Beckhead Plantation is a Site of Special Scientific Interest

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...

 (SSSI) and nature reserve

Nature reserve

A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...

 in the East Riding of Yorkshire

East Riding of Yorkshire

The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Yorkshire, is a local government district with unitary authority status, and a ceremonial county of England. For ceremonial purposes the county also includes the city of Kingston upon Hull, which is a separate unitary authority...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is located close to the village of Great Givendale

Great Givendale

Great Givendale is a hamlet in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately north of Pocklington.It forms part of the civil parish of Millington....

 on the Yorkshire Wolds

Yorkshire Wolds

The Yorkshire Wolds are low hills in the counties of East Riding of Yorkshire and North Yorkshire in northeastern England. The name also applies to the district in which the hills lie....

. The site, which was designated a SSSI in 1968, is managed as a nature reserve by the Yorkshire Naturalists' Trust. It lies on chalk land in Given Dale. The site is important because it demonstrates many of the characteristic features of a northern

Northern England

Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North or the North Country, is a cultural region of England. It is not an official government region, but rather an informal amalgamation of counties. The southern extent of the region is roughly the River Trent, while the North is bordered...

 ash woodland on chalk. The tree canopy is dominated by ash with some wych elm, field maple and rowan

Sorbus aucuparia

Sorbus aucuparia , is a species of the genus Sorbus, native to most of Europe except for the far south, and northern Asia...

 while the understorey contains shrub species including hazel

Corylus avellana

Corylus avellana, the Common Hazel, is a species of hazel native to Europe and western Asia, from the British Isles south to Iberia, Greece, Turkey and Cyprus, north to central Scandinavia, and east to the central Ural Mountains, the Caucasus, and northwestern Iran. It is an important component of...

, guelder rose

Viburnum opulus

Viburnum opulus is a species of Viburnum, native to Europe and Asia. Some botanists also treat the closely related North American species Viburnum trilobum as a variety of it , or a subspecies, Viburnum opulus subsp...

, elder

Sambucus nigra

Sambucus nigra is a species complex of elder native to most of Europe.It is most commonly called Elder, Elderberry, Black Elder, European Elder, European Elderberry, European Black Elderberry, Common Elder, or Elder Bush when distinction from other species of Sambucus is needed...

, gooseberry and fly honeysuckle

Lonicera xylosteum

Lonicera xylosteum, commonly known as Fly honeysuckle, European Fly Honeysuckle, Dwarf Honeysuckle or Fly Woodbine is a deciduous shrub. It is one of two honeysuckles native to Britain, the other being the Common Honeysuckle ....

.