Devil's Dyke Restoration Project

News and Events

Events

DATE	EVENT
Friday 30th June 9pm	Moths! A great chance to see a wide variety of moths up close with expert John Dawson. Meet at the Devils Dyke car park between Burwell and Swaffham Prior on the B1102 road.
Sat/Sun 17th/18th June 2006, 11am - 4pm.	Cambridge Natural History Society 'Conversazione' 87th Annual Public Exhibition of Natural History at the Zoology Department of the University of Cambridge. There will be a staffed Devil's Dyke Project stand on both days.
Wed 31st May 9pm	Moths! A great chance to see a wide variety of moths up close with expert John Dawson. Meet at the Racecourse Car Park
Fri 19th May 9pm	This event was cancelled due to bad weather and will now take place on Wednesday 31st May. Moths! A great chance to see a wide variety of moths up close with expert John Dawson. Meet at the Racecourse Car Park
Wednesday 3rd May 2006. 7.00pm	Guided Archaeological walk to discover more about the history of this fascinating ancient monument. Free of charge. Meet at the car park between Burwell and Swaffham prior on the B1102. Grid ref TL583649.
Monday 1st May 2006 (Bank Holiday)	Reach Fair. Historic, traditional fair held on Reach village green, beside Devil's Dyke. There will be a staffed Devil's Dyke Project stand all day
Thursday 27th April 2006 6.30pm - 7.30pm	Guided walk to see the rare Pasque-flowers in their full glory. Free of charge. Meet at the Newmarket July Racecourse Car Park

News

Moth Event on Devils Dyke - rescheduled

The event scheduled for 19th May was cancelled due to bad weather, and has been resheduled to take place on Wednesday 31st May.

Moth Event on Devils Dyke (press release May 2006)

The Devils Dyke Restoration Project is offering people the chance to discover more about our local species of moths at a special evening event.

Devils Dyke is home to a huge range of interesting moth species. James Fisher, Devil's Dyke Project Officer for Cambridgeshire County Council said “in previous years over 100 different species have been seen in one session including the stunning Elephant Hawkmoth and Privet Hawkmoth. At a previous event the rare Lunar Yellow Underwing moth was recorded for the first time in Cambridgeshire and it is hoped that it may be seen again this year”.

The event is being held in the evening at 9pm on Friday 19th May meeting at the Newmarket July course car park beside Devils Dyke (grid ref: TL619614). Moth expert John Dawson will be on hand to show people the moths that are trapped during the night.

For further information please contact the Devils Dyke Project Officer on 01954 713532 or email cambridgeshire@wildlifebcnp.org.

The Devil's Dyke is in the Detail (press release 30th March 2005)

Visitors to the historically important Devil's Dyke now have a set on information displays to help them get the most out of this fascinating ancient monument.

Seven new interpretation panels have been installed at the main entrance points to the Dyke. These full colour boards explain about the history and archaeology of the Dyke and provide information about its wildlife value and conservation management.

The are located at the Dyke in Reach, at the car park in Burwell, at the Woodditton section, two at Newmarket, and two smaller panels at lay-by entrance points to the Dyke in the parishes of Dullingham and Stetchworth.

Each panel is unique to the location where it is situated and will inform visitors as they access the site. A public footpath runs the whole length of the Dyke and walkers are welcome to enjoy the dyke and use the panels to learn more about the area. Access to the dyke has also been improved recently with the installation of steps.

James Fisher, Devil's Dyke Project Officer, said, “These information boards are part of the continuing restoration of the dyke and will give people the opportunity to understand and appreciate the importance of the monument both in the past and in the future. Access to the dyke has been improved in a number of ways and these boards will hopefully further enhance people's experience of the site.”

The panels have been funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund with contributions from Cambridgeshire County Council, English Nature, English Heritage and The Wildlife Trust. The panel at Reach shows an artist's impression of how the village would have looked at the time the Dyke was first constructed around 1,400 years ago. Part of the Dyke was back-filled in the 18th century to make way for the Fair Green. Reach Fair had its first charter in 1201 and would have been held on a much older green, now built on, to the west of the Dyke. The Dyke stretches in a near perfect straight line for 7 ½ miles (12 km) from the Fen edge at Reach, across the open chalk landscape near Newmarket and towards the more wooded landscape on the clay ridges, ending at Ditton Green.

Munching on the Monument (press release 26th January 2005)

For the first time in a generation sheep will be grazed on the Devil's Dyke SSSI as part of the continued restoration of the monument.

Norfolk Horn and Portland sheep will be placed on the section of the dyke that runs alongside Newmarket Golf Course. The flock of rare breeds are owned by local farmer Andrew Hill, a County Farms tenant and would have traditionally been a regular feature on chalk grassland sites such as the Dyke.

The aim of the grazing is to return the chalk grassland habitat to a favourable condition that will benefit the variety of wild flowers found on the site, such as the horseshoe vetch, rockrose, thyme and including the pasque flower, that was recently voted the county flower for Cambridgeshire in Plantlife International's County Flowers campaign.

The Chalkhill Blue butterfly relies on horsevetch as its food plant and will therefore also benefit as a result of the grazing on Devil's Dyke, as it is the only site for this species in the county.

“We are really pleased to have these sheep grazing on the dyke and restoring it to its former glory using traditional practices. During the recent years coarse grasses and scrub have started to establish on the slopes of the Dyke, and we intend for these hardy sheep to tackle this tough task and start to encourage the more desirable wild flowers to the site”, said James Fisher, Devil's Dyke Project Officer.

The Devil's Dyke Restoration project has been working closely with the Jockey Club on the issue of grazing, as the club own the grazed section of the dyke and adjacent land and take an interest in local environmental work.

Visitors are welcome to the Dyke and can see for themselves the improvements to the SSSI site as a result of previous management in the restoration process. A public footpath runs the length of the monument and people are reminded to keep all dogs on leads and close gates behind them.

For further information please contact James Fisher, Devil's Dyke Project Officer on 01954 713532 or 07734 478463.

Befriend the Bugs during National Insect Week (press release June 2004)

The events are being organised by the Devil's Dyke Restoration Project & Cambridge Greenbelt Project and will take place on Devil's Dyke and Fleam Dyke. Staff from the two projects will be present at the events.

On Wednesday 15th June there will be a moth trapping evening with local expert John Dawson on Devil's Dyke from 9pm – 11pm.

Then on Thursday 16th June a guided walk will take place on Devil's Dyke with Sharon Hearle from Butterfly Conservation from 10am – 12pm. For these two events held on the dyke please meet at the Newmarket July Racecourse Car park beside Devil's Dyke.

There will also be a guided walk taking place on Fleam Dyke with local expert Ivan Perry on Thursday 16th June at 1pm. Please meet at A11 layby beside Fleam Dyke.

During the events people will be able to use net sweeps and pitfall traps to identify some of the many species that are found at these two fine chalk grassland ancient monuments, including nationally rare insects. Species likely to be seen at the events are: Brown Argus, Dingy Skipper & Green Hairstreak butterflies (now uncommon in Cambridgeshire), bloody-nosed beetle (remarkable for its reflex bleeding when disturbed), heath snail and green tiger beetle (a fierce carnivore which makes a little burrow where it lies in wait for its prey). All these species are specialities of chalk grassland habitats and locally rare.

National Insect Week is 14th-20th June. Further info at http://www.nationalinsectweek.co.uk.

Anyone interested in attending these events please contact James Fisher or Naomi Brookes tel. 01954 713532 or email cambridgeshire@wildlifebcnp.org.

Opportunity to see Pasque-flower on Devil's Dyke (press release 2004)

Pasque-flowers thrive on dry calcarious grassland on south-facing slopes. Sadly, much of this habitat has been lost during the past 50 years or so. It now survives in the wild at only two sites in the whole of Cambridgeshire. Because of this, the Devil's Dyke Restoration Project is carrying out positive conservation work that should benefit these plants and encourage them to spread further along the Dyke. Numbers of Pasque-flowers are now carefully recorded each year to monitor their progress in response to management of Devil's Dyke. Local volunteers have been busy during the winter clearing back bushes that can shade out the plants that prefer open, grassy conditions.

To find out more about the beneficial work that is being carried out on the Dyke and to see the Pasque-flower, a guided walk, led by the Devil's Dyke Project Officer, is taking place at 2pm on Sunday 25th April, meeting at the Newmarket July Racecourse car park beside Devil's Dyke.

Fencing at Dyke gains rambling approval (press release 2004)

Three kilometres of fencing and 8 gates were erected during the summer and under the management of the Devil's Dyke Restoration Project, sheep will be grazed on the land later in the year.

The work has received the seal of approval from the local Ramblers Association whose representative visited the dyke and spent time learning of the future plans. The new fencing will not compromise access to the Dyke as easy to use, wide gates have been placed along the public footpath, which runs along the entire length of the Dyke. Barry Moate, chair of the East Cambridgeshire Ramblers Association said “the wide gates on the footpath are user friendly, ideal for less able bodied walkers, and are suitable in all weathers so that people don't have to climb over wet, slippery stiles.”

Traditionally the Dyke was managed by sheep grazing which kept the banks in an open grassy condition full of wild flowers and insects. However, during the past few decades some sections have been left un-grazed resulting in scrub and coarser plants taking over the slopes, shading out the more interesting flowers and damaging the site's archaeology in the process.

Peter Amos, Managing Director of the Jockey Club, who own the land said “I strongly support the work being done by the Restoration Project, as it allows the general public to enjoy the dyke at the same time as preserving the monument by natural means.”

This work is part of the five year management plan for the restoration of the Dyke and James Fisher, Project Officer said “This section of the Dyke contains the nationally rare Pasque Flower which thrives in open, shorter chalk grassland, but taller grasses and scrub have started to swamp the plants. We hope that by grazing a traditional, hardy breed of sheep they will eat down the coarse vegetation and scrub.”

“At the moment we do not have a grazier with suitable sheep available. If anyone has a hardy breed of sheep that will be happy on the site and is interested in grazing their sheep on the Dyke, they should contact James Fisher on 01954 713532.

An hour-long guided walk has been organised on Sunday 28th September from 2pm to allow walkers and local people who wish to enjoy the dyke the chance to see for themselves the fencing and learn of the restoration plans.

The walk will start from the car park on the B1102 road between Burwell and Swaffham Prior. Anyone wishing to join the walk and find out more about the conservation work that is happening on the Dyke should call 01954 713532 or email cambridgeshire@wildlifebcnp.org.