List of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Leicestershire
Sites

List of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Leicestershire

Section Title: Sites
Table Section Text: None

Site name	Photograph	B	G	Area	Public access	Location	Other classifications	Map	Citation	Description

Allexton Wood	Allexton Wood	25.8 hectares (64 acres)	NO	Uppingham 52°35′10″N 0°47′17″W / 52.586°N 0.788°W SP822994	Map	Citation	This coppice semi-natural wood is on soils derived from glacial and Jurassic clays. The dominant tree is ash, and elm and pedunculate oak are also common.

Ashby Canal	Ashby Canal	15.4 hectares (38 acres)	YES	Leicester 52°39′43″N 1°27′47″W / 52.662°N 1.463°W SK364073	Map	Citation	The site has diverse aquatic flora and invertebrates, and the submerged plants are of particular interest. These include mare's tail, spiked water-milfoil and perfoliate pondweed.

Bardon Hill	Bardon Hill	13 hectares (32 acres)	YES	Coalville 52°42′43″N 1°19′12″W / 52.712°N 1.32°W SK460130	Map	Citation	The hill is a surviving fragment of the formerly extensive Charnwood Forest, and it has both woodland and heath. Mature oak dominates the lower slopes, with pine plantation higher up, and a mixture of heath, acid grassland, rock outcrops and scrub oak at the top.

Bardon Hill Quarry	Bardon Hill Quarry	58.1 hectares (144 acres)	NO	Coalville 52°42′40″N 1°19′44″W / 52.711°N 1.329°W SK454129	GCR	Map	Citation	This quarry has been operated for over 400 years and produces three million tonnes of crushed rock a year, about 15% of the total production in the United Kingdom.

Barrow Gravel Pits	Barrow Gravel Pits	35.7 hectares (88 acres)	YES	Loughborough 52°44′38″N 1°09′29″W / 52.744°N 1.158°W SK569166	Map	Citation	This site in the flood plain of the River Soar has open water in the former gravel pits, marshes, hay meadows, woodland and scrub.

Beacon Hill, Hangingstone and Outwoods	Beacon Hill	147.4 hectares (364 acres)	PP	Loughborough 52°44′28″N 1°14′24″W / 52.741°N 1.24°W SK514163	GCR, NCR	Map	Citation	Beacon Hill has diverse breeding birds, such as green woodpeckers, tawny owls and tree pipits, and it is one of only three sites in the county with breeding palmate newts.

Benscliffe Wood	Benscliffe Wood	9.8 hectares (24 acres)	NO	Leicester 52°42′32″N 1°14′31″W / 52.709°N 1.242°W SK513127	Map	Citation	This wood has one of the richest varieties of lichens in the East Midlands, with over thirty species growing on Precambrian rocks.

Blackbrook Reservoir	Blackbrook Reservoir	39.3 hectares (97 acres)	FP	Shepshed 52°45′04″N 1°19′19″W / 52.751°N 1.322°W SK458173	Map	Citation	The reservoir has a plant community on its margins which is unique in the Midlands and only found in a few northern sites.

Botcheston Bog	Botcheston Bog	2.8 hectares (6.9 acres)	NO	Leicester 52°38′13″N 1°17′02″W / 52.637°N 1.284°W SK485047	Map	Citation	This grazed marsh on peaty soil is dominated by carnation sedge, hard rush, creeping bent and meadowsweet. Other plants include several which are rare in the county.

Bradgate Park and Cropston Reservoir	Cropston Reservoir	399.3 hectares (987 acres)	YES	Leicester 52°41′20″N 1°13′01″W / 52.689°N 1.217°W SK530105	GCR, SM	Map	Citation	Bradgate Park has one of the best examples of ancient parkland in the county, and Cropston Reservoir has unusual plants on its shores.

Breedon Cloud Wood and Quarry	Breedon Quarry	63.2 hectares (156 acres)	PP	Loughborough 52°47′10″N 1°23′13″W / 52.786°N 1.387°W SK414212	GCR, LRWT	Map	Citation	Cloud Wood is an ancient semi-natural wood on clay. It has a very diverse ground flora, including pendulous sedge, yellow archangel and giant bellflower.

