Puxton Moor

Also within

Somerset County

Condition (Natural England)

Description

Description Puxton Moor forms part of the Avon Levels and Moors, an extensive area of low lying largely agricultural land, situated to the north of the Mendip Hills. The moor lies entirely on the silty clays of the Wentlloog series. Drained by a network of rhynes and ditches the area supports aquatic plant communities of great nature conservation interest. Regularly maintained water courses including some IDB* rhynes are particularly species rich. It is not uncommon for a short length of ditch to contain as many as 15 species and in some areas up to 30 species have been recorded. Open water species such as Canadian and Nuttall's waterweed Elodea canadensis and Elodea nuttallii, frogbit Hydrocharis morsus-ranae, small and lesser pondweed Potamogeton berchtoldii and Potamogeton pusillus, common water crowfoot Ranunculus aquatilis and the locally uncommon opposite leaved pondweed Groenlandia densa are all present. Also occurring are the nationally scarce rootless duckweed Wolffia arrhiza and the soft hornwort Ceratophyllum submersum, the latter dominating a number of ditches. Emergent species are also well represented and branched bur reed Sparganium erectum, tubular water dropwort Oenanthe fistulosa, water plantain Alisma plantago-aquatica, water horsetail Equisetum fluviatile are all common. Also present are flowering rush Butomus umbellatus and cyperus sedge Carex pseudocyperus both of which are declining in south west England. Many of the less frequently maintained field ditches are dominated by emergent species. Reed sweet grass Glyceria maxima, common reed Phragmites australis, yellow iris Iris pseudacorus and soft and hard rushes Juncus effusus and J. inflexus are abundant in some areas. Preliminary investigations have shown that a diverse invertebrate fauna is also associated with the rhynes and ditches. Molluscs, Coleoptera and Hydracarina water mites are all well represented and breeding populations of several odonata including the ruddy darter Sympetrum sanguineum and locally uncommon white legged damselfly Platycnemis pennipes are also present. * IDB Internal Drainage Board.

Species mentioned

Insects to look out for

These moths, butterflies and beetles are known to feed on plants recorded at this site, and carry a notable UK conservation status — but a host-plant being present doesn't mean the insect has actually been recorded here. Treat this as "worth watching for," not a confirmed sighting.

Host-plant data: Cook et al. (2025), Traits data for the butterflies and macro-moths of Great Britain and Ireland, 2024, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology / Butterfly Conservation; and Padovani et al. (2020), Database of Insects and their Food Plants (DBIF), UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (both Open Government Licence). Contains data supplied by UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology.