Ebbor Gorge National Nature Reserve

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Overview

Ebbor Gorge NNR is a mostly wooded site occupying a prominent position on the southern escarpment of the Mendip Hills. The reserve is dissected by two valleys: Hope Wood Valley, which contains an active stream, and the dry, limestone Ebbor Gorge. The woodlands are mostly ash, but also include oak, wych elm, field maple, whitebeam, beech, hornbeam and hazel. Over 250 species of mosses, liverworts and lichens have been recorded, and in spring bluebells, wood anemones and dog’s mercury carpet the woodland floor. Small areas of grassland occur on the limestone outcrops and plateaux. Grazed by rabbits, these support common rockrose, fairy flax, marjoram, wild thyme, common milkwort and quaking grass. The mixed age of the woodland encourages many butterflies, including the rare white-letter hairstreak, while the limestone grassland supports chalk hill blue and brown argus. Rare lesser and greater horseshoe bats roost in the reserve’s cave systems, formed as rainwater slowly dissolved the limestone.

Location

Wells

About the area

Somerset remains rural and unspoiled, and ever popular areas to visit are the limestone and red sandstone Mendip Hills rising to over 1,000 feet, and by complete contrast, to the south and southwest, the flat landscape of the Somerset Levels. Another popular spot, the Quantocks, once the haunt of poets Coleridge and Wordsworth, are noted for their gentle slopes, heather-covered moorland expanses and red deer.