Breedon Hill	Breedon Hill	5.2 hectares (13 acres)	YES	Loughborough 52°48′14″N 1°24′07″W / 52.804°N 1.402°W SK404232	Map	Citation	This is the largest area of species rich carboniferous limestone in the county. Herbs include bulbous buttercup, harebell, burnet saxifrage, musk thistle and hairy violet.

Briery Wood Heronry, Belvoir	Briery Wood Heronry	5.7 hectares (14 acres)	NO	Grantham 52°53′13″N 0°46′30″W / 52.887°N 0.775°W SK825329	Map	Citation	This is the largest heronry in the county, with up to thirty breeding pairs. The dominant trees are mature oaks and ash, with a ground flora of bracken and dog's mercury.

Buddon Wood and Swithland Reservoir	Swithland Reservoir	187.1 hectares (462 acres)	NO	Leicester 52°43′37″N 1°10′12″W / 52.727°N 1.17°W SK561147	GCR	Map	Citation	The reservoir provides a refuge for waterfowl during the winter, and Buddon Wood has over 200 species of vascular plants, a third of British spider species including one which is nationally rare, 20 butterflies and 200 moths.

Burbage Wood and Aston Firs	Burbage Wood and Aston Firs	51.1 hectares (126 acres)	PP	Hinckley 52°32′28″N 1°20′02″W / 52.541°N 1.334°W SP452940	LNR	Map	Citation	These semi-natural woods on poorly drained soils are dominated by ash and oak. Hazel and hawthorn are common in the shrub layer, and there are flowers such as sweet woodruff and water avens.

Cave's Inn Pits	Cave's Inn Pits	5.8 hectares (14 acres)	NO	Lutterworth 52°25′N 1°13′W / 52.41°N 1.21°W SP538795	Map	Citation	These disused gravel workings have some of the best neutral marsh in the county, with varied habitats also including scrub, species-rich grassland and shallow pools.

Charnwood Lodge	Charnwood Lodge	134.2 hectares (332 acres)	PP	Coalville 52°43′59″N 1°18′43″W / 52.733°N 1.312°W SK465153	GCR, LRWT, NNR	Map	Citation	This is the largest area of moorland in the East Midlands, and it is mainly covered by bracken on dry hills, while wet heath is dominated by purple moor-grass.

Chater Valley	Chater Valley	3.8 hectares (9.4 acres)	NO	Uppingham 52°37′55″N 0°48′58″W / 52.632°N 0.816°W SK802045	Map	Citation	This steeply sloping stretch of the valley of the River Chater is a semi-natural mosaic of grassland and spring-fed marsh. There are diverse breeding birds, invertebrates and herbs, including tormentil, betony and one of the few populations in the county of moonwort.

Cliffe Hill Quarry	Cliffe Hill Quarry	19.2 hectares (47 acres)	NO	Coalville 52°41′28″N 1°18′00″W / 52.691°N 1.3°W SK474107	GCR	Map	Citation	This quarry on the western outskirts of Markfield exposes volcanic and sedimentary Charnian rocks dating to the Precambrian eon. It was probably then a volcanic island.

Coalville Meadows	Coalville Meadows	6 hectares (15 acres)	YES	Coalville 52°44′N 1°20′W / 52.73°N 1.34°W SK446150	Map	Citation	These meadows on poorly drained clay soils are dominated by great burnet, red fescue, Yorkshire fog and tufted hair-grass. Herbs include pignut and heath bedstraw.

Cotes Grassland	Cotes Grassland	3.2 hectares (7.9 acres)	YES	Loughborough 52°46′52″N 1°10′52″W / 52.781°N 1.181°W SK553208	Map	Citation	This meadow on the bank of the River Soar has a thin soil on alluvial river gravels. It has several plants which are uncommon in the Midlands, such as soft trefoil, spotted medick, knotted hedge-parsley, wild clary and subterranean trefoil.

Cribb's Lodge Meadows	Cribb's Meadow	4.1 hectares (10 acres)	YES	Melton Mowbray 52°45′32″N 0°40′08″W / 52.759°N 0.669°W SK899188	LRWT, NCR, NNR	Map	Citation	The embankment of a disused railway runs through this ridge and furrow neutral meadow on boulder clay. The diverse flora includes adder's tongue fern, pepper saxifrage, hayrattle and green-winged orchid.

