The Bottoms (SSSI)
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| The Bottoms | |
|---|---|
  Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
| Location | MAGiC MaP |
| Nearest city | City of Durham |
| Coordinates | 54°44′13″N 1°26′24″W / 54.73694°N 1.44000°W |
| Area | 2.15 ha (5.3 acres) |
| Established | 1999 |
| Governing body | Natural England |
| Website | The Bottoms SSSI |
The Bottoms is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in County Durham, England. It lies just south of the A181 road, roughly midway between the Cassop and Wheatley Hill villages, some 10 km south-east of Durham city.
The site's interest lies in unimproved magnesian limestone grassland, where blue moor-grass, Sesleria albicans, and small scabious, Scabiosa columbaria, are the dominant species. This is a scarce vegetation type found only in County Durham, and the extent of which has been severely reduced by quarrying and intensive agriculture.[1]
Other grasses that are frequent in the sward include meadow oat-grass, Avenula pratensis, quaking grass, Briza media, sheep's fescue, Festuca ovina, crested hairgrass, and Koeleria macrantha. There is a rich variety of herbs, including rock-rose, Helianthemum nummularium, glaucous sedge, Carex flacca, spring sedge, C. caryophyllea, and mouse-ear hawkweed, Pilosella officinarum, and a small population of purple milk-vetch, Astragalus danicus, a local rarity on magnesian limestone.[1]
