SSI

Dane-In-Shaw Pasture

COUNTY: CHESHIRE SITE NAME: DANE-IN-SHAW PASTURE
DISTRICT: Congleton SITE REF: 15W7G
Status: Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) notified (Under Section 28 or the Wildlife
and Countryside Act) 1981 as amended
Local Planning Authority: CHESHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL, Congleton Borough Council
National Grid Reference: SJ 877625 Area: 7.7 (ha.) 19.0 (ac.)
Ordnance Survey Sheet 1:50,000: 118 1:10,000: SJ 86 SE
Date Notified (Under 1949 Act): – Date of Last Revision: –
Date Notified (Under 1981 Act): 1990 Date of Last Revision: –
Other Information:
New site.
Description and Reasons for Notification:
This area of unimproved pasture, lying in the valley of Dane-in-Shaw Brook on the eastern
outskirts of Congleton, is one of the largest and most botanically diverse areas of flushed
neutral grassland remaining in lowland Cheshire.
The under-lying glacial and fluvio-glacial sands, interspersed with bands of boulder clay,
have been subject to widespread slumping. This has given rise to a variety of topographical
features which have a wide range of soil types including dry sandy spurs and clayey banks.
The latter are locally flushed by the many springs which issue from the north-facing slopes.
The glacial drift lies on top of Keuper marls which are exposed along the meandering
course of the brook.
The predominating grassland type is characterised by crested dog’s-tail Cynosurus cristatus
and common knapweed Centaurea nigra. It is moderately species-rich with quaking-grass
Briza media, heath-grass Danthonia decumbens, oxeye daisy Leucanthemum vulgare and
yellow rattle Rhinanthus minor. On the drier sandy spurs more acidic soils support
grassland dominated by red fescue Festuca rubra and common bent Agrostis capillaris with
abundant devil’s-bit scabious Succisa pratensis; and locally patches of heather Calluna
vulgaris. The tall herb vegetation of the wet flushed areas is dominated by meadowsweet
Filipendula ulmaria and great willowherb Epilobium hirsutum with much ragged-robin
Lychnis flos-cuculi. The flushes also have large stands of great horsetail Equisetum
telmateia, water avens Geum rivale and common spotted-orchid Dactylorhiza fuchsii, all of
which are of local distribution in Cheshire.
This tall herbaceous vegetation supports a diversity of insects including strong colonies of
common blue Polyommatus icarus and small heath Coenonympha pamphilus, two
butterflies with a restricted distribution in Cheshire.

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