Mere Beck Meadows, formerly known as Willoughby Hall 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 the Teesdale

Teesdale (district)

Teesdale was, from 1974 to 2009, a local government district in County Durham, England. Its council was based in Barnard Castle and it was named after the valley of the River Tees....

 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 consists of three hay

Hay

Hay is grass, legumes or other herbaceous plants that have been cut, dried, and stored for use as animal fodder, particularly for grazing livestock such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep. Hay is also fed to pets such as rabbits and guinea pigs...

 meadows, situated on the south side of Hury Reservoir

Hury Reservoir

Hury Reservoir is a reservoir in County Durham, England situated in a dale called Baldersdale. The reservoir is located about four miles south of Middleton-in-Teesdale and about three miles west of Cotherstone. It supplies water for Teesdale and is owned by Northumbrian Water. It gets its name...

, immediately below the Blackton Reservoir

Blackton Reservoir

Blackton Reservoir is a reservoir in County Durham, England. It is situated in Baldersdale, about 4 miles west of Cotherstone, where the River Balder joins the River Tees.It is owned by Northumbrian Water and supplies water for Teesdale....

 dam

Dam

A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...

.

The site is important as preserving a rich assemblage of plant species, in a habitat that is becoming increasingly scarcer as a result of intensive agricultural practices. A wide variety of flowering plants is found, many in abundance, such as wood cranesbill, Geranium sylvaticum, meadow saxifrage, Saxifraga granulata

Saxifraga granulata

Saxifraga granulata is a flowering plant of the genus Saxifraga in the family Saxifragaceae.-References:...

, melancholy thistle, Cirsium helenioides, and great burnet, Sanguisorba officinalis

Sanguisorba officinalis

Sanguisorba officinalis is a plant in the family Rosaceae, subfamily Rosoideae. It is native throughout the cooler regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, northern Asia, and northern North America....

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