NORTHUMBERLAND WILDLIFE TRUST
Nearest Town: Holystone, upper Coquetdale
OS Map: NT944020 (OS 50 000 Sheet 80)
This 35ha SSSI is a sessile oak woodland with juniper scrub, reedbed and flushes.
Location and access: To get to the reserve, go through Holystone village and pass the Forestry Commission car park. Continue west along the army's range road across the cattle grid (ignoring the MoD's 'Private Road' sign). There is parking above the Holystone Burn on the broad lay-by, where a forest track leads downhill to the Yardhope Oaks.
The reserve is managed in partnership with Forestry Commission to conserve the Yardhope Oaks, a sessile oak woodland, as well as juniper scrub, a small area of reedbed and flushes containing bog myrtle. Large areas of heather are also found within the reserve. The Holystone valley is a refuge for many types of vegetation which are sensitive to grazing. The juniper, oak and birch woodlands of the valley floor have a rich field layer of woodland and woodland edge plants. Large ant mounds can be spotted along the path edges. The Myrica-Molinia flushes, some fringed by birch and willow, contain lesser twayblade. The heather moor supports petty whin. Birds recorded at the reserve include goosander and pied flycatcher. This is also an important site for reptiles, including adder and slow worm.