… an important corridor for nature
By Richard Astle
The Maxey Cut is very much a man-made waterway, constructed after the Second World War to protect the Deepings from flooding; at first sight it seems to be the archetypal unnatural river – totally straight, with just a few trees hanging on to the side, its banks frequently mown and after prolonged heart rainfall a torrent of fast flowing water.
Nothing natural about it?
And yet, the Cut has in recent years been at the heart of nature recovery in the John Clare Countryside.
Within the constraints of its primary purpose for flood defence, it has been carefully repurposed and managed to create a corridor for nature.
While trees remain an issue, because of their potential to cause bank erosion and restrict flood flows, a lot of work has been done by the Environment Agency to enhance habitats for fish and to maintain the banks for glow-worms and four spotted moth. Eels and brown trout have increased in numbers in recent years and any walk along the Cut in the summer will be rewarded with views of Common Tern, Little Egret and Grey Wagtail. And if you’re patient and lucky, an Otter or two!
But what is even more exciting is the potential for the Cut to sit at the heart of a huge nature rich landscape, vibrantly alive already with breeding Marsh Harriers and Avocets, booming Bittern and purring Turtle Dove. Noctule bats overhead, Otters in the water and Roe Deer crashing through the scrub. In future, could we even hope for a return of Nightingale and the arrival of other wetland specialists such as Crane and Bearded Tit?
This vision for the future has been made possible by the combination of the improvements along the Cut, the restoration of land after gravel extraction and by the gradual extension of Langdyke’s reserves, which with the purchase of Christ’s College Reserve, now extend from the Etton Road across to the Helpston Road and north to the road into Maxey. With the prospect of much larger areas of restoration to come, there is every opportunity of nature thriving further in the years ahead.
As well as the Christ’s College site Langdyke reserves bordering on to and on land close to the cut include:
John Clare Countryside vision
The Trust’s purchase of Christ’s College Reserve, immediately south of the Cut is an important part of this vision. The two pits – College and Clare – are in themselves home to many aquatic insects and provide food for Swallows, Swifts, House Martins and bats. In the winter they are home to several species of duck and in the summer Great Crested and Little Grebe nest on the site.
The reserve has three viewpoints so that visitors can see across from the banks of the Cut and from the footpath that runs along the eastern boundary of the site. We hope to encourage nesting Turtle Dove, Sand Martin and Kingfisher and to help Glow-worm and Four Spotted Moth spread out from their strongholds near the Helpston Road bridge.
A wetland heritage
And in that sense, the landscape is returning to its past. Millions of years ago, of course, it would have been a stretch of tropical sea, hence the amazing fossil heritage that the gravel extraction continues to expose. And then in prehistoric times, it was home to early human settlements and the Bronze Age Sacred Ways that archaeologist Frances Pryor discovered in the 1970s.
In Medieval times, the land between Maxey and Helpston would have been a dense wetland, part of the Welland river system, nothing straight and narrow about it at all, but a maze of small channels and wetland meadows.
Kathyrn Parsons’ research has established the history of Westings Meadow, a complex of grazing land, managed in common by the residents of Helpston, Maxey, Deeping Gate, Glinton and Etton, and heavily regulated by the manorial courts of Maxey cum Membris with rules around how many animals could be grazed each year and where they could be penned each night.
John Clare of course described this landscape vividly in his poem The Mores
Far spread the moorey ground a level scene
Bespread with rush and one eternal green
That never felt the rage of blundering plough
Though centurys wreathed spring’s blossoms on its brow
Still meeting plains that stretched them far away
In uncheckt shadows of green brown, and grey
Unbounded freedom ruled the wandering scene
Nor fence of ownership crept in between
To hide the prospect of the following eye
Its only bondage was the circling sky
One mighty flat undwarfed by bush and tree
Spread its faint shadow of immensity
Perhaps the landscape was at its least biodiverse throughout the 20th Century, drained and then intensively farmed, with some Corn Bunting jangling away and the occasional Turtle Dove flying across, but little else.
The drainage of the wetlands was driven by economic development and the transformation of the landscape in the late 20th century was driven by the same demands. Gravel extraction has completely changed the landscape, creating a huge area of new lakes and wetland areas.
This process began in the 19th century with the extraction of gravel at Franks’s Pit, continued immediately south of Maxey in the mid-century and accelerated in recent years as the gravel pits extended to the South Drain and most recently south towards Etton and the Helpston to Glinton Road.
As a result, the Cut now lies at the heart of an already nature rich area. And with the potential to flourish even more in the years to come. As restoration continues, we can look forward to the creation of even more wetland habitats – including a large area of wet meadow south of the Drain, wildflower meadows and several more pits.
We can expect to hear more booming Bitterns, see more hunting bats, and ever more glow-worms lighting up the mid-summer grasslands. New footpaths will be created too, and a new viewing mound, all designed to help people enjoy this evolving landscape.
As part of this process, Langdyke is working in partnership with the Environment Agency to develop a nature and heritage trail along the Cut and the South Drain, designed to help visitors learn more about the history of the area and its wildlife.
Over the coming months, we will be developing a series of information points – a combination of signs and QR codes – all linked to the Langdyke website.
And working with the Environment Agency, Tarmac and local landowners, we hope too to be able to take advantage of new Government schemes to create even more new habitats, wet meadows full of wildflowers, Lapwing and Redshank. A place where a winter evening can be alive with murmurating Starling, roosting Rooks and Jackdaws and flocking Geese, while in the summer a visitor can listen to the Turtle Dove, have to brush away the June Bugs and watch Otters playing.
A place we can all cherish and enjoy and where, most importantly, nature can flourish.