HS2 have been working to improve the area around the Chiltern Tunnel.
During the tunnel construction, 3 million tonnes of chalk were excavated, which they are now using to recreate over 100 hectares of chalk grassland.
The Colne Valley Western Slopes project will see former agricultural land by the southern portal restored to biologically diverse grassland.
The project has increased Hertfordshire’s chalk grassland by one-fifth.
The unique grassland has seen a variety of plants seeded, taking into consideration those which flourish in chalky soils, including greater knapweed and sainfoin.
They will also be planting over 50,000 native trees, seeking to create a beech-dominated woodland, which is characteristic of the area.
They plan to support declining species such as box and juniper.
The project is in its second year of its three-year creation phase.
The habitat they have created so far has shown strong development and is supporting the area’s biodiversity.
The site has regular visitors, including yellowhammer, red kites, skylarks and even a breeding pair of little ringed plovers.
The new habitat is also home to 10 dragonfly species, including the scarce chaser and the emperor, as well as rarer butterfly species such as the marbled white and the Essex skipper.
While the grassland is still becoming established, they plan to manage the land through conservation cattle grazing once the area has become established.
There will also be new cycle paths and bridleways put in to allow the public to enjoy the grassland.
“Chalk grasslands are unique to southeastern England, but the area they cover has been shrinking for centuries because of reasons including population growth and farming. They support a wide variety of wildflowers, insects, birds and animals, and are crucial for an area’s biodiversity, so when an opportunity comes along to add to the total chalk grassland area – in this case HS2’s Chiltern Tunnel – it needs to be seized.”
Environment manager Alice Williams
Responses
This is absolutely awesome. A few years back I worked at Wyatts Covert Caravan site, just to the south of where the portal now stands. On the way to work, I would drive along Tilehouse Lane, which runs along the top of the slope from Chalfont Lane, parallel to the M25.
It was an unmetalled road with huge potholes in it, but was nice and quiet and had a tranquil charm to it, with a view down the slope to the Denham Way, and the lakes beyond. That field, although having a certain beauty to it, was always bleak and barren, as the top soil was obviously poor. There were some rabbits in it, but not many, and even the Red Kites and Kestrels passed over it without stopping, suggesting that there was nothing of interest to them.
To see it turned into chalk grassland is just phenomenal. The thought of yellowhammers, skylarks and warblers, and of vetches, thyme and orchids returning is just amazing, and the creation of a wetland area is inspirational. It is good to hear that native and typical trees are to be planted rather than just the fast growing, non native utilitarian species that are usually planted along motorways. The transformation from what was there before is immeasurable.
The extraordinary amount and depth of thought and effort that has gone into this is outstanding and the people involved in the project deserve recognition and applause. They should take great pride and sense of achievement from what they have created here.
I just turned 70 years old, and was born just up the road in Croxley Green. The changes to the area in my lifetime are vast, and many have been eyesores and blights upon the countryside.
No matter what all the doom mongers from Islington may say, HS2 is a phenomenal project. I have never known a major infrastructure project that has been undertaken with such sensitivity to the effects upon the surrounding environment. The bridge over the lakes is phenomenal, and the impact of the tunnel entrance upon the local environment is less than zero.
The lakes were originally gravel pits and quarries, but have matured over the last many decades to become wildlife havens and places of beauty. The chalkland habitat being created here will massively accelerate the naturalisation process, and the end result will be achieved in a mere handful of years.
Hats off to the amazing staff involved in this.
Best wishes
Phil How
BSc (Hons) Env Sci
HS2 has to be the most environmentally sensitive major transport project ever undertaken in the UK.
This is not unbiased reporting.
This could be a quoted press release.
Was anyone who knows what a heinous financial and territorial crime Hs2 is not interviewed for their opinion ? They can easily be found.
My great hope is that when it surpasses £100,000,000,000, to which it moves closer with each passing day, that eventually even all the clichés and pc garbage thst is currently being used to shore up the project shan’t be enough.
Have to agree, no amount of wild flowers can put right what’s happened with hs2.
Big, fat deal! Close to where I am I will never forget the sight of the roads near the construction site near Southam, lined with felled, mature oak trees, stripped of their branches and looking like rows of dead bodies. I was a railwayman for 25 years and have loved railways all my life but no one will ever convince me that HS2 is a worthwhile, it’s an expensive vanity project.
Yes, indeed.
I’m waiting for my reply which endorses your post to be refused; we’ll see.