The West Cornwall Bryophytes Site of Special Scientific Interest is a group of seven locations of former mining activity, that form a single

SSSI 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 of ...

and

Important Plant Area Important Plant Areas (IPA) is a programme set up in the UK, by the organisation Plantlife, to provide a framework for identifying and maintaining the richest sites for plant life, possibly within existing protected areas; though the protection of ...

in western

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, United Kingdom. The site is noted for its

biological Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary in ...

characteristics and derives its name from the rare

bryophyte The Bryophyta s.l. are a proposed taxonomic division containing three groups of non-vascular land plants (embryophytes): the liverworts, hornworts and mosses. Bryophyta s.s. consists of the mosses only. They are characteristically limited in ...

species found there.

Geography

The SSSI comprises seven individual sites, spread over a radius around the towns of

Camborne Camborne ( kw, Kammbronn) is a town in Cornwall, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 20,845. The northern edge of the parish includes a section of the South West Coast Path, Hell's Mouth and Deadman's Cove. Camborne was formerl ...

Redruth Redruth ( , kw, Resrudh) is a town and civil parishes in Cornwall, civil parish in Cornwall, England. The population of Redruth was 14,018 at the 2011 census. In the same year the population of the Camborne-Redruth urban area, which also inc ...

and

Helston Helston ( kw, Hellys) is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the Lizard Peninsula approximately east of Penzance and south-west of Falmouth.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map shee ...

, totalling an area of .Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 203 ''Land's End''

Wildlife and ecology

All of the areas making up the site are situated on disused mining land. The copper laden spoil tips, along with the derelict mine buildings, support populations of rare bryophytes (

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hor ...

es and

liverworts The Marchantiophyta () are a division of non-vascular land plants commonly referred to as hepatics or liverworts. Like mosses and hornworts, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry only a single set of ge ...

). As a result,

Plantlife Plantlife is the international conservation membership charity working to secure a world rich in wild plants and fungi. It is the only UK membership charity dedicated to conserving wild plants and fungi in their natural habitats and helping peo ...

has designated the whole site an

. The site mainly supports the nationally rare liverwort species of '' Cephaloziella integerrima'', '' Cephaloziella massalongi'' and '' Cephaloziella nicholsonii'', as well as the nationally rare moss '' Scopelophila cataractae''. The populations found here represent 20% of the total known populace of these species within

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

. ''Cephaloziella integerrima'' has only been found in two other sites within the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

. At the Godolphin Bridge location, the nationally rare '' Pohlia andalusica'' and the nationally scarce '' Bryum donianum'' and '' Cephaloziella stellulifera'' can be found, along with ''Cephaloziella massalongi'', '' Fossombronia caespitiformis'' and ''Scopelophila cataractae''. The Dolcoath Road area supports the nationally rare ''Cephaloziella integerrima'' and ''Cephaloziella nicholsonii'', as well as the nationally scarce '' Cephaloziella calyculata'' and ''Pohlia andalusica''. On both of the Tolgus Tin Works sites grow the four main bryophyte species along with ''Pohlia andalusica'', which produces capsules only at this location in Britain. The West Basset Stamps location supports the three main liverworts along with ''Pohlia andalusica'', ''Cephaloziella stellulifera'' and the nationally scarce mosses '' Bryum pallescens'' and the capsule producing '' Gymnostomum viridulum'', again only at this site in Britain. Poldice Valley supports ''Cephaloziella nicholsonii'', ''Cephaloziella stellulifera'', ''Pohlia andalusica'' and ''Bryum donianum''. On the exposed areas of the spoil tips on Porkellis Moor can be found the three main liverworts as well as ''Pohlia andalusica''.

References

{{SSSIs Cornwall biological Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Cornwall Sites of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1999 Mining in Cornwall