| Black Lake Nature Reserve | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Black Lake NR within Cheshire | |
| Type | Nature reserve and SSSI |
| Location | Delamere Forest, Cheshire |
| OS grid | SJ537709 |
| Coordinates | 53°14′00″N 2°41′40″W / 53.2333°N 2.6944°W |
| Area | 0.4 ha |
| Elevation | 75m[1] |
| Operated by | Cheshire Wildlife Trust |
| Open | any reasonable time |
Black Lake is a nature reserve in Delamere Forest, Cheshire, England. It lies in the southwestern corner of the forest, just south of the Manchester–Chester railway.[1] It is managed by the Cheshire Wildlife Trust (CWT)[2] on behalf of the Forestry Commission, and as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) is monitored by Natural England.[3]
The site is designated as an SSSI because "it represents a very early stage of a Schwingmoor type basin fen and occurs in association with dystrophic open water."[4] A Schwingmoor or quaking bog occurs when plants such as Sphagnum mosses and cotton grass Eriophorum sp. colonise the surface of a waterbody and form a floating mat of vegetation; at Black Lake the Sphagnum raft covers around half the lake surface. The SSSI (which includes the surrounding catchment area) covers an area of 1.74 hectares (4.3 acres);[4] the CWT reserve is 0.40 hectares (0.99 acres) in area.[2]
The site is also noted for its uncommon dragonflies, which formerly included the white-faced darter (Leucorrhinia dubia).
- ^ a b Northwich & Delamere Forest (Map). 1:25000. Explorer Series. Ordnance Survey. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
- ^ a b "Black Lake". Cheshire Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
- ^ Interpretative notice on site
- ^ a b "SSSI citation: Black Lake, Delamere" (PDF). Natural England. Retrieved 21 May 2020.