Croft and Huncote Quarry	Croft Quarry	35.2 hectares (87 acres)	NO	Hinckley 52°33′47″N 1°14′49″W / 52.563°N 1.247°W SP511965	GCR	Map	Citation	This site exposes igneous tonalite rocks 452 million years old, in the Ordovician period, and it helps to document the growth of continental crust beneath central England.

Croft Hill	Croft Hill	2.0 hectares (4.9 acres)	YES	Hinckley 52°33′50″N 1°15′00″W / 52.564°N 1.25°W SP509966	Map	Citation	This site has short, tussocky grass in an open habitat, a nationally rare vegetation type. The granitic soil is thin and short of nutrients.

Croft Pasture	Croft Pasture	6.1 hectares (15 acres)	YES	Hinckley 52°33′25″N 1°15′00″W / 52.557°N 1.25°W SP509958	LRWT	Map	Citation	The River Soar runs through this unimproved grazed meadow, which is dominated by common bent and crested dog's-tail. A knoll in the north of the site has uncommon flora such as meadow saxifrage, common stork's-bill and subterranean clover.

Croxton Park	Croxton Park	97.3 hectares (240 acres)	PP	Melton Mowbray 52°50′24″N 0°47′06″W / 52.84°N 0.785°W SK819277	Map	Citation	This medieval park has unimproved rough grassland with a scatter of ancient oaks and hawthorns. The breeding birds are diverse, and more than ninety lichen species have been recorded, including many which are uncommon.

Debdale Meadow, Muston	Debdale Meadow	4.3 hectares (11 acres)	NO	Grantham 52°56′38″N 0°45′36″W / 52.944°N 0.76°W SK834393	Map	Citation	This traditionally managed meadow has diverse flora typical of the clay soils of the Midlands, and it has evidence of medieval ridge and furrow cultivation.

Dimminsdale	Dimminsdale	36.9 hectares (91 acres)	PP	Coalville 52°47′24″N 1°26′35″W / 52.79°N 1.443°W SK376216	GCR, LRWT	Map	Citation	Dimminsdale has semi-natural woodland and one of the largest areas of unimproved acidic grassland in the county. Earl Ferrers' lead mine, which is located on the site, has a unique and complex mixture of minerals such as galena and zinc blende; their genesis is little understood and they provide great potential for research.

Donington Park	Donington Park	38.9 hectares (96 acres)	NO	Loughborough 52°50′13″N 1°23′10″W / 52.837°N 1.386°W SK414268	Map	Citation	The park was mentioned in the Domesday Book, and it has been managed as a deer park for all of its recorded history.

Enderby Warren Quarry	Enderby Warren Quarry	1.6 hectares (4.0 acres)	NO	Leicester 52°35′42″N 1°12′14″W / 52.595°N 1.204°W SK540000	GCR	Map	Citation	This former quarry is described by Natural England as nationally important as it is the only one in Britain where it can be shown that palygorskite clay soil has been formed by the action of groundwater on Triassic and pre-Triassic sediments.

Eye Brook Reservoir	Eye Brook Reservoir	201.3 hectares (497 acres)	NO	Uppingham 52°33′04″N 0°44′42″W / 52.551°N 0.745°W SP 852 955	Map	Citation	The reservoir is an important site for wintering wildfowl, such as wigeon, teal, mallard and pochard. Other habitats are marsh, mudflats, grassland, broad-leaved woodland and plantations.

Eye Brook Valley Woods	Great Merrible Wood	65.7 hectares (162 acres)	PP	Uppingham 52°33′47″N 0°46′55″W / 52.563°N 0.782°W SP826969	LRWT	Map	Citation	These are surviving fragments of the medieval Leighfield Forest. Park Wood is mainly ash and wych elm, while Bolt Wood and Great Merrible Wood are dominated by ash and field maple.

