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Special Areas of Conservation

Fen Bog

Designated Special Area of Conservation (SAC)
Country England
Unitary Authority North Yorkshire
Centroid* SE851974
Latitude 54.36527778
Longitude -0.689722222
SAC EU Code UK0030332
Status Designated Special Area of Conservation (SAC)
Area (ha) 26.98
* This is the approximate central point of the SAC. In the case of large, linear or composite sites, this may not represent the location where a feature occurs within the SAC.
Location of Fen Bog SAC

General site character

  • Bogs, Marshes, Water fringed vegetation, Fens (93%)
  • Humid grassland, Mesophile grassland (3%)
  • Broad-leaved deciduous woodland (4%)

Download the Standard Data Form for this site (PDF <100kb)

Note When undertaking an appropriate assessment of impacts at a site, all features of European importance (both primary and non-primary) need to be considered.

Annex I habitats that are a primary reason for selection of this site

  • 7140 Transition mires and quaking bogs

    This valley mire lies in Newtondale, a deep glacial spillway in the North Yorkshire Moors. The peat deposit is up to 18 metres deep, and is now mostly covered with acidophilous mire vegetation. The following plants are abundant: the bog-mosses Sphagnum papillosum and S. capillifolium, common cottongrass Eriophorum angustifolium, deergrass Trichophorum cespitosum, purple moor-grass Molinia caerulea, cross-leaved heath Erica tetralix, bog-myrtle Myrica gale, round-leaved sundew Drosera rotundifolia, tormentil Potentilla erecta and heath milkwort Polygala serpyllifolia. White beak-sedge Rhynchospora alba is locally abundant.

    One of the important features of this site is the development of lateral water tracks containing a plant association more usually characteristic of mires in oceanic regions. A number of species occurring in these communities at Fen Bog do not occur elsewhere in north-east England and are very locally distributed outside western districts. These soligenous mire associations, some of which show the influence of base-rich water, include the bog-mosses Sphagnum [auriculatum] and S. recurvum, the sedges Carex rostrata, C. limosa, C. echinata and C. dioica, bog pondweed Potamogeton polygonifolius, many-stalked spike-rush Eleocharis multicaulis and bogbean Menyanthes trifoliata.

Annex I habitats present as a qualifying feature, but not a primary reason for selection of this site

  • Not Applicable

Annex II species that are a primary reason for selection of this site

  • Not Applicable

Annex II species present as a qualifying feature, but not a primary reason for site selection

  • Not Applicable

Many designated sites are on private land: the listing of a site in these pages does not imply any right of public access.