Sundon Chalk Quarry is a biological

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

Upper Sundon Upper Sundon is a village located in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. The village is the largest settlement in the wider Sundon civil parish, though Lower Sundon is presumed to be older, as the parish church (first bu ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...

. It was notified in 1989 under Section 28 of the

Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (c. 69) is an act of Parliament in the United Kingdom implemented to comply with European Council Directive 79/409/EEC on the conservation of wild birds. In short, the act gives protection to native species ...

, and the local planning authority is

Central Bedfordshire Council Central Bedfordshire Council is the local authority for Central Bedfordshire, a local government district in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. The council is a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functi ...

. The site is privately owned but there is free public access. The quarry was established to provide chalk and marl for the Sundon cement works, which operated between 1899 and 1976. The site is part of a large complex of disused chalk quarries, and its varied habitats include fens, lakes, chalk grassland, scrub and woodland. Interesting chalkland plants found here include ploughman’s spikenard, wild liquorice and woolly thistle, and what is probably the largest colony of the

Chiltern gentian ''Gentianella germanica'', common name German gentian, also known in the United Kingdom as the Chiltern gentian, is a flowering plant in the family Gentianaceae. It was chosen as the county flower of Buckinghamshire. Within the UK, it is only ...

in England. The quarry has one of the most important assemblages of insect species in Bedfordshire, including sixteen species of

dragonfly A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of dragonflies are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threat ...

and

damselfly Damselflies are flying insects of the suborder Zygoptera in the order Odonata. They are similar to dragonflies (which constitute the other odonatan suborder, Epiprocta) but are usually smaller and have slimmer bodies. Most species fold the win ...

, and twenty-one of

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

, including the uncommon

Adonis blue The Adonis blue (''Lysandra bellargus'', also known as ''Polyommatus bellargus'') is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It inhabits the Palearctic realm (Western Europe, Central Europe, Southern Europe, Southern Russia, Iraq, Iran, Caucasus, ...

. The odontids include the

scarce blue-tailed damselfly The scarce blue-tailed damselfly or small bluetail (''Ischnura pumilio'') is a member of the damselfly family Coenagrionidae. The species occurs throughout Europe except in the north. To the east it occurs from Asia Minor to Siberia, to the sou ...

and the ruddy darter dragonfly, both of which are scarce in Britain, and the

emerald damselfly ''Lestes sponsa'' is a damselfly with a wide Palaearctic distribution. It is known commonly as the emerald damselfly or common spreadwing. Both males and females have a metallic green colour and brown wing spots. It resides near pools with aquat ...

and the

red-eyed damselfly ''Erythromma najas'', the red-eyed damselfly, is a member of the Coenagrionidae family of damselflies. Appearance The species is a small damselfly, long, predominantly black with iridescent blue markings. The male resembles blue-tailed damself ...

, which are uncommon in Bedfordshire. There are a number of uncommon beetles including '' Apion astragali'', the larvae of which feed solely on the wild licorice, itself a scarce plant in Britain. There are also amphibians, with the

common frog The common frog or grass frog (''Rana temporaria''), also known as the European common frog, European common brown frog, European grass frog, European Holarctic true frog, European pond frog or European brown frog or simply the frog, is a semi ...

smooth newt The smooth newt, European newt, northern smooth newt or common newt (''Lissotriton vulgaris'') is a species of newt. It is widespread in Europe and parts of Asia, and has been introduced species, introduced into Australia. Individuals are brown ...

and

great crested newt The northern crested newt, great crested newt or warty newt (''Triturus cristatus'') is a newt species native to Great Britain, northern and central continental Europe and parts of Western Siberia. It is a large newt, with females growing up to ...

regularly breeding here. The

Chiltern Way The Chiltern Way is a waymarked long-distance footpath in the Chiltern Hills of southern England. It was created by the Chiltern Society as a Millennium project. Route The Chiltern Way runs for around . There is an extension - the Berkshire L ...

passes through the site on a footpath from Church Road.

References

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