Protected for its biological interest, the site is named after Pillar, which at 892 metres (2,927 ft) is the eighth-highest mountain in the Lake District, and other fells in the same range.
[1] Side Wood, which rises from Ennerdale Water, is a good example of an upland birch Betula pubescens – sessile oak Quercus petraea woodland.
Higher up, bilberry and grasses predominate, while on the summit ridge, where the snow lies late, mosses, sedges, lichens and viviparous fescue occur.
Breeding birds on Pillar and Ennerdale Fells include buzzard, peregrine falcon, merlin, raven, wheatear, whinchat, ring ouzel and red grouse.
[4] Two major landowners own land within Pillar and Ennerdale Fells SSSI; National Trust and Forestry Commission.