Shapwick Heath is a 394.0-

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...

(973.6 acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest and national nature reserve between Shapwick and Westhay in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

, notified in 1967. It is part of the Brue Valley Living Landscape conservation project. The project commenced in January 2009 and aims to restore, recreate and reconnect

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

. It aims to ensure that wildlife is enhanced and capable of sustaining itself in the face of

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

while guaranteeing farmers and other landowners can continue to use their land profitably. It is one of an increasing number of landscape scale conservation projects in the UK. Shapwick Heath, part of the Avalon Marshes in the

Somerset Levels The Somerset Levels are a coastal plain and wetland area of Somerset, England, running south from the Mendips to the Blackdown Hills. The Somerset Levels have an area of about and are bisected by the Polden Hills; the areas to the south are ...

Wetlands, and managed as a national nature reserve by Natural England, is a former raised bog lying in the basin of the River Brue. The site supports a diverse community of terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates. National rarities are the Greater Silver Diving Beetle (''Hydrophilus piceus'') and the Lesser Silver Diving Beetle (''Hydrochara caraboides'') which is now confined nationally to the Brue Basin Peat Moors. The Sweet Track, an ancient

causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet ...

crosses the site. It is one of the oldest engineered roads known and the oldest timber trackway discovered in Northern Europe. The adjoining Shapwick Moor has been purchased by the Hawk and Owl Trust as a reserve. Ham Wall nature reserve is to the east.

References

External links

YouTube video
- pictures and commentary on the Peat Moor visitors centre.
BBC Somerset: Shapwick Heath gallery
{{Authority control Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Somerset Sites of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1967 Somerset Levels National nature reserves in Somerset Wetland Sites of Special Scientific Interest