By Alex Davies (Reserve Manager 1989 to 1995)

(originaly published in Notts Wildlife Newsletter Spring 1994)

Visitors to Wilwell Farm Cutting Nature Reserve find themselves in a small man-made valley, half a mile long and almost twenty acres in area. It is a quiet green haven sheltered from the wind and from urban traffic noises by the steep banks of the cutting. There is little to remind the newcomer that the area once formed part of one of the great railways of Britain.

The old railway lines and signals were removed more than twenty years ago though the visitor will notice the remains of sand-bins which once stood beside the railway track. And, of course, the massive blue brick bridge is still in place, connecting the farmlands on either side of the reserve. Our railway was the Great Central and it was the last great system to be built in nineteenth century England. It was masterminded by Sir Edward Watkin, one of the great transport entrepreneurs of the Victorian era. He was Chairman of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincoln Railway in the north and of the London Metropolitan in the south. His plan was to build a new railway system to connect his northern railways with the Metropolitan in London and then to construct a channel tunnel to carry goods and passengers to the continent.

He was a man of great drive and imagination but, although he succeeded in his plans for Great Central, we now know that his dream of a channel tunnel was not to be realised until long after his new railway system had passed into history. An Act of Parliament is required to provide approval for a new railway system and in this case there was considerable resistance to be overcome. The opposition came principally from the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (L.M.S.) and the London and North Eastern Railway (L.N.E.R.) which were already well established in the centre of England.

High Speed Link

The argument successfully advanced by Sir Edward Watkin was that his new railway system would link the capital with some of the great new industrial centres of the north. He planned to do this by designing the layout of the system to provide consistently high speed rail services. This was to be achieved by the elimination of steep gradients and sharp curves, and by avoiding the use of level crossings where trains may be held up. Such a system involves the use of deep cuttings, extensive embankments and numerous bridges and these features are well seen in the Wilwell Cutting section of the railway.

At one end is a deep cutting some thirty feet below the level of the surrounding farmland and on either side of the central area there were vast "borrow pits" from which earth was removed to raise levels in other parts of the system. Work on the cutting began in April 1894 when the designated area was surrounded by fencing and excavations began.

An old photograph, which was taken in 1896 from the southern end of the cutting, shows the twin sets of rails in place (see cover). In addition, one can clearly see temporary branch lines leading to the borrow pits on each side to carry earth out onto the main line for removal. The picture also shows a steam shovel in position on the left and we are told that it was the very first one to be seen in Nottingham. In the distance is a flimsy temporary bridge, and, behind it, the wooden arches on which the blue brick bridge was in course of construction.

The first goods trains began to run in 1898 and passenger services in 1899. Business was slack initially but began to pick up in 1900 when the magnificent new Victoria Station was completed in Nottingham, opening up the Great Central to a greater number of travellers. The new system carried vast quantities of coal, steel, fish and other foods and the fast passenger services, with suitable connections, enabled people to travel far and wide in Britain. Famous trains such as "The Master Cutler" and "The South Yorkshireman" thundered through the cutting, hauled by some of the most famous steam and diesel locomotives.

Sadly, despite its high hopes and ambitions the Great Central was destined never to succeed financially and in 1923 it was absorbed by the London and North Eastern Railway which in turn became part of British Railways in 1948. Even then the system was under threat as changes in the pattern of industrial and transport requirements continued to take place. Run-down of the line began in the 1950's and the line north of Ruddington was closed in 1969. The railway lines were taken up in 1974 and the industrial history of the cutting was ended.

Abandoned to Nature

For several years nature was left to itself, but the site was often visited by local wildlife enthusiasts who were becoming increasingly aware of the remarkable variety of plants on the site. In fact it contains well over two hundred species of wild flowers distributed throughout a wide range habitats. These habitats range from dry grassland to marsh and contain some fine specimen trees. Oak, elm, ash, beech and silver birch as well as a variety of ferns, mosses, lichens and fungi. In its flora the reserve contains hundreds of green-winged orchids and thousands of southern marsh orchids together with increasing numbers of bee orchids and twayblade. Cowslips and meadow saxifrage also occur in large numbers.

The next event, in 1976, was an application by a tipping company to "in-fill" the site and develop it for other uses. This caused just the shock needed to produce some action. Strong representations were made to preserve the area for wildlife, notably by Notts Wildlife Trust (then called Notts Trust for Nature Conservation) and by other conservation bodies.

