Burley and Rushpit Woods is a 161.9-hectare (400.1 acres) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in the parish of Burley, east of the town of Oakham, in Rutland.^[1]

The woods lie on upper Lias clay, and contain many mature and over-mature trees, and considerable dead wood. Despite limited conifer planting throughout the woods, the majority of the area is still ancient semi-natural woodland.^[1]

The woods are privately owned by the Burley Estate Farm Partnership, and there is no public access.^[2]

Flora and fauna

The dominant species of tree in most of the wood is oak (Quercus robur), giving way to ash (Fraxinus excelsior) in the remainder. Hazel (Corylus avellana), field maple (Acer campestre), gean (Prunus avium) and silver birch (Betula pendula) are also locally common. The ground flora is locally dominated by bramble (Rubus fruticosus), bracken (Pteridium aquilinum), dog’s mercury (Mercurialis perennis), yellow archangel (Lamiastrum galeobdolon) and bluebell (Endymion non-scriptus).^[1]

The woods have a rich dead-wood invertebrate fauna, which includes the endangered beetle Isochnomera cinerascens, and four other nationally scarce species of beetle: Nossidium pillosellum, Ctesias serra, commonly known as the cobweb beetle; Ericmus brevicornis and Prionychus ater. Together with the equally nationally scarce hover fly Xylota xanthocnema, these saproxylic species suggest a long continuity of mature timber and dead-wood habitat.^[1]