Laymoor Quag

About

Laymoor Quag (grid reference SO644146) is a 3.5-hectare (8.6-acre) nature reserve within the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire. The site is listed in the 'Forest of Dean Local Plan Review' as a Key Wildlife Site (KWS). The site is owned by the Forestry Commission and managed under agreement by the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust since 1982.

Location and history: The nature reserve is a site of wet heath and marsh about half a mile north-west of Bilson Green, Cinderford. It is accessed from the south by the Forest Vale Road or from the north via the Forest Vale Industrial Estate. The reserve is surrounded by embankments of the old mineral railway lines, which ran from the coal fields to Drybrook Road Station; it lies on the west side of a disused line that is now a forest ride. It is located on the Dean Coal Measures and was originally part of a thriving mining area. An embankment divides the reserve into two parts. The reserve is the last remaining relic of the wet heathland of the area. This once was extensive, but was lost to coal-mining and forestry activity in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Habitat: The wet heathland is situated within the wider pondscape, and provides a...