High Speed Rail (HS2) - stop and rethink!

Bogs Farm Quarry is a Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust nature reserve and a Special Site of Scientific Interest (SSSI). There has been no assessment made of the impacts on air quality, light levels and noise pollution that HS2 will have on the wildlife here.

HS2 is at risk of damaging nearby floodplain grasslands of the rivers Soar and Trent, a nationally important migratory flyway for birds. This could have knock on effect for the birds at nearby Attenborough Gravel Pits SSSI.

There are also serious potential impacts on bat populations including the very rare Nathusius’ Pipistrelle which have use the Trent Valley and have been found at Attenborough Nature Reserve.

In Nottinghamshire, the loss and fragmentation of the floodplain grasslands of the Soar and Trent is likely to impact resident wildfowl and wading birds who use this extensive ecological network for feeding, loafing and roosting.

At present, Phase 2 plans do not include specific mitigation for many impacts to birds, particularly farmland and wetland bird assemblages, despite identification by HS2 Ltd of county-scale impacts. The most recent population data available from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) should be taken into consideration to value populations correctly. Where the proposed scheme is likely to impact >1% of the county population there will be significant impacts at a county level. This has not been considered adequately for Phase 2a, nor Phase 2b. Off-site (off-route) compensation habitat will be required as it is unlikely that sufficiently large areas of land for mitigation for impacts to ground-nesting farmland birds or overwintering birds can be secured within the confines of the route.

There are numerous examples identified by the Wildlife Trusts of inappropriate mitigation being proposed. In Nottinghamshire, wetland and grassland habitat creation are proposed as mitigation in areas of remaining Local Wildlife Sites where those habitats already exist, and therefore deliver no additional mitigation or compensation. Areas of woodland creation are proposed on existing grasslands of high biodiversity value.

A number of off-route effects cause concern:

• Adverse impacts of further works required to the conventional rail network to accommodate growing demand for passenger and freight services, and HS2;
• Biodiversity impact of replacement dwellings for those destroyed along the route of HS2; and
• Land-take and habitat loss for power units, compounds and access roads.

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust has raised concerns with HS2 that no consideration has been given to the additional land that will be required to replace the 220+ homes currently due to be lost in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.

Given the existing pressure on land for housing and development it is extremely likely that the replacement of these properties will result in the loss of additional greenspace and potentially key wildlife habitats. If, as we understand it, this issued hasn’t been considered along the length of the route this could affect a considerable additional area of land. – underlining our view that the new report highlights the minimum impact on wildlife habitats/species.

Sites of Special Scientific Interest are protected through the Countryside & Rights of Way Act (2000), designated nationally for their special interest due to their flora, fauna, geological, geomorphological or physiographical features. SSSIs form a national network of sites that also underpin sites designated to meet international obligations (e.g. Ramsar Sites and Special Areas of Conservation). All National Nature Reserves (NNRs) are notified as SSSIs. In England, NNRs are designated by Natural England under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, as amended.

Local Nature Reserves are statutory sites containing special interest within the administrative area of a local authority for their flora, fauna, geological or physiographical features, and which are managed for the purpose of their preservation or for providing opportunities for related study and research. They are also recognised as important places for the public enjoyment of nature.

Local Wildlife Sites are defined areas, identified and selected locally for their substantive nature conservation value, based on important, distinctive and threatened habitats and species with a national, regional and local context. Together with the statutory sites (SSSIs), they form the essential building blocks of a Nature Recovery Network. Local Wildlife Sites are recognised in national planning policy, which sets out requirements for their protection through local policy and plans. LWS may contain habitats of national value which have not been designated as SSSIs, as the SSSI suite is representative, but not comprehensive.

Disused sand quarry owned by Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust (purchased from British Coal in 1996).  It is a Site of Scientific Interest (SSSI).

There is no public access to this Nature Reserve.

The majority of the reserve comprises a former quarry in sands and clays of glacial origin.  It has been allowed to colonise naturally. 

Base-rich seepages on the slopes of the quarry support a range of interesting species such as marsh orchids.  The drier grassland on the steep slopes also contains a wide range of flowers and grasses, including the attractive quaking grass a close relative of the ornamental grass often used in flower arranging.

More interesting vegetation occurs in and around the floor of the quarry, whilst the edges are characterised by scrub, most of which is hawthorn.  Next to the quarry is fine example of species rich pasture characteristic of grassland developed on somewhat acid, loamy soils. Typical species here include harebell, betony and lady’s bedstraw.

Birds such as sparrow hawk and kestrel visit the site, and berries provided by the scrub in autumn and winter regularly attract fieldfare and redwing.  The flowery grassland sheltered by scrub and steep slopes supports a wide range of insects and other invertebrates.  Amphibians such as the common frog enjoy the marshy conditions on the quarry floor.

Regeneration of the quarry site has been highly successful and varied.  Nowadays, however the range and type of species recorded would unlikely to occur in similar circumstances (e.g. regeneration on a gravel quarry or pit tip) due to isolation of the site from old grasslands by the surrounding intensively farmed area.  Bogs Farm Quarry therefor is of particular interest because it forms a biological time capsule isolated in a modern landscape.