Help us to save this land for nature

Langdyke Countryside Trust, an entirely volunteer-run community group, has an opportunity to buy this fantastic 23-acre area of land and protect it as a community nature reserve.

But we need to act now, before it can be sold for other uses that could damage its wildlife value and mean it would be lost to the local people.

With your help we want to create a new nature reserve adjacent to the Maxey Cut securing the future of Christ’s College Pits as a community asset  for nature and local people.

We are asking you to donate to our public appeal to raise  £7,500 to help with our overall costs.

In total we need to raise £50,520 to buy the land and improve it for the local community. To raise this amount we are approaching grant-givers and charitable trusts.

But you can help as well. Please make a donation. You can do so by clicking the link to our Just Giving page here

No matter how large or small your donation it will help us save this site for nature.

We are also offering a range of special opportunities for donors to sponsor elements of the new reserve.  You can get more information by emailing chair@langdyke.org uk

Christ’s College, Cambridge has offered Langdyke the opportunity to purchase the freehold of the pits and given us 12 months from October 2022 to raise the money. 

The College has explained through its agents that it has also received alternative offers for the land. But it has turned these down in favour of the option to sell to Langdyke and establish a nature reserve.

However if the Trust cannot raise the price for the land within the 12-month period, the College would return to these offers.

Possible alternative uses for the land include commercial development and water abstraction  – with the potential to damage rather than improve both biodiversity and access for local people.

The site is already rich in wildlife, but with your help it can be even better. We want to create habitats for turtle dove and glow worm; homes for kingfisher, terns and sand martin. And to increase the population of the rare four-spotted moth.

Our plans include three new viewing points (two on the Cut and one from the footpath that runs along the eastern boundary of the site).

From these you will be able to look out over the pits, offering the chance to see otters, terns, ducks, egrets and even the occasional osprey. Interpretation boards at each viewpoint will give details of what to see and of the heritage of the site, including its views across to Etton, Glinton and Helpston churches.

We will raise the money to buy the site separately, but need the support of the community to help us pay for the immediate management of the reserve, including the view points and information boards.

For donations over £500 we are offering the opportunity to name a feature of the reserve (such as the viewpoints or specific areas of the reserve) permanently, perhaps as a special gift or to commemorate a loved one. For further details, please contact chair@langdyke.org.uk

Langdyke is at the point of signing heads of terms to purchase the land on this basis and is now actively fund-raising to complete the purchase.

We’ve got a year to raise the cash … so please help us to do so.

Please click these links for more information

+ All about the site
+ Our future plans for the area
+ What the pits offer to nature already