Southlake Moor is a 196.1 hectare

Hectare

The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...

 (484.6 acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Burrow Mump

Burrow Mump

Burrow Mump is a hill and historic site overlooking Southlake Moor in the village of Burrowbridge in Taunton Deane, Somerset, England. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Burrow Mump is also known as St Michael's Borough or Tutteyate...

 and Burrowbridge

Burrowbridge

Burrowbridge is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated on the River Parrett and A361 road south east of Bridgwater in the Taunton Deane district on the edge of the Somerset Levels...

 in Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

, notified in 1985.

Southlake Moor forms part of the extensive grazing marsh and ditch system of Somerset Levels

Somerset Levels

The Somerset Levels, or the Somerset Levels and Moors as they are less commonly but more correctly known, is a sparsely populated coastal plain and wetland area of central Somerset, South West England, between the Quantock and Mendip Hills...

 and Moors. Southlake Moor is unusual in that, when conditions in the River Parrett

River Parrett

The River Parrett flows through the counties of Dorset and Somerset in South West England, from its source in the Thorney Mills springs in the hills around Chedington in Dorset...

 are suitable, it may be deliberately flooded in winter by means of a sluice in the river floodbank. Some 96 species of aquatic and bankside vascular plant species have been recorded from Southlake Moor, of particular interest is the Greater water-parsnip

Sium latifolium

The Sium latifolium or Greater Water parsnip or sometimes simply Water parsnip is a plant species of the genus Sium....

 (Sium latifolium). When the moor is flooded, large numbers of wildfowl may be present; with up to 22,000 Wigeon (Anas penelope), 250 Bewick's Swan

Bewick's Swan

The Tundra Swan is a small Holarctic swan. The two taxa within it are usually regarded as conspecific, but are also sometimes split into two species, Cygnus bewickii of the Palaearctic and the Whistling Swan, C. columbianus proper, of the Nearctic...

 (Cygnus bewickii) and good numbers of Pochard (Aythya ferina), Teal

Common Teal

The Eurasian Teal or Common Teal is a common and widespread duck which breeds in temperate Eurasia and migrates south in winter. The Eurasian Teal is often called simply the Teal due to being the only one of these small dabbling ducks in much of its range...

 (Anas crecca) and Tufted Duck

Tufted Duck

The Tufted Duck, Aythya fuligula, is a medium-sized diving duck with a population of close to one million birds.- Description :The adult male is all black except for white flanks and a blue-grey bill. It has an obvious head tuft that gives the species its name.The adult female is brown with paler...

 (Aythya fuligula). Regular signs of the Otter

Otter

The Otters are twelve species of semi-aquatic mammals which feed on fish and shellfish, and also other invertebrates, amphibians, birds and small mammals....

 (Lutra lutra) are to be seen on the muddy banks of the River
Parrett. The ditches on the east side of the site contain a population of the Palmate Newt

Palmate Newt

The Palmate Newt is a species of newt found in most of Western Europe, including Great Britain. It is protected by law in all countries where it occurs, and is thought to be extremely rare to endangered in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg and vulnerable in Spain and Poland but common...

 (Triturus helveticus).

During 2009 and 2010 work was undertaken to upgrade sluice gates, watercourses and culverts to enable seasonal flooding during the winter diverting water from the Sowy River

Sowy River

The Sowy River is an artificial drainage channel in Somerset, England.It is a embanked channel which starts at Monks Leaze clyce below Langport, and carries excess water from the River Parrett to the King's Sedgemoor Drain, from where it flows to the estuary by gravity, rejoining the Parrett near...

onto the moor. It has the capacity to hold 1.2 million cubic metres as part of a scheme by the Parrett Internal Drainage Board to restore ten floodplains in Somerset. In spring the water is drained away to enable the land to be used as pasture during the summer. The scheme is also used to encourage water birds.