Barker Scar is an 18-hectare (44 acres) Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Cumbria, England, about 3 km (1.9 mi) north-west of Cark on the north coast of Morecambe Bay, overlooking the Levens Estuary.^[1]

The site lies on south-west facing cliffs of Carboniferous Limestone, about 15 m (49 ft) high, rising from the saltmarshes of the bay, and is of both geological and biological interest.^[1]

Barker Scar is privately owned the by Holker Estate.^[2]

Habitats

Barker Scar consists mainly of limestone grassland with patches of scrub and woodland. Sections of the cliff have been exposed to reveal a series of limestone layers formed on the bed of a warm, shallow sea during the early Carboniferous Period, about 335 million years ago. The rocks contain abundant fossil remains of marine life that inhabited the Lower Carboniferous sea.^[1]

Flora and fauna

The cliff-top limestone grassland is dominated by a mixture of grasses and herbs, including common bent grass (Agrostis capillaris), sheep’s fescue (Festuca ovina), Yorkshire fog (Holcus lanatus), quaking grass (Briza media), common knapweed (Centaurea nigra), burnet saxifrage (Pimpinella saxifraga), dropwort (Filipendula vulgaris), restharrow (Ononis repens), salad burnet (Sanguisorba minor), wild thyme (Thymus praecox), common rock rose (Helianthemum nummularium), squinancywort (Asperula cynanchica), common centaury (Centaurium erythraea), limestone bedstraw (Galium sterneri), common gromwell (Lithospermum officinale), green-winged orchid (Orchis morio), and spring cinquefoil (Potentilla tabernaemontani).

Trees found on the site include ash (Fraxinus excelsior), sessile oak (Quercus petraea), yew (Taxus baccata), privet (Ligustrum vulgare), hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) and hazel (Corylus avellana). Scattered individuals of whitebeam (Sorbus lancastriensis) occur along the cliffs.