Our local wildlife
Bedfordshire
Although small, Bedfordshire is an amazingly diverse county. It has the steep chalk slopes of the Chiltern Hills in the south, the acidic soils of the Greensand Ridge running diagonally across the county, the clay lands beyond, and the limestone towards neighbouring Northamptonshire. The many river valleys with areas extracted for minerals, add even more interest to an already impressive geology.
The Trust’s nature reserves reflect this diversity of habitats with woodland, chalk downland, heathland, valley mire, flood meadows, neutral and limestone grassland. Each of these habitats is a refuge for its own special plants and animals. On the slopes of the Chilterns rich carpets of wildflowers attract butterflies galore; while the peaty soils and iron-rich waters of the Flit Valley are home to a myriad of mosses and ferns. The fine sands of the Greensand ridge look like a beach, where they are not covered in swathes of heather, while flooded gravel pits offer wildfowl and dragonflies a home. The limestone to the north of the county has its own special character and wildlife community. The picture is completed by the remaining flower-rich hay meadows.
Cambridgeshire
Although to some Cambridgeshire conjures an image of flat and uninteresting countryside, it has a character uniquely it’s own. From the ‘big skies’ of the fens with their endless drainage ditches, to the rolling chalk from which the Cambridge colleges were fashioned, there are many interesting and unique wildlife havens.
There are the rich and fertile peat lands of the Fens, drained for farming, but now gradually being returned to their former wildlife-rich state with reedbeds and permanent pasture. Then there is the chalk, bringing wildlife right into the heart of Cambridge city from the Gog-Magog hills to Cherry Hinton, the bastion of delicate chalk-loving flowers and beautiful butterflies. In the south of the county is the sticky boulder clay, where many ancient woodlands were saved from felling by the difficulty of ploughing. Instead they were saved by their value as an important source of fuel and building materials, and their huge diversity of wildlife remains protected to this day. Even old industries and railways have left a positive mark in the wonderful brick and borrow pits which today are home to a huge range of creatures found nowhere else in the county.
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire has a unique character, full of diversity and a wealth of wildlife, despite the landscape being radically altered by man over the centuries. Its river valleys, especially the Nene, have been greatly altered by sand and gravel extraction. This has created a series of water-filled gravel pits, which have developed into excellent areas for wildlife, resulting in a proposed Special Protection Area designation and recognition of important bird and invertebrate populations.
The oolitic limestone in the north of Northamptonshire has fantastic examples of calcareous grassland interspersed with botanically and entomologically rich gullets where ironstone was once extracted.
Historically, Rockingham Forest, a former hunting forest with areas of commons grazing and woodland, covered a large part of the north of the county. Remnants of this once great area still exist in the boulder-clay woodlands of Short Wood and Glapthorn Cow Pastures.
Although not blessed with large areas of heathland, the acid grasslands to the west of the county are an important habitat for wildlife with a wealth of interesting plants and invertebrates.