Rosenannon Downs
| Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
Heathland of Rosenannon Downs
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 Location within Cornwall
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| Area of Search | Cornwall |
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| Grid reference | SW955675 |
| Coordinates | 50°28′17″N 4°53′00″W / 50.4713°N 4.8834°WCoordinates: 50°28′17″N 4°53′00″W / 50.4713°N 4.8834°W |
| Interest | Biological |
| Area | 135.5 hectares (1.355 km2; 0.5232 sq mi) |
| Notification | 1951 |
| Natural England website | |
Rosenannon Downs is a nature reserve in mid Cornwall, England, UK, being designated Rosenannon Bog and Downs Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), noted for its biological characteristics. The site supports a wide variety of flora and fauna and includes Bronze Age barrows. Conservation work is carried out on the site by the owners, the Cornwall Wildlife Trust.
The 135.5-hectare (335-acre) SSSI, notified in 1979, is located north of the hamlet of Rosenannon within the civil parish of St Wenn, 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) south-west of the town of Wadebridge. The streams rising on this site feed into the River Camel Valley and Tributaries SSSI.
The nature reserve is owned and managed by the Cornwall Wildlife Trust. The Downs have been leased by the Trust from 1999 and were bequeathed to them in 2009 by Theresa Knowles.
To the north of the site are three Bronze Age barrows, dated to around 2500 BC.
The SSSI was previously named Rosenannon Bog, but was renamed after the site was expanded to its current limits. The Downs have not been grazed since the 1960s, although a proposal to reintroduce this is going ahead.
The two main types of habitat on the site are heathland and bogland, which support a wide variety of species.
The dry heath comprises five main species of plant, of which the common heather (Calluna vulgaris) is the most prolific with bell heather (Erica cinerea) and western gorse (Ulex gallii) also dominant; bristle bent (Agrostis curtisii) and purple moor-grass (Molinia caerulea) to a lesser extent. Other species found in this habitat are heath milkwort (Polygala serpyllifolia), lousewort (Pedicularis sylvatica), saw-wort (Serratula tinctoria), deer grass (Trichophorum cespitosum) and the heath spotted-orchid (Dactylorhiza maculata).
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