Kielderhead National Nature Reserve

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Overview

The Kielderhead NNR is composed of a high-level blanket mire, featuring both wet and dry heath. This is dissected by a number of valleys with vegetation characteristic of better drained soils, including scrub-filled cleughs (small rocky valleys). The primary interest of the reserve is its large area of undisturbed moorland, which is now uncommon in England, and which supports a wide range of plant communities and a variety of upland birds, especially waders like golden plover, curlew and lapwing, and birds of prey. The raptors which the internationally important blanket bogs support include goshawks, buzzards and hen harriers. Ospreys nest in the nearby Kielder Forest, and can sometimes be seen fishing in the Bakethin Reservoir at the north end of Kielder Water. One of the more unusual residents of the Kielderhead NNR is the large herd of rather smelly feral goats that roam the remote Border fells.

Location

Kielder

About the area

If it’s history you’re after, there’s heaps of it in Northumberland. On Hadrian’s Wall you can imagine scarlet-cloaked Roman legionaries keeping watch for painted Pictish warriors while cursing the English weather and dreaming of home.