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Totternhoe Quarry Appeal
Please help us raise £65,000 to buy and restore a vital extension to this wonderful nature reserve
Totternhoe Quarry, near Dunstable, is one of the most wildlife-rich nature reserves in Bedfordshire.
With your help we hope to raise £65,000 to buy 18 acres, which will join together our existing two landholdings.
Restoring the site is of national importance- 80% of chalk grassland has been lost, which provides a home to some of the most stunning wildflower displays in Britain.
Six years ago, through the generosity of local people, our members and supporters, we were able to buy 30 acres of the Old Quarry at Totternhoe, which famously provided building stone for some of Britain’s most charismatic buildings, including Woburn Abbey.
In 2008 we were able to buy another 30 acres nearby at the Old Limeworks, with the help of a generous grant from the Chalk Arc growth area fund.
Your donation will help us to re-create the chalk down-land once found across the area – teeming with wildlife and home to some of our rarest and most beautiful butterflies and flowers.
There is a great deal of work needed and everyone, from expert staff and volunteers at the Trust to contractors and local communities, will be involved.
"It is a paradox that the richness of the wildflowers on chalk grassland is directly linked to the poorness of the soil. So we will either graze or cut the area to keep in check the many vigorous plants that would otherwise smother the amazing variety of wild orchids and other beautiful wildflowers that survive here. Where too many bushes are spreading over the grassland we will remove them, using hand and power tools".
"Elsewhere, we will coppice small trees and bushes to varying degrees to provide for the complex needs of the very rare Duke of Burgundy butterfly that still survives at Totternhoe – despite declining across most of the UK. We will also create ideal conditions for kidney vetch to grow, on which the rare Small Blue butterfly feeds. Each summer we will study these and other scarce butterflies of the reserve to guide our practical work for the following winter” says Graham Bellamy, Reserves Manager for Bedfordshire.
Local support will help to bring about conditions where all these attractive and rare species can not just survive, but flourish and colonise new areas. Of course it is not just the wildlife that concerns us. Donations will also allow us to make the nature reserve an easier and safer place to enjoy the special wildlife, tranquillity and surrounding views – knowing that it is safeguarded forever.
This is a wonderful opportunity to make a huge difference to the diversity of wildlife and natural heritage of Bedfordshire.
Visit our Totternhoe Quarry appeal page.