Frisby Marsh	Frisby Marsh	10.1 hectares (25 acres)	YES	Loughborough 52°44′56″N 0°59′06″W / 52.749°N 0.985°W SK686174	Map	Citation	This site has spring-fed marshes, grassland, woodland and a pool and channel which are the surviving parts of a former ox-bow lake of the adjacent River Wreake.

Gipsy Lane Pit	Gipsy Lane Pit	0.5 hectares (1.2 acres)	NO	Leicester 52°39′29″N 1°05′10″W / 52.658°N 1.086°W SK619071	GCR	Map	Citation	This site is important to geologists for its Triassic stratigraphy, and to mineralogists as it is rich in sulphides, some of which are unidentified and imperfectly understood compounds.

Grace Dieu and High Sharpley	Grace Dieu and High Sharpley	86 hectares (210 acres)	PP	Coalville 52°44′53″N 1°21′07″W / 52.748°N 1.352°W SK438170	GCR	Map	Citation	This site is composed of several fragments of the formerly extensive Charnwood Forest, and it has diverse habitats of heath, woodland, rock, scrub and acid grassland.

Grantham Canal	Grantham Canal	9.4 hectares (23 acres)	YES	Grantham 52°53′42″N 0°52′01″W / 52.895°N 0.867°W SK763337	Map	Citation	This site has diverse aquatic and terrestrial habitats, which supports a varied insect community. The canal has floating plants such as fat duckweed and water fern, and there are breeding birds such as sedge warblers, moorhens and reed warblers.

Great Bowden Borrowpit	Great Bowden Borrow	2.4 hectares (5.9 acres)	NO	Market Harborough 52°30′04″N 0°54′22″W / 52.501°N 0.906°W SP743898	Map	Citation	This former railway borrow pit has an unusual marsh, dominated by soft rush, tufted hair grass and cottongrass. Other plants include bulrush and bog moss.

Groby Pool and Woods	Groby Pool	29 hectares (72 acres)	YES	Leicester 52°40′08″N 1°13′59″W / 52.669°N 1.233°W SK519082	Map	Citation	Groby Pool is the largest natural lake in the county, and it is used by many wintering wildfowl. The marginal vegetation is diverse, and there is also wet woodland and meadows which have grasses such as common bent, sweet vernal grass and crested dog's-tail.

Harby Hill Wood	Harby Hill Wood	17.2 hectares (43 acres)	FP	Melton Mowbray 52°50′53″N 0°52′08″W / 52.848°N 0.869°W SK762285	Map	Citation	This site has steeply sloping ash and sycamore woodland, with areas of spring-fed marsh and colonies of wild daffodils. There is also an area of species-rich dry grassland, which has flora such as pignut and musk thistle.

Holly Rock Fields	Holly Rock Fields	3.9 hectares (9.6 acres)	NO	Coalville 52°43′30″N 1°19′08″W / 52.725°N 1.319°W SK461144	Map	Citation	This is a nationally important site as most of it is the nationally scarce National Vegetation Classification type MG5, crested dog’s-tail and common knapweed grassland.

Holwell Mouth	Holwell Mouth	15.7 hectares (39 acres)	YES	Melton Mowbray 52°48′47″N 0°55′37″W / 52.813°N 0.927°W SK724245	CL	Map	Citation	This marsh on Jurassic clay is in the valley of the River Smite, which runs through the site. There are also areas of grassland, bracken and woodland, and the diverse habitats support a range of birds and insects.

Ives Head	Ives Head	4.0 hectares (9.9 acres)	NO	Coalville 52°44′56″N 1°17′35″W / 52.749°N 1.293°W SK478170	GCR	Map	Citation	This site exposes volcaniclastic sandstones dating to the late Precambrian, around 600 million years ago. It is important for the global understanding of the early evolution of Ediacaran environments.

Kendall's Meadow	Kendall's Meadow hedge	2.6 hectares (6.4 acres)	NO	Hinckley 52°34′41″N 1°25′16″W / 52.578°N 1.421°W SP393980	Map	Citation	Over a dozen grass species grow on this traditionally managed hay meadow, such as common bent, red fescue, crested dog's tail and yellow oat grass.

