Strategy Area Description

The only significantly 'high ground' in the strategy area occurs in western Gateshead. The hills there are flat topped, glacially scoured, and capped by a relatively thick layer of sandstone.  The highest points rise to over 250 m above sea level (for example Broomfield Fell and Currock Hill) and some such as Ravensworth Fell (216m asl), the slopes of which extend over a wide area, retain a genuinely upland feel to them.

Today, a large proportion of this 'upland habitat' is permanent grassland, though as recently as the Second World War, large areas of Ravensworth Fell (sometimes known as Blackburn Fell) were covered by mid-altitude heathland; this was largely destroyed by surface mining. These grasslands are still populated by a suite of 'upland' breeding birds, such as curlew, lapwing and skylarks.