Firle Escarpment
Encyclopedia
Firle Escarpment is a Site of Special Scientific Interest
falling within the South Downs
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
in the county of East Sussex
, England. The area is of biological interest due to its chalk grassland habitat supporting many species of flora, including the rare early spider orchid Ophrys sphegodes
.
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...
falling within the South Downs
South Downs
The South Downs is a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen Valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, near Eastbourne, East Sussex, in the east. It is bounded on its northern side by a steep escarpment, from whose...
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is an area of countryside considered to have significant landscape value in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, that has been specially designated by the Countryside Agency on behalf of the United Kingdom government; the Countryside Council for Wales on...
in the county of East Sussex
East Sussex
East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...
, England. The area is of biological interest due to its chalk grassland habitat supporting many species of flora, including the rare early spider orchid Ophrys sphegodes
Ophrys sphegodes
Ophrys sphegodes, commonly known as the Early Spider Orchid, is a species of orchid found on alkaline meadows and waste land. It has a distribution that includes western and northern Europe extending to parts of southern England but may also be found as far east as Corfu and possibly also in...
.