S.S.S.I Status

A Public Enquiry was held in 1978 and the preparations for this enquiry included surveys of the site by botanists, geologists and other scientists, which quickly established the remarkable wildlife content. The tipping application was refused and shortly afterwards the site was designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Its protection was further ensured when Rushcliffe Borough Council purchased the site from British Rail helped by funds provided through Notts Wildlife Trust by the World Wildlife Fund and the Nature Conservancy Council. Rushcliffe then leased it to Notts Wildlife Trust to manage it for wildlife. The lease made in 1981 is for 99 years at a peppercorn rent.

Since that date considerable efforts have been made to preserve and maintain the various habitats and the success of these endeavours can be seen as the reserve is viewed today. A rabbit proof fence was installed in 1983 to enclose the reserve and to contain the rabbit population which helps by grazing on the herbage. A Nature Trail laid out in 1987 enables visitors to tour the reserve and to see the various habitats with their diverse contents. Parties from schools and colleges use the site for scientific study and have contributed helpfully by reporting their observations to the Trust.

The history recorded above shows the railway engineers literally created a new piece of terrain but, after they had departed, other events and human activities had a part to play in the evolution of the site and the collection of habitats which we see at Wilwell today. To begin with, the construction engineers left large areas of land beside the railway tracks, which were never cultivated nor put to any other agricultural use.

Secondly, the site was laid bare at a time when the surrounding landscape still contained all the glorious wild flowers of the Victorian countryside. These plants proceeded quite quickly to colonise the bare earth. Seeds were brought by the wind and by birds and animals and so the Wilwell flora began in the 1890's with this unusually wide range of species.

Fortunately, the newly arrived colonies of plants were able to thrive unhindered by the developments in agriculture which were proceeding outside the site. The surrounding farmland was cultivated intensely for food production during two world wars and then, in the post-war era, there was extensive use of agricultural chemicals to improve crop yields.

Saved from Insecticides

We now know, of course, that the impact of new insecticides and selective weed killers had a quite devastating effect on wildlife in general. Gradually, as their potency was recognised they were brought under some degree of control, but by that time a lot of arable land and even the edges of fields and the roadside verges had been sprayed and the destruction of wild flower species in particular occurred on quite a large scale.

Wilwell was saved from this onslaught because it was protected as railway property and apart from the railway tracks, the area was left to nature without hindrance by man. The railway maintenance staff had, unwittingly, helped to preserve the wildlife because they kept down scrub which posed a fire risk from the sparks from the locomotives and they saw no need to use pesticides on the surrounding herbage.

The reserve is now managed in accordance with a detailed plan which seeks to ensure the preservation of the various habitats on the site. Each habitat has its own particular requirements. For example, the upper dry grassland is studded with ant-hills, home of the yellow meadow ant and the surface is very uneven so that grass cannot be cut by conventional mowing machinery. It is, in fact, dealt with by using scythes or a powerful mechanical strimmer fitted with a rotating toothed metal disc. This is capable of cutting hawthorn and willow seedlings as well as the very invasive coarse grasses.

The lower wet meadow is equally rough, but it is too large an area for hand cutting and therefore the coarse herbage is kept short by controlled burning of sections on an annual rotation - incidentally perpetuating the method used so successfully by the railway maintenance staff over a long period of time. The marsh areas are cut down periodically to keep them open and a series of bunds have been introduced to raise the water levels and maintain the character of these habitats.

Finally, it is essential to monitor the effects of our conservation programme by regular inspection and recording of species. The results to date have been very encouraging. The species diversity has been well maintained. One notable exception is the disappearance of several species of sphagnum which were recorded in the marshy area beside the track in the botanical survey carried out in 1978. At that time the marsh evidently contained acidic areas giving suitable conditions for sphagnums to grow. Their disappearance has been attributed to mineral enrichment caused by very large starling roosts which occurred in the bushes beside the marsh in the early 1980's. Their droppings were dispersed by rain water and so produced a base-rich environment in which the sphagnum could not survive.

On the positive side, the vigorous control of hawthorn has maintained the open grassland areas in which the orchids have proliferated very successfully, as indeed have the cowslips, meadow saxifrage and many other meadowland species. There are rabbits in good numbers and foxes are seen regularly. The populations of small animals and of invertebrate species are consistently good. Annual records have also been kept of the species of butterflies and birds seen on the reserve since the formal surveys of 1978. These show that the site is the home of, or visited by approximately sixty species of birds and twenty species of butterflies. We hope we can increase these figures gradually as Wilwell progresses into its second century.

A view down the lower meadow - the heart of the reserve