NORTHUMBERLAND WILDLIFE TRUST
Nearest Town: Millfield village
OS Map: NT913358 (OS 50 000 Sheet 74 or 75)
This small 0.4ha site is a disused quarry with exposures of andesite lava.
Location and access: Access requires a written permit. There is car parking on the roadside near Blinkbonny. Walk down the farm track to reach the lower quarry, and skirt the field to the west via the gate at the head of the farm track to reach the upper quarry. Beware of loose and falling rocks.
The reserve consists of a disused quarry with two main faces. It is one of the few sites in the county showing good exposures of andesite lava. The lower face is variable andesite-dacite and the upper mainly purple porphyritic andesite with amygdaloidal patches. The floor of the lower bench contains gorse, elder, hawthorn and broom scrub with elm and ash. The upper bench supports grazed bent/fescue grassland. On the quarry faces grow polypody fern, common stork’s-bill, dove’s-foot crane’s-bill, harebell and bluebell. The quarry faces north and is locally wet - these factors may be responsible for the good bryophyte and lichen flora.