page_title: St Catherine's Hill, Dorset
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: St Catherine's Hill, Dorset / Geography
caption_attribution_description: English: Invasive Pine and Rhodedendron on the western slopes of St Catherine's Hill in the Borough of Christchurch, Dorset.
context_page_description: St Catherine's Hill is a 53-metre hill in the borough of Christchurch which, together with Ramsdown and Blackwater hills, forms a ridge between the Avon and Stour valleys. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest with some areas additionally designated as Special Protection Areas and/or Special Areas of Conservation. The hill provides a range of habitats with both wet and dry heathland, coniferous and broadleaf woodland and scrubland; and is home to some rare flora and fauna including the sand lizard, smooth snake, silver-studded blue butterfly and two types of carnivorous plant.
  Humans have been visiting the hill as far back as the Bronze Age and there are a number of ancient monuments sited there including several tumuli, a Roman signal station and what is thought to be an Iron Age animal pound. The military have made extensive use of the area since at least the Roman occupation; it served as training ground for troops during the Crimean War and both World Wars, and was the site of a nuclear bunker during the Cold War. Most visitors today use the hill as an area to exercise their dogs or for other recreational activities such as cycling, jogging and horse riding.
context_section_description: St Catherine's Hill, together with Ramsdown and Blackwater hills, comprise a three-mile long ridge which runs roughly north to south between the Avon and Stour valleys just to the north-west of where the rivers converge in the borough of Christchurch in Dorset. The top of this ridge is almost a level plateau, 45 metres (148 ft) above sea-level at the southern end and 49 metres (161 ft) in the north. St Catherine's hill, in the south, forms the highest point of this three hill chain at 53 metres (174 ft) and has some of the steepest slopes at 1:1 or 45°. The 400 acre site is a mixture of woodland and heath and is part of a larger Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The eastern slopes and foot of the hill, an area referred to as the Town Common, is almost exclusively open heath and as such has also been designated a Special Protection Area (SPA) and Special Area of Conservation (SAC).
  St Catherine's Hill was formed during the Eocene and Pleistocene eras. The hilltop is covered with river terrace gravels, comprising mainly flints and coarse sands, on top of finer Branksome Sands below which is Parkstone Clay and the Poole Formation. A number of these strata can be observed at the old quarry works and believed to have been deposited during a fluvial or estuarine period (all others were formed in a marine environment). If this is so, they are the only known sediments of this age in Southern England to be laid down in this way and indicate an Eocene shoreline between Christchurch and Hengistbury Head. These strata add to the value of the site as a geological SSSI.
   
  The soils covering the hill and surrounding area are acidic and generally low in nutrients. These soils support a selection of habitats from wet and dry heathland, to deciduous and coniferous woodland and scrubland. Dry heath occurs mainly on the top of the hill, well above the water table, where there is good drainage. It is composed mainly of heather and dwarf shrubs but there are bare sandy areas where the rare Mossy Stonecrop (Crassula tillaea) is able to flourish. All six native species of reptile breed here including the endangered sand lizard (Lacerta agilis) and smooth snake (Coronella austriaca). The smooth snake is also found in the areas of wet heath which occur mainly at the foot of the hill and are created by seepage and flushes from below the hill's water table; and where free draining gravelly soils meet less permeable clay. Rare flora found in these areas include bog asphodel (Narthecium ossifragum), hare's-tail cotton-grass (Eriophorum vaginatum), bog moss (Sphagnum), the carnivorous sundews Drosera intermedia and Drosera rotundifolia, and pale butterwort (Pinguicula lusitanica).
  Coniferous woodland dominates the top and western slopes of the hill and comprises mostly maritime and Scots pine. Broadleaf trees are mainly confined to the south and west side but also occur on the lower east side. They include grey willow and downy birch and the occasional aspen in damper areas. Some trees, particularly the conifers have become invasive and a programme of removal has been instigated. The hill's mix of woodland and heath provide habitats for a number of important bird species including birds of prey such as the hobby (Falco subbuteo), buzzard (Buteo buteo), hen harrier(Circus cyaneus) and merlin (Falco columbarius); woodland birds including the song thrush (Turdus philomelos), crossbill (Loxia curvirostra) and green (Picus viridus) and great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major), all of which are declining in numbers; and wetland birds such as snipe and the red shank (Tringa totanus). Many of these birds also use the area for breeding along with the rare Dartford warbler (Sylvia undata), woodcock (Scolopax rusticola) and nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus).
  Some rare invertebrates inhabit the hill and its surrounding area. The scarce chaser (Libellula fulva), hairy dragonfly (Brachytron pratense) and downy emerald (Cordulia aenea) all make use of the ponds in the wetter areas of the heath, while the heath grasshopper (Chorthippus vagansand) can be 
caption: Conifers and Rhodedendron dominate the western slopes.
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