Old Castle Down
Encyclopedia
Old Castle Down is a Site of Special Scientific Interest
in the Vale of Glamorgan
, south Wales
.
The Countryside Council for Wales
states that the site has been categorisied as a Site of Special Interest "...for a range of vegetation types and rare species. It supports calcareous grassland, acid grassland and heathland on limestone. Soft-leaved sedge and pale heath-violet are themselves features of interest and a number of other plants occur here which are rare in Wales. These include bristle-bent, a grass which is found in South-West England but in only a few places in South Wales. The site and the surrounding area provides habitat for the High Brown Fritillary
, a butterfly which is rare and declining nationally. Old Castle Down SSSI also includes a geological feature of importance. The disused Duchy Quarry exposes Carboniferous rocks (about 340 million years old). Cracks and fissures within these rocks were infilled by sediments in Jurassic times (about 195 million years ago). These sediments incorporate the fossil remains of reptiles and primitive mammals."
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
in the Vale of Glamorgan
Vale of Glamorgan
The Vale of Glamorgan is a county borough in Wales; an exceptionally rich agricultural area, it lies in the southern part of Glamorgan, South Wales...
, south Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
.
The Countryside Council for Wales
Countryside Council for Wales
The Countryside Council for Wales is an Assembly Government Sponsored Body. It is the Welsh Assembly Government's wildlife conservation authority for Wales...
states that the site has been categorisied as a Site of Special Interest "...for a range of vegetation types and rare species. It supports calcareous grassland, acid grassland and heathland on limestone. Soft-leaved sedge and pale heath-violet are themselves features of interest and a number of other plants occur here which are rare in Wales. These include bristle-bent, a grass which is found in South-West England but in only a few places in South Wales. The site and the surrounding area provides habitat for the High Brown Fritillary
High Brown Fritillary
The High Brown Fritillary is a butterfly of the Nymphalidae family, native from Europe across mainland Asia to Japan.The adults fly in July/August and lay eggs near to the larval food plants which are species of violets,...
, a butterfly which is rare and declining nationally. Old Castle Down SSSI also includes a geological feature of importance. The disused Duchy Quarry exposes Carboniferous rocks (about 340 million years old). Cracks and fissures within these rocks were infilled by sediments in Jurassic times (about 195 million years ago). These sediments incorporate the fossil remains of reptiles and primitive mammals."