Far High House Meadows is a Site of Special Scientific Interest

Site of Special Scientific Interest

A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...

 in Upper Weardale

Weardale

Weardale is a dale, or valley, of the east side of the Pennines in County Durham, in England. Large parts of Weardale fall within the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty - the second largest AONB in England and Wales. The upper valley is surrounded by high fells and heather grouse...

 in west County Durham

County Durham

County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It consists of three fields, located just south of Burnhope Reservoir

Burnhope Reservoir

Burnhope Reservoir is a reservoir above the village of Wearhead, County Durham.The reservoir was created by the construction of an earth embankment dam across the valley of Burnhope Burn, a tributary of the River Wear, 1 km above Wearhead...

, some 3 km west of the village of Ireshopeburn

Ireshopeburn

Ireshopeburn is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated on the south side of Weardale, between St John's Chapel and Wearhead, and on the other side of the Wear from West Blackdene and New Ho...

. Two of the fields are maintained as northern hay meadows by traditional farming methods, without re-seeding or the application of artificial fertilisers; the third is grazed as pasture.

The hay fields are dominated by common bent, Agrostis capillaris

Agrostis capillaris

Agrostis capillaris is a rhizomatous and stoloniferous perennial in the grass family . It is native to Eurasia and has been widely introduced in many parts of the world...

, and sweet vernal-grass, Anthoxanthum odoratum

Anthoxanthum odoratum

-Introduction:Anthoxanthum odoratum, known as sweet vernal grass, holy grass, vanilla grass or buffalo grass, is a short-lived grass found wild in acidic grassland in Eurasia. It is also grown as a lawn grass and a house plant, due to its sweet scent, and can also be found on unimproved pastures...

, and support a diversity of forbs, among which globe-flower, Trollius europaeus, and marsh-marigold, Caltha palustris

Caltha palustris

Caltha palustris is a herbaceous perennial plant of the buttercup family, native to marshes, fens, ditches and wet woodland in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere....

, are well represented, with early-purple orchid, Orchis mascula, among the species present in the wetter areas.

The pasture is a mix of acidic upland grassland, dry grassland and flushes, the last dominated by rushes

Juncaceae

Juncaceae, the rush family, are a monocotyledonous family of flowering plants. There are eight genera and about 400 species. Members of the Juncaceae are slow-growing, rhizomatous, herbaceous plants, and they may superficially resemble grasses. They often grow on infertile soils in a wide range...

 and sedges

Cyperaceae

Cyperaceae are a family of monocotyledonous graminoid flowering plants known as sedges, which superficially resemble grasses or rushes. The family is large, with some 5,500 species described in about 109 genera. These species are widely distributed, with the centers of diversity for the group...

.