Editing Cheddar Gorge (section)

== Ecology ==
[[File:Cheddar Gorge goat.JPG|thumb|A goat in the gorge]]
Notable species at the gorge include [[common dormouse|dormice]], [[Yellow-necked Mouse|yellow-necked mice]], [[Anguis fragilis|slowworms]] and [[Vipera berus|adders]] and the rare [[large blue butterfly]] (''Maculinea arion''),<ref name="ind">{{cite news | url= https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/the-best-places-to-watch-wildlife-in-britain-425636.html | title= The best places to watch wildlife in Britain | date= 24 November 2006 | work= [[The Independent]] | access-date= 12 August 2007 | location= London | url-status= live | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081216135101/http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/the-best-places-to-watch-wildlife-in-britain-425636.html | archive-date= 16 December 2008}}</ref> and [[small pearl-bordered fritillary]] (''Boloria selene'').<ref name="sssi" />

A wide variety of wild birds may be seen in Cheddar Gorge including [[peregrine falcon]], [[common buzzard|buzzard]], [[common kestrel|kestrel]], [[common raven|raven]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rspb.org.uk/datewithnature/sites/cheddargorge/index.asp|title=Cheddar Gorgeous birds|publisher=RSPB|access-date=18 September 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090504065154/http://www.rspb.org.uk/datewithnature/sites/cheddargorge/index.asp|archive-date=4 May 2009}}</ref> and [[common grasshopper warbler|grasshopper warbler]].<ref name="sssi" />

The flora include chalk grassland-loving species such as [[marjoram]] and wild [[thyme]].<ref name="ind" /> The Cheddar pink, ''[[Dianthus gratianopolitanus]]'', also known as firewitch,<ref name="naturescalendar" /> only grows in the wild in the gorge.<ref name="curio">{{cite book |title=Curiosities of Somerset |last=Leete-Hodge |first=Lornie |year=1985 |publisher=Bossiney Books |location=Bodmin |isbn=0-906456-98-3 |pages=21–22 }}</ref> It was once common in the gorge but declined after being picked by collectors. It is also home to unique species of whitebeam.<ref>{{cite news | url= http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6969783.ece | newspaper= The Times | title= Three new species of tree identified in Cheddar Gorge | access-date= 14 November 2010 | location= London | url-status= dead | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110604220820/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6969783.ece | archive-date= 4 June 2011}}</ref>
The nationally rare [[Geranium purpureum|little robin geranium]] (''Geranium purpureum''), and [[Galium fleurotii|Cheddar bedstraw]] (''Galium fleurotii'') and the nationally scarce species include [[Vicia tenuissima|slender tare]] (''Vicia tenuissima''), [[Cerastium pumilum|dwarf mouse-ear]] (''Cerastium pumilum'') and [[Sedum forsteranum|rock stonecrop]] (''Sedum forsteranum'') also occur in the gorge.<ref name="sssi" /> It is one of the few localities in England with native populations of the Welsh poppy ''[[Papaver cambricum]]''.<ref name=Valtueña>{{cite journal |last1=Valtueña |first1=F.J. |last2=Preston |first2=C.D. |last3=Kadereit |first3=J.W |date=2011 |title=Evolutionary significance of the invasion of introduced populations into the native range of ''Meconopsis cambrica'' |journal=Molecular Ecology |volume=20 |issue=20 |pages=4318–4331 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-294X.2011.05273.x|pmid=21923776 |bibcode=2011MolEc..20.4318V |s2cid=54827 }}</ref> It is one of the very few areas in southern Britain where the [[lichen]]s ''[[Solorina saccata]]'', ''[[Squamaria cartilaginea]]'' and ''[[Caloplaca cirrochroa]]'' can be found.<ref name="sssi" />

The gorge is also an important site for [[whitebeam]]s and in 2009 a survey was carried out by botanists from the Welsh National Herbarium as part of a nationwide survey of whitebeams. Among the eight species identified were three new species previously unknown to science. Nineteen specimens with oval-shaped leaves were named the "Cheddar whitebeam", ''Sorbus cheddarensis'', fifteen specimens with roundish leaves and greyish brown bark were named the "Twin Cliffs whitebeam", ''Sorbus eminentoides'', and thirteen with long, narrow leaves were named "Gough’s Rock whitebeam", ''Sorbus rupicoloides''.<ref name="telegraph">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/6902489/New-tree-species-discovered-in-Cheddar-Gorge.html|title=New tree species discovered in Cheddar Gorge|last=Anon|date=29 December 2009|work=telegraph.co.uk|publisher=Telegraph Media Group Limited|access-date=21 February 2010|location=London|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100107100151/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/6902489/New-tree-species-discovered-in-Cheddar-Gorge.html|archive-date=7 January 2010}}</ref><ref name="Times">{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6969783.ece|title=Three new species of tree identified in Cheddar Gorge|last=de Bruxelles|first=Simon|date=29 December 2009|work=The Times|publisher=Times Newspapers Ltd.|access-date=21 February 2010|location=London|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604220820/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6969783.ece|archive-date=4 June 2011}}</ref> The Cheddar whitebeam, which has evolved as a cross between the [[common whitebeam]] and the grey-leaved whitebeam, is unique to the gorge, but its survival is threatened by the goats that were introduced specifically to keep down the growth of new trees and encourage the proliferation of rare plant species such as the Cheddar pink. Cuttings have been taken from the trees to be grafted and grown on at the Welsh National Herbarium.<ref>Country File, Produced by Andrea Buffery, Babara Lewis and Andrew Tomlinson: Broadcast 22 February 2010: BBC Television</ref>

Longleat Estate has fenced off a large part of its land and has introduced [[goat]]s, as part of a programme to encourage the [[biodiversity]] of the area; the goats were intended to replace the [[sheep]] that grazed in the gorge until the 1970s.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2006/11468378167.html | title= Research news | date= 5 May 2006 | work= [[Bristol University]] | access-date= 12 August 2007 | url-status= live | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080929233626/http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2006/11468378167.html | archive-date= 29 September 2008}}</ref> The National Trust announced in March 2007 that it plans to release a flock of sheep on its side of the gorge for the same purpose, but will first consult local residents and interested parties on whether to fence off the gorge or introduce [[cattle grid]]s to prevent the sheep from straying. There is already a small flock of feral [[Soay sheep]] in the gorge.