Thrislington 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...

 and a National Nature Reserve

National Nature Reserves in England

National Nature Reserves in England are managed by Natural England and are key places for wildlife and natural features in England. They were established to protect the most important areas of habitat and of geological formations...

 in the Sedgefield

Sedgefield (borough)

Sedgefield was, from 1974 to 2009, a local government district and borough in County Durham, in North East England. It had a population of about 87,000 . It was named after Sedgefield; but its largest town was Newton Aycliffe...

 district of County Durham

County Durham

County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...

, 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 situated about 1 km east of Ferryhill

Ferryhill

Ferryhill is a town in south-central County Durham, England with a population of around 11,651 people, making it the 8th biggest town in the County. It is in the Durham County Unitary area...

, between the East Coast Main Line

East Coast Main Line

The East Coast Main Line is a long electrified high-speed railway link between London, Peterborough, Doncaster, Wakefield, Leeds, York, Darlington, Newcastle and Edinburgh...

 railway and the A1(M) road.

The site has one of the most important expanses of primary magnesian limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 grassland in Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

. In particular, it has the largest area of the grassland type which is characterised by blue moor-grass, Sesleria albicans, and small scabious, Scabiosa columbaria.

The eastern part of the site is undisturbed grassland which, as well as species commonly associated with magnesian limestone, has a small population of the locally-rare mountain everlasting, Antennaria dioica

Antennaria dioica

Antennaria dioica is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae...

, and good populations of dark-red helleborine, Epipactis atrorubens, and perennial flax, Linum perenne

Linum perenne

Linum perenne , is a flowering plant in the family Linaceae, native to Europe, primarily in the Alps, but also locally in England....

subsp. anglicum, both of which are nationally scarce.

The western part of the site has been disturbed by quarrying and the vegetation here consists of primary turf that was translocated between 1982 and 1990. Although it remains rich in herb

Herb

Except in botanical usage, an herb is "any plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for flavoring, food, medicine, or perfume" or "a part of such a plant as used in cooking"...

s, the characteristic features of magnesian limestone grassland were lost during the translocation: blue moor-grass is uncommon, while coltsfoot, Tussilago farfara, and field sow-thistle, Sonchus arvensis

Sonchus arvensis

Sonchus arvensis is a medicinal plant. It is an invasive species in the Great Lakes region and was first sited in 1865.-External links:** Photos, Drawings, Text...

, which entered the grassland during translocation, persist.

The area supports a diverse invertebrate

Invertebrate

An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...

 fauna, which includes the nationally-rare least minor moth, Photedes captiuncula, the nationally-notable Durham argus butterfly, Aricia artaxerxes salmacis, and the common glow-worm, Lampyris noctiluca

Lampyris noctiluca

Lampyris noctiluca, the common glow-worm of Europe , is a firefly species of the genus Lampyris. These are beetles, as evidenced by the hard cases which close over the wings when they are not in use....

.