Milkwort is just one of the many chalk-loving flowers that bloom at the reserve

A fascinating nature reserve is at last beginning to take shape in the old chalk pits at Cherry Hinton. Olivia Abbott went along for a guided tour with the local Wildlife Trust

Rare moon carrot grows in a moon-like landscape at Cherry Hinton

Squeeze through the kissing gate at the entrance to East Pits nature reserve (erected to keep the BMX bikers out) and at first, it looks like a fairly ordinary place to be. But walk around the scrubby bushes and trees to your right and suddenly you’re confronted with an enormous vista, an undulating white moonscape surrounded by cliffs that, on a hot day, shimmers in the sun and takes the breath away.

Up until the 1980s this was a working quarry that provided hard chalk and lime –to build Cambridge University colleges, among other things – but after the quarries fell into disuse the area was left wild and unloved, buddleia grew rampant, and the youngsters in the area used the place to test out their BMX biking skills and to climb the steep quarry walls.

Then the local Wildlife Trust bought East Pit from Gonville and Keys, and work to reclaim the land for wildlife and for the local community began. The buddleia and other plants that had self-seeded and taken over were dug out and the green landscape reverted to its original white. Here, now, there’s a chance for the rare chalk grassland plants that have clung on in hidden corners to thrive, for the unique wildlife that inhabits and feeds on these plants to reclaim their territory, and for the local residents of Cherry Hinton to make the most of a unique landscape.

Big machinery

‘We basically got big machinery in and dug out the pits,’ says the Wildlife Trust’s conservation officer for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Sian Williams. ‘The idea is to create an area of mostly chalk grassland with a little bit of bare chalk and a little bit of scrub. The site should keep itself balanced, but it’s in the management plan to keep areas open.’

The site is already home to rare plants such as the moon carrot – an appropriately-named species considering what the landscape looks like – which is only found on two other sites in the UK, and basil thyme, and to delightful chalk grassland plants including milkwort and mousear hawkweed. I was lucky enough on my tour of the site to have Sian to point out these rarities, but it’s not just the plants that are of interest.

As we walked around we came across a group of volunteers who were monitoring a ‘pitfall trap’ – a device set up to catch insects. ‘We need to find out what insects we’ve got here,’ explains Sian, and there’s a good chance that there are some nationally rare and scarce species here.

The geology interpretation board

The site is also fascinating for its geology – the high cliff sides are brightly patterned with different strata and the local geology club has called it ‘one of the most interesting sites in the county’ and has set up an interpretation board to explain to visitors what it’s all about. Amateur archaeologists will also find plenty to excite them – the Trust’s Caroline Prout tells us the rather gruesome story of a young lad who was climbing the cliff face at the end of the quarry and grabbed what he thought was a tree branch, only to discover it was a human leg bone! Thankfully, it was from the Bronze Age, and a number of human skeletons of this era have been found, along with a large, circular ditch monument, the site of which is now marked with chalk boulders. Ammonites and other fossils have been found here, too.

Come on down

One very much still living species that Sian and her team are keen to attract to the site is the small blue butterfly, whose food plant is the kidney vetch, which thrives on chalk grassland. ‘Apparently small blue butteflies navigate by flying up really high and looking for patches of white – ie chalk,’ says Sian. So here’s hoping they spot this one!

Caroline and Sian look out over the reserve

In the meantime, there are skylarks singing in the fields at the top of the cliffs in summer; I’m sure I heard a whitethroat in the scrubby bushes at the edge of the reserve; kestrels and jackdaws nest in the cliff sides; and there are bats and glowworms, too. To celebrate this diversity, and to introduce locals to the site, the Wildlife Trust is holding walks over the summer, including a batwalk in August, but first, two glow-worm walks in July. ‘Those are brilliant,’ enthuses Caroline, ‘coming to the reserve at night is amazing, because it just seems to glow in the dark.’ Now that has to be a sight worth seeing.