Kilby - Foxton Canal	Kilby – Foxton Canal	32 hectares (79 acres)	YES	Leicester 52°33′25″N 1°02′20″W / 52.557°N 1.039°W SP652959	Map	Citation	Nine species of pondweed have been recorded on the canal, two of which are nationally rare, and submerged plants include Nuttall's waterweed and yellow water-lily.

King Lud's Entrenchments and The Drift	The Drift	23.9 hectares (59 acres)	YES	Melton Mowbray 52°50′31″N 0°43′16″W / 52.842°N 0.721°W SK862280	SM	Map	Citation	This site has limestone grassland with tor-grass, cock's foot, crested dog's-tail and red fescue. Herbs include salad burnet, field scabious, germander speedwell and perforate St John's-wort, and there is also some broad-leaved semi-natural woodland.

Launde Big Wood	Launde Big Wood	41.1 hectares (102 acres)	YES	Leicester 52°37′30″N 0°50′24″W / 52.625°N 0.84°W SK786037	LRWT	Map	Citation	This wood on heavy clay is dominated by ash, and in some areas by wych elm. The ground layer has flora typical of ancient clay woods, such as bluebell, forget-me-not, yellow archangel and giant bellflower.

Leighfield Forest	Leighfield Forest	149.7 hectares (370 acres)	PP	Leicester 52°36′40″N 0°51′29″W / 52.611°N 0.858°W SK774021	NCR	Map	Citation	These woods in the Eye Brook valley date back at least to the thirteenth century. The dominant trees are ash and oak.

Lockington Marshes	Lockington Marshes	11.3 hectares (28 acres)	NO	Loughborough 52°51′47″N 1°16′41″W / 52.863°N 1.278°W SK487298	Map	Citation	This site in the floodplains of the River Soar and River Trent has a periodically flooded meadow, pools and one of the largest areas of willow carr in the county.

Loughborough Meadows	Loughborough Meadows	60.5 hectares (149 acres)	YES	Loughborough 52°47′28″N 1°12′22″W / 52.791°N 1.206°W SK536218	LRWT	Map	Citation	This is the largest area of unimproved alluvial flood meadow in the county, and wet areas are dominated by creeping bent and marsh foxtail.

Lount Meadows	Lount Meadows	8.5 hectares (21 acres)	NO	Coalville 52°46′05″N 1°25′44″W / 52.768°N 1.429°W SK386191	Map	Citation	This slightly acidic grassland site has hay meadows with diverse grass species. There are also areas of species-rich rough pasture, scrub and marsh, which is dominated by plicate sweet-grass and water horsetail.

Main Quarry, Mountsorrel	Main Quarry, Mountsorrel	14.6 hectares (36 acres)	NO	Leicester 52°43′37″N 1°08′49″W / 52.727°N 1.147°W SK577148	GCR	Map	Citation	According to Natural England, this site "is probably the most dramatic and well-developed occurrence of asphaltite in Britain upon which international research into the origin of life on Earth has been carried out."

Misterton Marshes	Misterton Marshes	6.8 hectares (17 acres)	NO	Lutterworth 52°27′40″N 1°10′52″W / 52.461°N 1.181°W SP557852	Map	Citation	This is one of the largest areas of unimproved wetland in the county. Its large areas of tall fen are dominated by common reed, reed canary grass and lesser pond-sedge.

Muston Meadows	Muston Meadows	8.7 hectares (21 acres)	YES	Grantham 52°55′08″N 0°46′30″W / 52.919°N 0.775°W SK824365	NCR, NNR	Map	Citation	These ridge and furrow meadows are on soils derived from clay. Herbs include green-winged orchid, lady's bedstraw, yellow rattle, pepper saxifrage and cowslip.

Narborough Bog	Narborough Bog	8.5 hectares (21 acres)	YES	Leicester 52°34′34″N 1°11′28″W / 52.576°N 1.191°W SP549979	LRWT	Map	Citation	This site has a large area of common reed on peat, and there is also wet woodland, dominated by crack willow.

Newhurst Quarry	Newhurst Quarry	9.4 hectares (23 acres)	NO	Shepshed 52°45′22″N 1°16′55″W / 52.756°N 1.282°W SK485179	GCR	Map	Citation	This is the only British site where hypogene mineralisatin, deep in the earth, has been weathered during the Triassic, around 225 million years ago.

