Chyenhal Moor
Chyenhal Moor is a poorly drained shallow valley, to the south-west of Penzance, Cornwall. Due to several rare plants in a diverse range of habitats, it was notified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1951.
Geography
Chyenhal Moor is a poorly drained shallow valley in the parish of Paul, on the southern side of the Land's End peninsula. The small stream draining the moor flows to Kerris Moor and reaches the sea at Lamorna Cove. The underlying rock is coarsely porphyritic granite and the soils are mostly humic, gleys, covered with varying depths of peat.History
Until the early 19th-century rough-ground such as Chyenhal Moor was an important part of the rural economy, through the grazing of livestock and cutting of furze for fuel. Moorland usually refers to uncultivated land on a hill, but locally it is also applied to wetlands such as this, and the nearby Kerris and Clodgy Moors. The high rainfall, poor drainage and acid conditions inhibit the action of bacteria which break down plant material resulting in the accumulation of a dark brown, fibrous material known as peat. Chyenhal Moor has been a well known location for botany since John Ralfs found rare plants here.Wildlife and ecology
The moor was notified as a SSSI because of the diverse range of habitats and rare plants. Willow carr is the dominant habitat, is often dense and reaches a maximum height of 5 m. It is dominated by grey willow with some goat willow and the ground flora includes lesser spearwort, marsh thistle, soft rush and yellow flag. Within the willow are small patches of wet heath vegetation with Cornish moneywort, wavy-leaved St John's wort and ivy-leaved bellflower. In the wetter parts are creeping forget-me-knot, marsh pennywort, purple moorgrass and various species of moss including sphagnums.A species of note in the south-west corner of the site is pillwort, a rare fern of wet heathland and acid pools. Plants surrounding the pool include bog pimpernel, marsh St John's wort, purple moor-grass, ragged robin, scaly male-fern and water mint. A second, overgrown pond, in the south-east corner of the site has the rare unbranched bur-reed, and a species very rare in Cornwall, ivy-leaved duckweed. In the more open wet heathy habitats heath spotted orchid, glaucous sedge and star sedge are found. Seven species of dragonfly have been recorded including the broad-bodied chaser and the four-spotted chaser.
In the north of the site is an open-heathy area dominated by common gorse and heather. The rare Dorset heath was planted here in 1934.