The Parish of Kingston Seymour forms part of the North Somerset Levels and for the most part lies at or only slightly above sea level. Inland are the only slightly higher “Moors”. Together, these Levels and Moors, which are similar in character to the better-known Somerset Levels and Moors, constitute a nationally rare and fragile ecosystem.
Once regularly flooded, these reclaimed wetlands are rich in wildlife.
This is a historic landscape, characterised by flat expanses of pasture, dissected by a network of grypes, ditches and rhynes of ancient origin. Some of these support flora and fauna of considerable ecological interest, including the nationally scarce brackish water crowfoot, rootless duckweed, the variable damselfly and a number of species of water beetle. Present-day field patterns and boundaries still reflect changes in agricultural practice and land ownership dating back to medieval times. The ditches, rhynes and ancient hedgerows form important wildlife “corridors”. Fields vary between one and ten acres in area, most consisting of improved grassland, although there are a few examples of relict grassland (particularly near the Sea Wall) and these have a higher biological significance
Orchards
Kingston Seymour’s Orchards In the autumn of 2010 Bob Ford and Angela Slott surveyed twenty three orchards in Kingston Seymour. The work was carried out on behalf of the People’s Trust for Endangered species, working in collaboration with Natural Engla …