Newton Burgoland Marshes	Newton Burgoland Marshes	8.6 hectares (21 acres)	NO	Coalville 52°40′34″N 1°26′13″W / 52.676°N 1.437°W SK381089	Map	Citation	This site is in two areas, with the northern one having wet grassland and species rich marsh, while the southern one is well-drained grassland.

Oakley Wood	Oakley Wood	48.1 hectares (119 acres)	NO	Loughborough 52°47′20″N 1°16′55″W / 52.789°N 1.282°W SK485216	Map	Citation	This site provides the only example in the county of the transition from oak woodland on free draining acid soil to the ash and hazel typical of the heavy clays of eastern central England.

One Barrow Plantation	One Barrow Plantation	1.8 hectares (4.4 acres)	NO	Shepshed 52°44′56″N 1°18′54″W / 52.749°N 1.315°W SK463171	GCR	Map	Citation	This site exposes rocks dating to the late Precambrian, around 600 million years ago. The deposits are mainly volcanic ash, thought to have been deposited in the sea from volcanoes on neighbouring islands similar to those now found on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean.

Owston Woods	Owston Woods	139.5 hectares (345 acres)	YES	Oakham 52°39′00″N 0°50′10″W / 52.65°N 0.836°W SK788065	Map	Citation	The dominant trees in these woods on Jurassic and glacial clay are ash and hazel. There are diverse moths, beetles and other insects, including some rare species, and there is also a variety of birds and small mammals.

Pasture and Asplin Woods	Pasture Wood	40.9 hectares (101 acres)	NO	Shepshed 52°47′20″N 1°22′19″W / 52.789°N 1.372°W SK424215	Map	Citation	These ancient woods on poorly drained clay soils are dominated by ash, with a shrub layer of hazel and hawthorn. There are herbs characteristic of ancient woodland, such as wood anemone and sweet woodruff.

River Eye	River Eye	6 hectares (15 acres)	PP	Melton Mowbray 52°45′32″N 0°51′18″W / 52.759°N 0.855°W SK773186	NCR	Map	Citation	This unpolluted clay stream has rich and diverse flora and fauna. Marginal vegetation includes bulrush, branched bur-reed and greater pond sedge, while shallow, fast-flowing stretches have curled pondweed and perfoliate pondweed.

River Mease	River Mease	22.8 hectares (56 acres)	PP	Coalville 52°42′14″N 1°35′31″W / 52.704°N 1.592°W SK276120	SAC	Map	Citation	The river has nationally significant populations of two species of freshwater fish, spined loach and bullhead. Vegetation is sparse in the upper reaches as the stream is fast-flowing, but there are stands of floating sweet-grass, and aquatic flora is more varied lower down, where the river flows slowly across a flood plain.

Roecliffe Manor Lawns	Roecliffe Manor Lawns	1.2 hectares (3.0 acres)	NO	Leicester 52°42′25″N 1°12′54″W / 52.707°N 1.215°W SK531125	Map	Citation	This grassland site on Precambrian rocks has a wide variety of fungi, including several species listed in the provisional Red Data Book of threatened species for fungi.

Saddington Reservoir	Saddington Reservoir	19 hectares (47 acres)	YES	Market Harborough 52°30′43″N 1°01′26″W / 52.512°N 1.024°W SP663910	Map	Citation	The reservoir has a range of wetland habitats, such as open water, wet willow woodland and swamp. There are a number of nationally scarce beetles, such as Carabus monilis, Atheta basicornis, Eledona agricola and Gyrophaena lucidula.

Sheepy Fields	Sheepy Fields	4.9 hectares (12 acres)	NO	Market Bosworth 52°37′08″N 1°30′40″W / 52.619°N 1.511°W SK332025	Map	Citation	The two hay meadows in this site are on post-glacial river terrace deposits. There are diverse herbs such as lady's mantle, adder's tongue, hayrattle, pepper saxifrage, bulbous buttercup and cowslip.

