Styhead Tarn is a tarn in the

English Lake District The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mountains, and for its literary associati ...

, near the top of the

Sty Head Sty Head is a mountain pass in the English Lake District, in the county of Cumbria. It is at an altitude of 1,600 feet (488 m) and there is a small tarn ( Styhead Tarn) near its summit. The pass is at the head of Wasdale, which contains the lake ...

pass at the head of

Borrowdale Borrowdale is a valley and civil parish in the English Lake District in Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland, England. It is in the ceremonial county of Cumbria, and is sometimes referred to as ''Cumberland Borrowdale'' to distinguis ...

. It is on the route from

Wasdale Wasdale (; traditionally ) is a valley and civil parish in the western part of the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. The River Irt flows through the valley to its estuary at Ravenglass. A large part of the main valley floor is ...

to Borrowdale and is, therefore, a well-visited point in the Lake District. It is also passed by walkers ascending

Scafell Pike Scafell Pike () is a mountain in the Lake District region of Cumbria, England. It has an elevation of above sea level, making it the highest and the most prominent mountain in England. The mountain is part of the Scafell massif, an extinct v ...

from Borrowdale via the ''Corridor Route''. It is permissible to fish the tarn, which contains wild brown trout. The Styhead Gill is the tarn's outlet which, flows into the River Derwent. Styhead tarn has aquatic plants including intermediate water-starwort,

quillwort ''Isoetes'', commonly known as the quillworts, is a genus of lycopod. It is the only living genus in the family Isoetaceae and order Isoetales. , there were about 200 recognized species, with a cosmopolitan distribution mostly in aquatic habitats ...

shoreweed ''Littorella uniflora'' (vernacular name: (American) shoreweed) is a species of aquatic flowering plant native to the Azores, Morocco, most of Europe excluding the dry southeast, Iceland, and the Faroes. It prefers to live mostly submerged in nut ...

, floating bur-reed and awlwort and this lake is within the

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

called ''Scafell Pikes'' (see

Scafells The Scafells, or Scafell Massif, are a range of fells in the Cumbrian Mountains of England, made up of the remains of a caldera volcano. Fells in the range include Broad Crag, Ill Crag, Scafell, and Scafell Pike, England's tallest mountain. G ...

Rainfall

Although no official confirmation yet exists, Styhead Tarn is believed to hold the English record for the highest monthly rainfall total, at about 1430 mm in November 2009.

References

Lakes of the Lake District Cumberland (unitary authority) {{Cumbria-geo-stub