West Newlandside 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 Wear Valley

Wear Valley

Wear Valley was, from 1974 to 2009, a local government district in County Durham, England. Its council was based in Crook.The district covered much of the Weardale area. In the west it was parished and rural, whereas in the east it was more urban...

 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 3 km south-west of the village of Stanhope

Stanhope, County Durham

Stanhope is a small market town in County Durham, in England. It is situated on the River Wear between Eastgate and Frosterley on the north side of Weardale. The A689 trans-Pennine road meets the B6278 road from Barnard Castle to Shotley Bridge here....

.

The area is drained by two small burn

Burn

A burn is an injury to flesh caused by heat, electricity, chemicals, light, radiation, or friction.Burn may also refer to:*Combustion*Burn , type of watercourses so named in Scotland and north-eastern England...

s, tributaries of the River Wear

River Wear

The River Wear is located in North East England, rising in the Pennines and flowing eastwards, mostly through County Durham, to the North Sea at Sunderland.-Geology and history:...

 and consists of several fields that are managed as traditional northern 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, a habitat that is threatened by intensive agricultural practices.

The meadows are rich in grassland species: the nationally rare northern hawk's beard, Crepis mollis, is plentiful, and the locally rare adder's tongue, Ophioglossum vulgatum

Ophioglossum vulgatum

Ophioglossum vulgatum, commonly known as the Southern adderstongue, is a species of the plant genus Ophioglossum. It is native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with a scattered distribution in Europe, Asia, northwestern Africa, and eastern North America.This plant grows from a...

, and frog orchid, Coeloglossum viride, are also present.

A different vegetation is found where there are banks that are too steep to be cut; here the calcareous

Calcareous

Calcareous is an adjective meaning mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate, in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines.-In zoology:...

 soils support such species as fairy flax, Linum catharticum

Linum catharticum

Linum catharticum or Fairy Flax is an herbaceous flowering plant in the genus Linum, native to central Europe and Western Asia. The plant is annual and blooms in July and August....

, harebell, Campanula rotundifolia, and mountain pansy, Viola lutea

Viola lutea

Viola lutea , also known as Mountain Pansy, is a species in the genus Viola. It is native to Europe....

.