Rosenannon Downs is a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

in mid

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, UK, being designated Rosenannon Bog and Downs Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), noted for its biological characteristics. The site supports a wide variety of flora and fauna and includes Bronze Age barrows. Conservation work is carried out on the site by the owners, the

Cornwall Wildlife Trust The Cornwall Wildlife Trust is a charitable organisation founded in 1962 that is concerned solely with Cornwall, England. It deals with the conservation and preservation of Cornwall's wildlife, geology and habitats managing over 50 nature reser ...

Geography

The SSSI, notified in 1979, is located north of the hamlet of

Rosenannon Rosenannon ( kw, Ros an Onnen) is a hamlet in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is within the civil parish of St Wenn, south-west of the town of Wadebridge.Ordnance Survey: Explorer map sheet 106 ''Newquay & Padstow'' Rosenannon Downs is ...

within the civil parish of

St Wenn St Wenn ( kw, Sen Gwenna) is a civil parish and village in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is situated six miles (10 km) west of Bodmin and nine miles (14.5 km) east of Newquay. The parish population at the 2011 census ...

, south-west of the town of

Wadebridge Wadebridge (; kw, Ponswad) is a town and civil parish in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town straddles the River Camel upstream from Padstow.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 200 ''Newquay & Bodmin'' The permanent popul ...

. The streams rising on this site feed into the River Camel Valley and Tributaries SSSI.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 200 ''Newquay & Bodmin'' The nature reserve is owned and managed by the

. The Downs have been leased by the Trust from 1999 and were bequeathed to them in 2009 by Theresa Knowles.

History

To the north of the site are three

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

barrows, dated to around 2500 BC. The SSSI was previously named ''Rosenannon Bog'', but was renamed after the site was expanded to its current limits. The Downs have not been grazed since the 1960s, although a proposal to reintroduce this is going ahead.

Wildlife and ecology

Flora

The two main types of habitat on the site are

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler a ...

land and bogland, which support a wide variety of species. The dry heath comprises five main species of plant, of which the common heather ('' Calluna vulgaris'') is the most prolific with bell heather (''

Erica cinerea ''Erica cinerea'', the bell heather, is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae, native to western and central Europe. The plant provides a great deal of nectar for pollinators. It was rated in the top 5 for most nectar produc ...

'') and western gorse (''

Ulex gallii ''Ulex gallii'', the western gorse or dwarf furzeA R Clapham, T G Tutin, E F Warburg, ''Flora of the British Isles'', Cambridge, 1962, p. 332 is an evergreen shrub in the pea family (Fabaceae), native to the Atlantic coasts of western Europe: sou ...

'') also dominant; bristle bent (''

Agrostis curtisii ''Agrostis curtisii'', the bristle bent, is a species of grass in the family Poaceae native to Eurasia. It is densely tufted, with hair like leaves and stems that grow up to 60 cm. Its spikelets are yellow-green in colour, and its lemmas ...

'') and purple moor-grass (''

Molinia caerulea ''Molinia caerulea'', known by the common name purple moor-grass, is a species of grass that is native to Europe, west Asia, and north Africa. It grows in locations from the lowlands up to in the Alps. Like most grasses, it grows best in acid s ...

'') to a lesser extent. Other species found in this habitat are heath milkwort ('' Polygala serpyllifolia''), lousewort (''

Pedicularis sylvatica ''Pedicularis sylvatica'', commonly known as common lousewort, is a plant species in the genus ''Pedicularis''. It is native to central and northern Europe where it grows on moist acidic soils, moorland, grassy heathland and the drier parts of ma ...

''), saw-wort ('' Serratula tinctoria''), deer grass (''

Trichophorum cespitosum ''Trichophorum cespitosum'', commonly known as deergrass or tufted bulrush, is a species of flowering plant in the sedge family. It was originally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1753 as ''Scirpus cespitosus'', but was trans ...

'') and the heath spotted-orchid (''

Dactylorhiza maculata ''Dactylorhiza maculata'', known as the heath spotted-orchid or moorland spotted orchid, is an herbaceous perennial plant of the family Orchidaceae. It is widespread in mountainous regions across much of Europe from Portugal and Iceland east to R ...

''). The wet heath areas also contain purple moor-grass along with bog myrtle (''

Myrica gale ''Myrica gale'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Myricaceae, native to parts of Japan, North Korea, Russia, mainland Europe, the British Isles and parts of northern North America, in Canada and the United States. Common names include ...

'') and cross-leaved heath (''

Erica tetralix ''Erica tetralix'', the cross-leaved heath, is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae, native to western Europe, from southern Portugal to central Norway, as well as a number of boggy regions further from the coast in Central Europ ...

'') as the three most prolific species. Black bogrush (''

Schoenus nigricans ''Schoenus nigricans'' is a species of sedge known by the common names black bog-rush''Schoenus ni ...

'') are prominent in the wetter, more base-rich parts, whereas bog mosses (''

Sphagnum ''Sphagnum'' is a genus of approximately 380 accepted species of mosses, commonly known as sphagnum moss, peat moss, also bog moss and quacker moss (although that term is also sometimes used for peat). Accumulations of ''Sphagnum'' can store wa ...

spp.'') and the insectivorous round-leaved sundew (''

Drosera rotundifolia ''Drosera rotundifolia'', the round-leaved sundew, roundleaf sundew, or common sundew, is a carnivorous species of flowering plant that grows in bogs, marshes and fens. One of the most widespread sundew species, it has a circumboreal distribu ...

