Westernhope Burn Wood 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 south-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 occupies the steeply-incised ravine

Ravine

A ravine is a landform narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streamcutting erosion. Ravines are typically classified as larger in scale than gullies, although smaller than valleys. A ravine is generally a fluvial slope landform of relatively steep sides, on the order of twenty to...

 of the Westernhope Burn, a tributary 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:...

, which it joins from the south about halfway between the villages of Eastgate

Eastgate, County Durham

Eastgate is a village in County Durham, England. It is situated in Weardale, a few miles west of Stanhope.Eastgate originally marked the eastern border of the private hunting park of the Prince Bishops of Durham. This was second in extent only to the royal hunting park of the New Forest in Hampshire...

 and Westgate

Westgate, County Durham

Westgate is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated in Weardale between St John's Chapel and Eastgate.Westgate is also the entrance to Slitt wood and an old abandoned lead mine. Other features of the village include a caravan site and a football and basketball court.-External links:...

.

The semi-natural deciduous woodland

Woodland

Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...

 on the slopes of the ravine area is characteristic of the North Pennines

North Pennines

The North Pennines is the northernmost section of the Pennine range of hills which runs north-south through northern England. It lies between Carlisle to the west and Darlington to the east...

, and this is one of the least disturbed areas of such vegetation in County Durham. Ash, Fraxinus excelsior, and wych elm, Ulmus glabra, are the dominant canopy species; hazel, Corylus avellana

Corylus avellana

Corylus avellana, the Common Hazel, is a species of hazel native to Europe and western Asia, from the British Isles south to Iberia, Greece, Turkey and Cyprus, north to central Scandinavia, and east to the central Ural Mountains, the Caucasus, and northwestern Iran. It is an important component of...

, is dominant in the understorey, in which holly, Ilex aquifolium, is also common. Alder, Alnus glutinosa, is the dominant species in wetter areas, next to the 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...

 and in valley-side flushes.

On the east side of the valley, the underlying sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

 and limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 is exposed as cliffs; these support a vegetation in which wood sage, Teucrium scorodonia

Teucrium scorodonia

Teucrium scorodonia, common name the Wood Sage or Woodland germander, is a perennial herb belonging to the genus Teucrium of the Lamiaceae family. It is cultivated as an ornamental plant in gardens.-Description:...

, and foxglove, Digitalis purpurea

Digitalis purpurea

Digitalis purpurea , is a flowering plant in the family Plantaginaceae , native to most of Europe.-Description:...

, are among the commonest species. At the base of the cliffs, there are deposits of tufa

Tufa

Tufa is a variety of limestone, formed by the precipitation of carbonate minerals from ambient temperature water bodies. Geothermally heated hot-springs sometimes produce similar carbonate deposits known as travertine...

, which are covered with bryophytes, especially curled hook-moss, Palustriella commutata, scented liverwort, Conocephalum conicum and Pellia spp

Pellia

Pellia is a small but widespread genus of liverworts in the cool and temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. It is classified in order Metzgeriales and is a member of the family Pelliaceae within that order....

.