Witherslack Mosses

Witherslack Mosses
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
Map of England
LocationCumbria, England
Coordinates54°14′10″N 2°50′22″W / 54.2362°N 2.8395°W / 54.2362; -2.8395
Area486 ha (1,200 acres)

Witherslack Mosses are a fragmented wetland west of the Kent estuary in Cumbria, England, within the Lake District National Park. They consist of three raised bogs, the remnants of a formerly extensive, estuarine bog, which have been protected under the Habitats Directive as a Special Area of Conservation.

  • Foulshaw Moss, with an area of 350 ha, the largest of the three.
  • Meathop Moss, 82 ha,
  • Nichols Moss, 7 ha as at 2022 in the process of expansion

The site was designated an SAC in 2005. The bogs were already individually protected as nature reserves in the care of Cumbria Wildlife Trust and, under UK legislation, as Sites of Special Scientific Interest.