Kirk Deighton SSSI is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Alton's Field, Kirk Deighton, North

Yorkshire, England. This site has been recognised as having one of the largest known breeding
populations of great crested newts in the United Kingdom.[1] It is a Special Area of Conservation,
and is listed for protection under a number of directives. This ordinary-looking grassland field, with a
couple of ponds in it, is ideal habitat for the newts, which use the grassland for foraging, the ponds
for breeding, and surrounding walls, hedges and woodpiles for hibernation. The site is not accessible
to the public, and it is not permissible to survey the ponds without a licence.

Cropmarks indicating Roman trackways, field systems and field boundaries in Kirk Deighton have
been recorded by archaeologists.[2] "Kirk" in the village name of Kirk Deighton refers to the parish of
All Saints, which is mentioned in the Domesday Book. In the Medieval Era, the village was in the
union of Barwick, in the Claro Wapentake.[3] The village had a Royalist connection in the Civil war;
the Royalist Richard Burton was rector of the church from 1648 to 1656.[4] In 1779 there was some
excitement and a parental pursuit, when the seventeen-year-old Miss Armystead eloped to Gretna
Green with her own fortune and her beau Mr Horseman, to avoid an arranged marriage with a
seventy-year-old man.[5] During the 18th century the village was in a hunting area. Richard Snowden
was a gentleman and gamekeeper here in 1788.[6]

Alton's Field was for a long time a pasture in a small village almost wholly connected with the local
agriculture. Historically the underlying limestone (which probably holds the aquifer for the ponds)
was quarried, and used to enrich the land.[7]

Site location and designation

Kirk Deighton SSSI is a 4.1-hectare (10-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)[8] and
Special Area of Conservation (SAC). It is listed on the Water Framework Directive (WFD).[9] It is listed
on Biodiversity Action Plans (priority species list), Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (Schedule 5),
and the Habitats Directive (European Communities Directive 92/43/EEC, annex II and IVa,
Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora).[1] The site is on the south-west edge
of the village of Kirk Deighton which lies north of Wetherby, North Yorkshire.[10] It consists of three
adjacent fields grazed by sheep, hedgerows, a stone wall, a shallow pond and a little drainage pond.
The size of the shallow pond varies seasonally. The site is unmarked and inaccessible to the public.
There are no public facilities.[1] A licence is required for surveying in ponds which contain great
crested newts.[11]

The site, known as Alton's Field,[12] was notified on 16 August 2000,[8] because "this site supports
one of the largest known breeding populations of great crested newt Triturus cristatus in the UK."
The planning authorities responsible for the protection of this habitat are Harrogate Borough Council
and North Yorkshire County Council.[1]

The Joint Nature Conservation Committee describes the site as follows. Its area is composed of 3%
standing and running water, 95% improved grassland and 2% woody plants. The primary reason for
site selection for SAC designation is the great crested newt which breeds in a pond with wildly
fluctuating levels, so that sometimes it is large, and sometimes nearly dried out. In spite of the lack
of pondweed, there is nevertheless a "large population" laying eggs and recruiting more newts to
the site, "demonstrating this species' ability to thrive in temporary pond sites."[13]

Significant site content

Fauna

Feeding in the pasture, and hibernating under the hedgerows, stone wall and woodpiles are great
crested newt and smooth newt. Also in and around the pond is the common frog.[1][nb 1]