Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
Location | Surrey |
---|---|
Grid reference | TQ 089 516 [1] |
Interest | Biological Geological |
Area | 99.9 hectares (247 acres) [1] |
Notification | 1986 [1] |
Location map | Magic Map |
Sheepleas is a 99.9-hectare (247-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest east of Guildford in Surrey. [1] [2] It is a Geological Conservation Review site [3] and a Local Nature Reserve. [4] [5] It is owned by Surrey County Council and managed by the Surrey Wildlife Trust. [6]
The sheepleas was a long-standing area sheep grazing area [6] (' lēah' being an Old English term for pasture). [7] In 1915, it was included as one of 284 nature reserves on the Rothschild List. [8] Part of the sheepleas Surrey County Council bought in 1936 and a further area in the 1950s. [9]
This sloping site on the North Downs has woodland, scrub and botanically rich grassland. The diverse invertebrate fauna includes two nationally rare flies, Norellia spinipes and Microdon devius. A cutting in Mountain Wood exposes a unique gravel Pleistocene deposit which throws light on the Quaternary history of the Weald and the evolution of the London Basin. [10]
The site is open to the public.