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Sheepleas

Site of Special Scientific Interest
Cowslip Meadow
Location	Surrey
Grid reference	TQ 089 516
Interest	Biological Geological
Area	99.9 hectares (247 acres)
Notification	1986
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. It is a Geological Conservation Review site and a Local Nature Reserve. It is owned by Surrey County Council and managed by the Surrey Wildlife Trust.

History

The sheepleas was a long-standing area sheep grazing area ('lēah' being an Old English term for pasture). In 1915, it was included as one of 284 nature reserves on the Rothschild List. Part of the sheepleas Surrey County Council bought in 1936 and a further area in the 1950s.

Geography

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.

The site is open to the public.

References

1. ^ "Designated Sites View: Sheepleas". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
2. "Map of Sheepleas". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
3. "Mountain Wood (Quaternary of South-East England)". Geological Conservation Review. Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
4. "Designated Sites View: Sheepleas". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
5. "Map of Sheepleas". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
6. ^ "Sheepleas". Surrey Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
7. "Definition of LEA". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
8. "The Rothschild List: 1915-2015 A review 100 years on" (PDF). The Wildlife Trusts. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 March 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
9. "Sheepleas; Visitor Guide and Self-guided Trails" (PDF). data.wildlifetrusts.org. Surrey County Council.
10. "Sheepleas citation" (PDF). Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 16 November 2018.

51°15′11″N 0°26′28″W / 51.253°N 0.441°W / 51.253; -0.441

v t e Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Surrey
Biological	Ash to Brookwood Heaths Banstead Downs Basingstoke Canal Blackheath Blindley Heath Bookham Commons Broadmoor to Bagshot Woods and Heaths Charleshill Charterhouse to Eashing Chiddingfold Forest Chipstead Downs Chobham Common Colony Bog and Bagshot Heath Colyers Hanger Combe Bottom Devil's Punch Bowl Dumsey Meadow Epsom and Ashtead Commons Esher Commons Glover's Wood Godstone Ponds Gong Hill Hackhurst and White Downs Hankley Farm Hedgecourt Horsell Common Kempton Park Reservoirs Knight and Bessborough Reservoirs Langham Pond Leith Hill Lingfield Cernes Mole Gap to Reigate Escarpment Moor Park Ockham and Wisley Commons Papercourt Puttenham and Crooksbury Commons Quarry Hangers Ranmore Common Reigate Heath Sheepleas Smart's and Prey Heaths Staffhurst Wood Staines Moor Stones Road Pond Thorpe Hay Meadow Thorpe Park No 1 Gravel Pit Thursley, Hankley and Frensham Commons Titsey Woods Vann Lake and Ockley Woods Wey Valley Meadows Whitmoor Common Windsor Forest and Great Park Woldingham and Oxted Downs Wraysbury Reservoir
Geological	Auclaye Brook Brick Pit Clock House Brickworks Mole Gap to Reigate Escarpment Netherside Stream Outcrops Seale Chalk Pit Sheepleas Smokejack Clay Pit Stockstone Quarry Upper Common Pits

v t e Surrey Wildlife Trust
Croydon	Dollypers Hill
Epsom and Ewell	Howell Hill Priest Hill
Guildford	Ash Ranges Broadstreet, Backside and Rydes Commons Burner's Heath and Swallows Pond Chinthurst Hill Chitty's Common Colekitchen Down The Forest and the Highlands Hackhurst Downs Littlefield Common Middlebriars Wood Newlands Corner Papercourt Marshes Pucks Oak Barn and McAlmont Reserves Puttenham Common Sheepleas Shere Woodlands St Martha's Hill and Colyer's Hanger Stringer's Common Whitmoor and Rickford Commons Wisley and Ockham Commons and Chatley Heath
Mole Valley	Ashtead Park Betchworth Quarry and Lime Kilns Brockham Limeworks Deepdene Terrace Fraser Down Glory Wood and Devil's Den Milton Heath and The Nower Newdigate Brickworks Norbury Park Nower Wood Vann Lake and Candy's Copse Wallis Wood White Downs Wotton and Abinger Commons
Reigate and Banstead	Dawcombe Fames Rough Nutfield Marshes Shabden Park
Runnymede	Thorpe Hay Meadow
Surrey Heath	Barossa Bisley and West End Commons and Reidon Hill Brentmoor Heath and Folly Bog Chobham Common Gracious Pond Milford Green and Coxhill Green Poors Allotment
Tandridge	Bay Pond Blindley Heath Graeme Hendrey Wood Hedgecourt Hill Park Kitchen Copse Ledgers Wood Quarry Hangers Staffhurst Wood
Waverley	Crooksbury Hill Cucknell's Wood Elstead Group of Commons Rodborough Common Runfold Wood Seale Chalk Pit and Meadow Thundry Meadows Underdown
Woking	Brookwood Lye Manor Farm

• Local Nature Reserves in Surrey
• Surrey Wildlife Trust
• Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Surrey
• Geological Conservation Review sites
• Hills of Surrey