Esher Commons is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south-west of

Esher Esher ( ) is a town in Surrey, England, to the east of the River Mole. Esher is an outlying suburb of London near the London-Surrey Border, and with Esher Commons at its southern end, the town marks one limit of the Greater London Built-Up ...

in Surrey. It includes Esher Common, Fairmile Common,

West End Common West End Common is a Local Nature Reserve on the north-western outskirts of Esher in Surrey. It is owned and managed by Elmbridge Borough Council. It is part of Esher Commons, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The common has wet ...

and

Oxshott Heath Oxshott Heath and Woods is an area of woods and heathland in Oxshott, Surrey, England covering approximately , as an area of common land. It is owned by a local authority, however historic rights of access and gathering dead wood where necessary ...

. Esher Common and West End Common are Local Nature Reserves.

Geology and terrain

The geology of the Commons consists of the damp clay soils of the

Claygate Beds The London Clay Formation is a marine geological formation of Ypresian (early Eocene Epoch, c. 56–49 million years ago) age which crops out in the southeast of England. The London Clay is well known for its fossil content. The fossils from t ...

and acidic soils of the

Bagshot Beds In geology, the Bagshot Beds are a series of sands and clays of shallow-water origin, some being fresh-water, some marine. They belong to the upper Eocene formation of the London and Hampshire basins, in England and derive their name from Bags ...

and Plateau Gravels with peat on top. The terrain is lowland heath, predominantly covered by woodland, including both deciduous and coniferous trees, notably:

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

; beech;

silver birch ''Betula pendula'', commonly known as silver birch, warty birch, European white birch, or East Asian white birch, is a species of tree in the family Betulaceae, native to Europe and parts of Asia, though in southern Europe, it is only found ...

;

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains ...

; and

Scots Pine ''Pinus sylvestris'', the Scots pine (UK), Scotch pine (US) or Baltic pine, is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae that is native to Eurasia. It can readily be identified by its combination of fairly short, blue-green leaves and orang ...

in various stages of maturity. There is also grassland, and areas of marsh, bog and open water which provide a rich variety of habitats to support many species of plant and animal life. The Common was not always wooded, and much of the area was formerly open heathland used as common grazing land. It had not been grazed for many years and much of the area is now secondary woodland, including conifer plantations from the 1950s. Grazing trials began on a small area of Esher Commons in 2015. In the first year 15 goats were introduced to a 2.5ha area of heath for a period of six months. Esher Commons Site of Special Scientific Interest covers a large part of Arbrook, Esher, Oxshott, West End and Fairmile Commons and the Ledges. Arbrook Common is the easternmost, named after the Arbrook, at other points and sources known as the 'Rythe'. Otherwise much of the remainder of the commons is a subterranean aquifer. A programme to fell tracts of secondary woodland has led to various public protests. In spite of the SSSI designation, the A3 Esher bypass was built through the middle of Esher Common in 1974. As compensation, approximately of "exchange land" became part of the Commons. The Ledges were added to West End Common, and an area including Middle Pond became part of Esher Common.

Esher Common

Esher Common is a It contains several ponds and lakes, the largest of which is Black Pond. This was once used as a water supply for the nearby

Claremont Landscape Garden Claremont Landscape Garden, just outside Esher, Surrey, England, is one of the earliest surviving gardens of its kind of landscape design, the English Landscape Garden — still featuring its original 18th-century layout. The garden is Grad ...

now owned and managed by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

. The main piece of high ground is Round Hill, close to Copsem Lane. There are parking facilities on the A307 (old Portsmouth Road) and the A244 (Copsem Lane).

West End Common

West End Common includes The Ledges, which is a bank of high ground alongside the

River Mole The River Mole is a tributary of the River Thames in southern England. It rises in West Sussex near Gatwick Airport and flows northwest through Surrey for to the Thames at Hampton Court Palace. The river gives its name to the Surrey distri ...

. The common shares the parking facilities on the A307, and can also be accessed from the direction of West End.

References

External links

English Nature SSSI
{{coord, 51.35040, -0.36881, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Forests and woodlands of Surrey Borough of Elmbridge Parks and open spaces in Surrey Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Surrey Local Nature Reserves in Surrey