'') can be found in the wet hollows. Along with cross-leaved heath and purple moor-grass the valley bog habitat supports bog asphodel (''

Narthecium ossifragum ''Narthecium ossifragum'', commonly known as bog asphodel, Lancashire asphodel or bastard asphodel, is a species of flowering plant in the family Nartheciaceae. It is native to Western Europe, found on wet, boggy moorlands up to about in elev ...

''), bog pimpernel ('' Anagallis tenella''), common cottongrass (''

Eriophorum angustifolium ''Eriophorum angustifolium'', commonly known as common cottongrass or common cottonsedge, is a species of flowering plant in the sedge family, Cyperaceae. Native to North America, North Asia, and Northern Europe, it grows on peat or acidic soil ...

''), lesser skullcap ('' Scutellaria minor''), pale butterwort (''

Pinguicula lusitanica ''Pinguicula lusitanica'', commonly known as the pale butterwort, is a small butterwort that grows wild in acidic peat bog areas along coastal atlantic western Europe from western Scotland and Ireland south through western England and western Fr ...

'') and white beak-sedge ('' Rhynchospora alba''). Royal fern (''

Osmunda regalis ''Osmunda regalis'', or royal fern, is a species of deciduous fern, native to Europe, Africa and Asia, growing in woodland bogs and on the banks of streams. The species is sometimes known as flowering fern due to the appearance of its fertile fro ...

'') and wavy St. John's-wort ('' Hypericum undulatum''), species which are not common within Britain, can also be found in the bogland. A broad-leaved woodland surrounds the valley bog which mainly contains sessile oak (''

Quercus petraea ''Quercus petraea'', commonly known as the sessile oak, Cornish oak, Irish Oak or durmast oak, is a species of oak tree native to most of Europe and into Anatolia and Iran. The sessile oak is the national tree of Ireland, and an unofficial embl ...

''), and willows (''

Salix Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist s ...

spp.''). An area of scrub is present on the southern edge of the Downs, which supports Cornish bladderseed ('' Physospermum cornubiense'').

Fauna

Heathland birds which feed, nest and breed on the site include the

common snipe The common snipe (''Gallinago gallinago'') is a small, stocky wader native to the Old World. The breeding habitats are marshes, bogs, tundra and wet meadows throughout the Palearctic. In the north, the distribution limit extends from Iceland ov ...

(''Gallinago gallinago''),

curlew The curlews () are a group of nine species of birds in the genus ''Numenius'', characterised by their long, slender, downcurved bills and mottled brown plumage. The English name is imitative of the Eurasian curlew's call, but may have been in ...

(''Numenius arquata''), and the

meadow pipit The meadow pipit (''Anthus pratensis'') is a small passerine bird, which breeds in much of the Palearctic, from southeastern Greenland and Iceland east to just east of the Ural Mountains in Russia, and south to central France and Romania; an isol ...

(''Anthus pratensis''), as well as the

European stonechat The European stonechat (''Saxicola rubicola'') is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a subspecies of the common stonechat. Long considered a member of the thrush family, Turdidae, genetic evidence has placed it and its relat ...

(''Saxicola rubicola''), which is in national decline. Other birds recorded on the reserve include the

hen harrier The hen harrier (''Circus cyaneus'') is a bird of prey. It breeds in Eurasia. The term "hen harrier" refers to its former habit of preying on free-ranging fowl. It migrates to more southerly areas in winter. Eurasian birds move to southern Eur ...

(''Circus cyaneus''),

Montagu's harrier Montagu's harrier (''Circus pygargus'') is a migratory bird of prey of the harrier family. Its common name commemorates the British naturalist George Montagu. Taxonomy The first formal description of Montagu's harrier was by the Swedish na ...

(''Circus pygargus'') and the

skylark ''Alauda'' is a genus of larks found across much of Europe, Asia and in the mountains of north Africa, and one of the species (the Raso lark) endemic to the islet of Raso in the Cape Verde Islands. Further, at least two additional species are ...

(''Alauda arvensis'').

Conservation

The Cornwall Wildlife Trust has been given permission by the

Secretary of State for Environment The Secretary of State for the Environment was a UK cabinet position, responsible for the Department of the Environment (DoE). This was created by Edward Heath as a combination of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, the Ministry of Tr ...

to allow the site to be fenced in order to re-introduce

cattle grazing Pastoral farming (also known in some regions as ranching, livestock farming or grazing) is aimed at producing livestock, rather than growing crops. Examples include dairy farming, raising beef cattle, and raising sheep for wool. In contrast, ar ...

on the site for management purposes. This is to be carried out in order to reduce the chance of uncontrolled

fires Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames are pr ...

and to benefit the

small pearl-bordered fritillary ''Boloria selene'', known in Europe as the small pearl-bordered fritillary and in North America as the silver-bordered fritillary, is a species of butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found across Europe, Asia and North America, and feeds ...

butterfly (''Boloria selene''), whose larva feed mainly on marsh violet (''

Viola palustris ''Viola palustris'' (marsh violet, or alpine marsh violet) is a perennial forb of the genus ''Viola''. It inhabits moist meadows, marshes, and stream banks in northern parts of North America and Eurasia. The species epithet ''palustris'' is Latin ...

'') on the mid–Cornwall moors; a low–growing plant which is out competed by the more vigorous purple moor-grass. Fencing to enable cattle grazing was started in December 2011. For the third year in the last four there has been an uncontrolled fire on the reserve which is thought to be arson; the latest in March 2012 burnt .

References

{{SSSIs Cornwall biological Nature reserves of the Cornwall Wildlife Trust Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Cornwall Sites of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1951 Bogs of England