The Avon Gorge, Falkirk is a small wooded gorge in Falkirk

Falkirk (council area)

Falkirk is one of the 32 unitary authority council areas in Scotland. It borders onto North Lanarkshire to the south west, Stirling to the north west, West Lothian to the south east and, across the Firth of Forth to the north east, Fife and Clackmannanshire...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

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An area of 19.05 hectare

Hectare

The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...

s of the gorge is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest; it was notified in 1986. The steep wooded banks constitute one of the few remaining ancient, semi-natural woodland

Ancient woodland

Ancient woodland is a term used in the United Kingdom to refer specifically to woodland that has existed continuously since 1600 or before in England and Wales . Before those dates, planting of new woodland was uncommon, so a wood present in 1600 was likely to have developed naturally...

 sites in Falkirk District.

Plants found here which are rare in Falkirk District include Alternate-leaved golden saxifrage (Chrysosplenium alternifolium), Moschatel

Moschatel

Adoxa moschatellina is the sole member of the genus Adoxa. It grows in hedgerows throughout Europe, Asia, and North America, in cool forests, at low altitudes in the far north, to high altitudes in mountains in the south of its range...

 (Adoxa moschatellina) and Hemp Agrimony (Eupatorium cannabinum). The site also contains Pendulous Sedge (Carex pendula) and Lily of the Valley

Lily of the Valley

Convallaria majalis , commonly known as the lily-of-the-valley, is a poisonous woodland flowering plant native throughout the cool temperate Northern Hemisphere in Asia and Europe....

 (Convallaria majalis) both of which are uncommon in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

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