaller body, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), supported all three agencies. The Engl ...
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Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of their national importance by the relevant public body: Natural England, Natural Resources Wales, and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency respectively. In place of AONB, Scotland uses the similar national scenic area (NSA) designation. Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty enjoy levels of protection from development similar to those of UK national parks, but unlike national parks the responsible bodies do not have their own planning powers. They also differ from national parks in their more limited opportunities for extensive outdoor recreation. History The idea for what would eventually become the AONB designation was first put forward by John Dower in his 1945 ''Report to the Government on National Parks in England and Wales''. Dower ...
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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 of Man. SSSI/ASSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in the United Kingdom are based upon them, including national nature reserves, Ramsar sites, Special Protection Areas, and Special Areas of Conservation. The acronym "SSSI" is often pronounced "triple-S I". Selection and conservation Sites notified for their biological interest are known as Biological SSSIs (or ASSIs), and those notified for geological or physiographic interest are Geological SSSIs (or ASSIs). Sites may be divided into management units, with some areas including units that are noted for both biological and geological interest. Biological Biological SSSI/ASSIs may b ...
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Cranborne Chase
Cranborne Chase () is an area of central southern England, straddling the counties Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire. It is part of the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The area is dominated by, and often considered to be synonymous with, a chalk downland plateau. Part of the English Chalk Formation, it is adjacent to Salisbury Plain and the West Wiltshire Downs in the north, and the Dorset Downs to the south west. The highest point is Win Green Down, in Wiltshire, at . Historically a medieval hunting forest, the area is also noted for its Neolithic and Bronze age archaeology and its rural agricultural character. Definitions As an informally defined region, the boundaries of Cranborne Chase vary depending on usage. When defined as the chalk plateau, it is clearly bounded by escarpments which face the valleys of the Blackmore Vale to the west, the Vale of Wardour to the north, and the Hampshire Avon to the east. To the south th ...
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