Background to Turbary Common Valley Mire Restoration

Why was it designated?

Turbary and Kinson Common SSSI is designated under Section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981 as amended). The two heaths are treated as one SSSI, however the rest of this report will only look at the Turbary Common site.

Turbary Common is the largest area of heathland still surviving in north Bournemouth, which overlays the acidic deposits of the Plateau Gravels and Bagshot Beds. The richness of this relic heathland, both in terms of its vegetation and associated fauna, is made even more significant by the urban location. Characteristic of the Bournemouth and Poole areas, the heathland of the higher ground and dry slopes is dominated by heather (Calluna vulgaris) and western gorse (Ulex gallii); also present are bell heather (Erica cinerea) and bristle bent (Agrostis curtisii), the latter especially abundant in areas of frequent burning. On the lower-lying ground there is humid and wet heath which is largely dominated by purple moor-grass (Molinia caerulea) and cross-leaved heath (Erica tetralix), together with varying amounts of heather and deergrass (Trichophorum cespitosum).

Mire flora

In the wetter areas of the mire, there is extremely rich and varied bog flora which includes oblong-leaved sundews and round-leaved sundew, bog asphodel, white beak-sedge, pale butter butterwort, early marsh orchid, heath orchid, flea sedge and bog mosses Sphagnum spp. Throughout the drier parts of the mire, the dominant plant species is purple moor grass that has formed large tussocks. Figure 1-3 Mire flora Figure 1-4 Bog pool flora The bog pools contain species such as common cotton-grass and bog pondweed and there are stands of bog myrtle. However, there have been changes seen in the last 20 years to a change in this flora, as common reed now dominates a large part of the wettest areas of the mire where there is also a significant stand of reedmace. The council who own the site have introduced grazing and this has had some notable benefits. For example, bog pools have been opened up and light poaching has created ideal habitat for pale butterwort and sundews. The animals are also grazing the periphery of the reed bed, slowing down its expansion rate.

Mire fauna

The area supports a rich invertebrate fauna. The habitat is particularly attractive to dragonflies and damselflies, two of the more notable species being scarce blue-tailed damselfly and small red damselfly. Bog bush cricket and swamp spider also occur. Until 2004, a small colony of silver studded blue butterflies was present but there have been limited recent sightings. The rich invertebrate fauna of this area attracts common lizards that are found in large numbers in the drier parts of the bog. Adder and grass snake also hunt amongst the Molinia tussocks for small mammals, lizards and amphibians. The permanently wet conditions found in this area attract overwintering snipe with counts of over 100 birds. Occasionally, jack snipe (Lymnocryptes minimus) can be seen with the snipe flock. Woodcock (Scolopax rusticola) are seen most winters along with teal. Other bird species recorded include reed bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus), reed warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus), sedge warbler (A. schoenobaenus) and meadow pipit (Anthus pratensis).