Special Scientific Interest
In recognition of its biological and geological interest, an area of 139.1 hectares (344 acres) within and around the combe was notified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1952.
The calcareous grasslands support a diverse flora which includes Salad burnet (Sanguisorba minor), Knapweed (Centaurea scabiosa and Centaurea nigra), Rock-rose (Helianthemum nummularium) and Wild thyme (Thymus praecox). On the higher, more acidic, slopes Goldenrod (Solidago virgaurea), Wood sage (Teucrium scorodonia) and Common Bent (Agrostis capillaris) can be found. There are also scrub plants including Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), Mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia), gorse (Ulex europaeus) and Elder (Sambucus nigra). Several of the caves support bat populations.
Geologically it is recognised as a fluvial karst feature which partly intersects a buried and filled gorge of Triassic age.
Read more about this topic: Burrington Combe
Famous quotes containing the words special, scientific and/or interest:
“There is special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, ‘tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be
now; if it be not now, yet it will come—the readiness is
all.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Just as a new scientific discovery manifests something that was already latent in the order of nature, and at the same time is logically related to the total structure of the existing science, so the new poem manifests something that was already latent in the order of words.”
—Northrop Frye (b. 1912)
“The interest in Wisdom is fading. Soon there will not be enough left to support the aphorism, even though it tries to amuse by half-mocking the Wisdom it propounds.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)