Sheet Hedges Wood	Sheet Hedges Wood	21.7 hectares (54 acres)	YES	Leicester 52°40′19″N 1°13′08″W / 52.672°N 1.219°W SK529086	Map	Citation	This is typical of ancient woods on clay soils in central and eastern England, and ash is dominant in the canopy, while the shrub layer has hazel, field maple, hawthorn, elder and privet.

Shepshed Cutting	Shepshed Cutting	5.8 hectares (14 acres)	YES	Shepshed 52°45′43″N 1°19′08″W / 52.762°N 1.319°W SK460185	Map	Citation	The Triassic deposits in Shepshed Cutting are unique, with a flat sheet of galena resting on red clay, and the whole enclosed in sandstone.

Sproxton Quarry	Sproxton Quarry	5.4 hectares (13 acres)	YES	Melton Mowbray 52°49′01″N 0°43′08″W / 52.817°N 0.719°W SK864252	GCR	Map	Citation	The quarry exposes one of the most complete sections of the Middle Jurassic Lincolnshire Limestone Formation, together with the underlying Grantham and Northampton Sand Formations.

Stanford Park	Stanford Park	20.4 hectares (50 acres)	YES	Lutterworth 52°24′22″N 1°08′24″W / 52.406°N 1.14°W SP586791	Map	Citation	The park has avenues of oak trees, together with other large trees in an area of pasature. It has the most diverse lichens in the county on the bark of mature trees and on old stonework, including fifteen species not recorded elsewhere in Leicestershire.

Stonesby Quarry	Stonesby Quarry	3.2 hectares (7.9 acres)	YES	Melton Mowbray 52°49′01″N 0°47′46″W / 52.817°N 0.796°W SK812251	LRWT	Map	Citation	This site on Jurassic Lincolnshire Limestone has grassland with diverse herb species, such as autumn gentian, cowslip, dwarf thistle, small scabious, pyramidal orchid and clustered bellflower.

Swithland Wood and The Brand	Swithland Wood	87.9 hectares (217 acres).	YES	Leicester 52°42′22″N 1°12′11″W / 52.706°N 1.203°W SK539124	GCR, NCR	Map	Citation	Swithland Wood is typical of the acid and loamy soils of the Midlands, and its dominant trees are sessile oak, silver birch and small-leaved lime.

Terrace Hills Pasture	Terrace Hill Pasture	11.2 hectares (28 acres)	PP	Grantham 52°52′08″N 0°49′16″W / 52.869°N 0.821°W SK794309	Map	Citation	This site has been designated an SSSI as an example of old calcareous pasture, but some areas are former quarries, and as a result there is an undulating terrain.

Tilton Cutting	Tilton Cutting	4.4 hectares (11 acres)	YES	Leicester 52°38′24″N 0°52′23″W / 52.64°N 0.873°W SK763053	GCR, LRWT	Map	Citation	This is the best site in the East Midlands which exposes the sequence of rocks in the Lower Jurassic around 180 million years ago.

Twenty Acre Piece	Twenty Acre Piece	8 hectares (20 acres)	YES	Loughborough 52°46′55″N 1°03′04″W / 52.782°N 1.051°W SK641210	CL	Map	Citation	This site has grassland, scrub and wood on poorly drained acidic clay. The woodland is mainly hawthorn, oak and ash, and there are diverse populations of breeding invertebrates and birds.

Ulverscroft Valley	Ulverscroft Valley	110.7 hectares (274 acres)	PP	Leicester 52°42′32″N 1°16′23″W / 52.709°N 1.273°W SK492127	LRWT, NT, SM	Map	Citation	This is described by Natural England as one of the best wildlife sites in the county, with grassland, heath, woodland and wetlands.

Wymondham Rough	Wymondham Rough	5.9 hectares (15 acres)	YES	Melton Mowbray 52°44′53″N 0°46′12″W / 52.748°N 0.77°W SK831175	LRWT	Map	Citation	This clay grassland has a rich flora, dominated by common bent, Yorkshire fog, false oat-grass and cock's foot. A poorly drained area has plants such as water avens, and there are drier soils in the west of the site.

Sentence(s)

The largest site is Bradgate Park and Cropston Reservoir at 399.3 hectares (987 acres).

final_sentence: The largest site is Bradgate Park and Cropston Reservoir at 399.3 hectares (987 acres).