Greylake () is a 9.3
hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest near
Middlezoy in
Somerset,
notified in 1987.
This site, on the
Somerset Levels, consists of 20 low-lying fields in the north west corner of
King's Sedgemoor, and includes the
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Greylake
nature reserve which has taken over arable farmland and is now home to
northern lapwing
The northern lapwing (''Vanellus vanellus''), also known as the peewit or pewit, tuit or tew-it, green plover, or (in Ireland and Britain) pyewipe or just lapwing, is a bird in the lapwing subfamily. It is common through temperate Eurosiberia. ...
s,
common snipe,
Eurasian curlews,
redshanks,
yellow wagtails,
skylarks, and
meadow pipits.
This location is the type section for the
Pleistocene Burtle Beds, as it is probably the most complete Burtle Beds
sequence in Somerset. It demonstrates a sequence of
fluvial
In geography and geology, fluvial processes are associated with rivers and streams and the deposits and landforms created by them. When the stream or rivers are associated with glaciers, ice sheets, or ice caps, the term glaciofluvial or fluviog ...
(or possibly
glacial) gravels, marine
intertidal silts and marine subtidal. Rich
molluscan
Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is estim ...
,
ostracod, and
foraminifera assemblages and a mammalian fauna, including
red deer (''Cervus elephus''),
aurochs
The aurochs (''Bos primigenius'') ( or ) is an extinct cattle species, considered to be the wild ancestor of modern domestic cattle. With a shoulder height of up to in bulls and in cows, it was one of the largest herbivores in the Holocen ...
(''Bos primigenius''), and
fallow deer (''Dama dama'') have been recorded.
English Nature citation sheet for the site
(accessed 7 August 2006)
Greylake was flooded during the winter flooding of 2013–14 on the Somerset Levels
From December 2013 onwards the Somerset Levels suffered severe flooding as part of the wider 2013–2014 Atlantic winter storms in Europe and subsequent 2013–2014 United Kingdom winter floods. The Somerset Levels, or the Somerset Levels and ...
.
References
External links
English Nature website
(SSSI information)
{{SSSIs Somerset geological
Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Somerset
Sites of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1987
Geology of Somerset