Fishburn Grassland 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 the Sedgefield

Sedgefield (borough)

Sedgefield was, from 1974 to 2009, a local government district and borough in County Durham, in North East England. It had a population of about 87,000 . It was named after Sedgefield; but its largest town was Newton Aycliffe...

 district of 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 lies between the villages of Fishburn

Fishburn

Fishburn is a village and civil parish in County Durham, in England. It is situated a few miles to the west of Hartlepool. It has a population of 2,454.-Location:...

 and Trimdon

Trimdon

Trimdon is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated 9 miles west of Hartlepool. It is a former mining village which is adjacent to Trimdon Colliery, Trimdon Grange, Deaf Hill and Trimdon Station...

, just north of the former.

The site consists of a small area of species-rich magnesian limestone

Magnesian limestone

Magnesian limestone can refer to:* For the rock made of magnesium carbonate ie Magnesian limestone see dolomite or dolostone* For the traditional name of a specific suite of Permian age rocks in north-east England see Magnesian Limestone...

 grassland, a vegetation type that is rare nationally and mainly restricted to County Durham and Tyne and Wear

Tyne and Wear

Tyne and Wear is a metropolitan county in north east England around the mouths of the Rivers Tyne and Wear. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972...

. There are two distinct plant communities, the larger of which, dominated by blue moor-grass, Sesleria albicans, and small scabious, Scabiosa columbaria, is known only from east Durham. The other community

British NVC community CG3 (Bromus erectus grassland)

NVC community CG3 is one of the calcicolous grassland communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system. It is one of four communities of rank, tussocky grassland associated with low levels of grazing, within the lowland calcicolous grassland group.It is a comparatively widely...

, dominated by upright brome, Bromus erectus

Bromus erectus

Bromus erectus, commonly known as either upright brome or meadow brome, is a dense, course, tufted perennial grass. It can grow to 120cm. Like many brome grasses the plant is hairy.-Description:...

, is common on limestone in southern England but is at its northern limit in Durham, where there are no other protected sites.