What makes Upper Teesdale special?

Upper Teesdale, in England’s North Pennines, is an internationally important geological area within the North Pennines UNESCO Geopark. Its combination of calcareous geology, cold springs, high altitude and distinct local climate creates conditions unusual in Britain, allowing plant species with very different geographical distributions to occur together.

The site supports an almost complete range of typical English upland habitats and a nationally important assemblage of plants, including several species found nowhere else in England. This diversity has led to its designation as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), while its bird assemblages also qualify it as a Special Protection Area (SPA). Moor House, England’s largest terrestrial National Nature Reserve, lies partly within the SSSI. The renowned botanist Dr Margaret Bradshaw published a book documenting her seven decades of work recording the flora of the area in 2023.

The assessment

A SSSI Condition Assessment in England evaluates the condition of a ‘feature’—a habitat, a species or an assemblage of species. Specific attributes are assessed, such as plant species diversity and the presence or absence of particular indicator species, alongside indicators of pressures such as overgrazing, undergrazing and drainage. Across the UK, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) sets the criteria through its Common Standards Monitoring guidance. Based on the assessment results, the feature is assigned a condition category ranging from unfavourable to favourable. The survey requires specialist surveyors with ecological and/or botanical expertise.

For peatland conservation, this assessment is particularly valuable: it is one of the few recent condition assessments of a large upland site containing a full range of upland peatland and associated mosaic habitats. These include approximately 8,000 hectares of blanket bog; internationally important alkaline fens and alpine flushes; spring-heads, rills and flushes; and alpine and sub-alpine dwarf shrub heaths.

The nationally rare calcareous fens and flushes support an exceptional concentration of rare arctic-alpine and northern montane plants that have survived there since the end of the last Ice Age.

What the assessment tells us

In 2024, we published the first UK Peatland Strategy Progress Report, highlighting how out of date many peatland condition assessments across the UK had become. The updated assessment of Upper Teesdale, a nationally important site for peatland features, offers valuable insight into whether agri-environmental agreements and land management interventions are delivering for nature—or failing to do so and hampering progress towards government environmental objectives.

Here, we look at Natural England’s records for the site’s peatland features. Most were assessed as ‘unfavourable – declining’, with a decline meaning that habitat condition has deteriorated since the previous assessment.

Within the wider peatland and wetland mosaic, spring-heads, rills and flushes; alkaline fens and alpine flushes; mire grasslands and rush pastures; blanket bog; and sub-alpine dwarf shrub heath were all assessed as ‘unfavourable – declining’. Alpine dwarf shrub heath was the only peaty habitat assessed as favourable.

Of the 20 habitat and species features assessed in 2026 across Upper Teesdale:

• 6 (30%) are Favourable
• 3 (15%) are Unfavourable – No change
• 11 (55%) are Unfavourable – Declining

n.b. these include all assessed features, not just peatland features.

Findings for five key peatland and wetland features

Although the recent update did not survey every SSSI feature across the site, it updated all peatland features. The summaries below draw on the assessment comments for five key peatland and wetland features.

Blanket bog

The most frequently recorded pressures on blanket bog were extensive peat erosion and hydrological degradation linked to historic drainage, burning and past grouse moor management. Active peat haggs, gullying, bare peat and modified drainage networks were cited as the main drivers of unfavourable condition.

Secondary pressures included heather dominance, reduced Sphagnum abundance, simplified vegetation structure and localised grazing impacts. Grip-blocking and restoration are supporting recovery in some areas, but further peatland restoration and hydrological repair remain key management priorities.

Alkaline fens

Upper Teesdale’s nationally important alkaline fens have experienced hydrological change, drainage impacts and drying. These pressures have led to the loss of characteristic fen vegetation and a shift towards rush, grassland or acid flush communities. Soft rush encroachment, reduced diversity of positive indicator species, localised grazing or poaching, and altered water regimes contributed to their ‘unfavourable – declining’ status.

Many fens remained species-rich, but hydrological change, rather than management, was recorded as an ongoing pressure that could drive further losses if drying continues. In some areas, excessive litter was also noted as a possible sign of insufficient grazing, which helps maintain the open sward favoured by low-growing species.

Alpine flushes, spring-heads and rills

Spring-heads, rills and flushes are often overlooked in favour of more conspicuous habitats. These spring-fed systems connect habitats across the landscape and are increasingly recognised globally as vulnerable ecosystems.

Although alpine flushes, spring-heads and rills were assessed as declining, many areas retained high bryophyte and sedge diversity. Like the other wetland features, they have experienced altered hydrology from historic drainage, localised grazing and poaching, sediment disturbance and occasional encroachment by generalist species.

Most areas retained characteristic flush species and remained structurally intact. Their ongoing conservation nevertheless requires the restoration of natural water movement, reduced disturbance and controlled, low-intensity grazing. 

Sub-alpine dwarf shrub heath

The wider mosaic habitats have also declined, although the sub-alpine dwarf shrub heath appears to be in better condition overall than blanket bog. Many areas retained typical communities of bilberry, crowberry, heather and bryophytes.

The main recorded pressures were historic burning, limited structural diversity, localised grazing by sheep and rabbits, bracken encroachment and adjacent peat erosion. Uniform vegetation structure and ongoing land management impacts continued to hamper recovery, affecting heath regeneration and vegetation composition.

Mire grasslands and rush pastures

In the mire grasslands and rush pastures characteristic of watershed valley bottoms, the main pressures were low frequencies of characteristic species, localised nutrient enrichment and sub-optimal grazing or cutting management.

Coarse grasses had become more dominant, alongside occasional rush encroachment. These species outcompete and replace positive indicator species, gradually reducing diversity. Although no significant loss of habitat extent was recorded, many areas showed signs of under-grazing, delayed biomass removal or nutrient inputs, contributing to the feature’s ‘unfavourable – declining’ condition.

In Summary

It is important that these assessments now lead to action, not simply act to document declines. 

The governmental bodies must use the findings from Upper Teesdale, Dartmoor and the wider SSSI assessment programme that is underway to identify recurring pressures and make the changes needed to support recovery.

This should include reviewing agri-environmental agreements where habitats continue to decline, applying the lessons to future Landscape Recovery schemes, and directing peatland restoration funding where it is most needed.

With 2030 rapidly approaching, the priority must be to turn evidence of decline into targeted restoration and effective long-term management to support our internationally agreed 30by30 targets. The measure of success must be improving habitat condition and ensuring robust, lasting protections for the UK’s highest value nature sites.

To find out more about the Upper Teesdale floral assemblage and this remarkable landscape visit: Upper Teesdale Botany Group.