 Talland Barton Farmland has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest for its assemblage of nationally rare and nationally scarce mosses; in particular for the many-fruited beardless moss ("Weissia multicapsularis"), which is known from only two sites worldwide.An important source for the history is Jonathan Couch's "History of Polperro", (1871), issued after his death by his son, Thomas Quiller Couch and abridgements of it have been issued many times since