Tormentil

About the Site

The reserve's 3,497 hectares are used mainly for sheep grazing and as grouse moor and is part of the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

In areas where the underlying rock is limestone, various grasses grow. These include sheep’s fescue, common bent, quaking grass and blue-moor grass. This has indigo-blue flowers in early spring, while in early autumn its sabre-like leaves turn salmon-coloured. Herbs are also found growing on the limestone and include tormentil, thyme, heath bedstraw, heath dog-violet, daisy, harebell and mountain pansy.

If you are following the Widdybank Fell nature trail (from the Cow Green Car Park), look for Slapestone Sike. Before crossing this small beck, where the track drops steeply down, is a rocky outcrop. Here, a number of plants manage to cling to the ledges despite the thin covering of soil. In the spring, common whitlowgrass, spring sandwort, heath dog-violet and blue moor-grass flower. Later in the year, you may see flowers of thyme, fairy flax and harebell, or the large yellow flowers of the common rock rose.

At Slapestone Sike, mineral-rich water produces "flushes" where interesting plant species grow. These include sedges (plants like grasses but with solid, triangular stems) and bryophytes (mosses and liverworts).

Past the beck is a spoil heap, where spring sandwort can be seen. This is one of the few plants that can tolerate the high levels of lead and barium that are found in the heap.

Many different alpine or arctic plants grow on the turf beside the path. These are a very special feature of Teesdale. You may be able to spot the famous spring gentian, which is only found in Teesdale and Western Ireland in the British Isles. Mountain everlasting or cat's foot, with white-edged green leaves and white male or pink female flowers heads on "woolly" shoots, is the closest British relative to edelweiss. Other special alpine plants include alpine bistort, with narrow dark-green leaves and white or pink flower spikes in early summer. Unlike the other alpines, its numbers have increased because it can cope with being trampled on.

Hair sedge is found growing here. Another interesting plant is the lesser clubmoss, with lime green shoots. It is not in fact a moss, but related to primitive tree ferns. Sea plantain might seem a strange plant to grow here, so far from its usual coastal habitat, but it is able to adapt to the climatic conditions here.

In August, the mauve or pink flowers of the autumn gentian and the orange-brown patches of the false sedge can be seen. False sedge is another of the alpine plants of Teesdale; the only other place it is found is in the Scottish Highlands. Many of these plants are rare, but what is even rarer is the mix of alpine flowering plants with the blue moor-grass and sheep’s fescue, unique in Britain.

In areas of peat bog, heather dominates the plants. Bilberry and coarse mat-grass grow in the drier areas. You may see a golden plover during your walk. It has a golden-brown back, speckled with black, and a black belly.

Its mournful, melodious single-note whistle is often heard here in spring and early summer as it stands on higher ground and raises its wings.

Other birds common during the breeding season include the skylark and meadow pipit. The skylark sings from high above, while the pipit sings as it rises and then spirals downward.

The red grouse may also be seen in this area. A bird found nowhere else but Britain, it depends on heather for food, nesting and cover. Both male and female are a dark red-brown with darker mottling, and whitish feathered legs. The male has a prominent red wattle over the eye.

Beyond the meteorological station, patches of moonwort can be seen, a primitive fern only ten centimetres high, with oddly shaped leaves. You may also see northern bedstraw, with its bright green leaves arranged in groups of four around a square stem. Immediately to the left of the track, from May to July, a temporary enclosure ensures that spring gentians and later plants can flower.

In the flushed areas of Red Sike, bird’s-eye primrose, with its pink flowers, and spring sandwort are the first to flower. Later, common butterwort and rare Scottish asphodel with miniature iris-like leaves and cream flower spikes will be seen. On deeper soils, especially on the stream banks, rare alpine meadow-rue is abundant.

In late July and August, yellow mountain saxifrage and knotted pearlwort are in flower in the moist rocky areas. Although the flowers attract your eye, the main species are in fact the mosses, sedges and rushes. False sedge, long-stalked yellow-sedge, sommon yellow-sedge, common sedge and carnation sedge are all seen. In this area of the site, you are likely to see curlews and common sandpipers.

Continuing on the path over the Whin Sill, much of the ground is covered by peat. The Whin Sill is exposed volcanic rock known as dolerite. On the drier areas, hare’s tail cottongrass grows. Deergrass, with brown flower spike, grows with heather, cross-leaved heath, crowberry and bilberry. Butterwort and round-leaved sundew can be found near the wet pools. Both these plants are carnivores, and produce sticky substances on their leaves which trap insects.

By the River Tees, you may see a dipper bobbing along. This dumpy little brown bird with its white bib feeds by walking along the bottom of the beck to hunt out aquatic insects, snails, shrimps, worms and small fish. Among the crags you may spot the ring-ouzel, like a blackbird with a white crescent on its breast. Oyster-catchers, smart black and white birds with orange bills and pink legs, nest regularly below the dam.

The crags are also home to heather, bell heather, bilberry, crowberry and various ferns, such as hard fern, broad buckler-fern and bracken. A grey blanket effect can still be seen on the Whin Sill, as a result of the growth of woolly hair moss.

Cow Green Reservoir

Cow Green lies within Moorhouse Upper Teesdale NNR and is Northumbria Water's highest reservoir. It spreads over a shallow basin in the upper reaches of Teesdale and offers spectacular views of the surrounding hills of the North Pennines.

Its high altitude means that the conditions are too extreme for many species of wildfowl and wader as the water regularly freezes over in the winter. However, a number of species of duck and goose can be seen here. Regular visitors include teal, one of the smallest species of duck, mallard and goosander. Other occasional visitors include pochard, canada goose, gannet, wigeon, peregrine falcon and whooper swan.

The Pennine Way passes close by Cow Green en route from Langdon Beck to High Cup Nick. A nature trail leads to Cauldron Snout, a waterfall that plunges dramatically from the reservoir to form a spectacular confluence, between the river Tees and Maize Beck, beneath Falcon Clints.

Moorhouse Upper Teesdale National Nature Reserve & Cow Green Reservoir

Location

To reach Moorhouse Upper Teesdale, follow the B6277 between Alston and Middleton-in-Teesdale. At Langdon Beck, take the small road signed for Cow Green Reservoir, and follow it for about 3 miles (5 km) to the car park.

Facilities

There is a walk through the site known as the Widdybank Fell nature trail. This starts at the car park at Cow Green and covers 3 miles (5 km).

Panels at the car park describe aspects of the reserve, its geology, vegetation, animal life and climate.

There is a wheelchair accessible route, which is marked from the car park.

As the area is high up (500 m/1650 feet above sea level) have warm clothes and waterproofs with you, and wear good shoes or boots. The weather at this height may change suddenly and can be chilly even on a fine day.

Enquiries

Natural England
Widdybank Farm
Langdon Beck
Forest in Teesdale
Barnard Castle
County Durham
DL12 OHQ

Telephone: 01833 622374

Northumbrian Water
Abbey Road
Pity Me
Durham
DH1 5FJ

Telephone: 0870 2403549