Eye Brook Valley Woods is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest east of

Hallaton Hallaton is a village and civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 523, which had increased to 594 at the 2011 census. History and description The village' ...

in Leicestershire. It is in three separate areas, Great Merrible Wood, which is managed by the

Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust The Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust (LRWT) is one of 46 wildlife trusts across the United Kingdom. It manages nature reserves in Leicestershire and Rutland, and was founded in 1956 as the Leicestershire and Rutland Trust for Nature Con ...

, Bolt Wood and Park Wood. These are surviving fragments of the medieval Leighfield Forest. Park Wood is mainly

ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...

and

wych elm ''Ulmus glabra'' Hudson, the wych elm or Scots elm, has the widest range of the European elm species, from Ireland eastwards to the Urals, and from the Arctic Circle south to the mountains of the Peloponnese and Sicily, where the species reaches i ...

, while Bolt Wood and Great Merrible Wood are dominated by ash and

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

. The shrub flora is diverse, and there are also several small pools and marshes. There is access to Great Merrible Wood by a footpath from Stockerston Lane, but the other woods are private.

References

{{SSSIs Leicestershire Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Leicestershire