Marline Valley Woods Site of Special Scientific Interest

Marline Valley Woods Site of Special Scientific Interest lies to the east of the Borough and runs down an incised wooded glen to the east of Queensway.

The woodlands are identified as ancient woodlands under the National Ancient Woodland Inventory.

Steep sided gill woodlands, many of which are ancient woodlands, are a special feature of the nature reserves in the Borough. The incised gills have survived due to their inaccessibility and unsuitability for development. Marline Wood is of particular significance being one of the largest continuous gill woodlands in the Borough.

The ancient woodlands are dominated by a nationally uncommon woodland type of pedunculate oak-hornbeam (birch-hazel variant) woodland. A valuable feature of the site is the steep sided stream valley with sandstone exposures which contain rare plants particularly suited to this type of habitat. The site also includes an area of species-rich unimproved grassland, a nationally declining habitat.

For a full site description and SSSI citation visit Natural England.

Find out more about Marline Valley Local Nature Reserve.