CRT Response to EWR Non Statutory Consultation

The proposed route in the Comberton to Shelford section runs through nature-rich farmland at Lark Rise Farm in Cambridgeshire, which is owned by the Countryside Regeneration Trust (CRT). We promote nature-friendly farming to help reverse the biodiversity decline and combat climate change. 

The land at Westfield was purchased by the CRT in 2000. At that time, Westfield was one large field, but it was immediately decided to segment the field into four smaller parcels of land (Oaks, Golf, Railway and Lakefield) to introduce new wildlife habitat.  

These environmental boundaries include mixed hedgerows, now mature and sizeable consisting of hawthorn, blackthorn, wild rose, hazel, dogwood, privet, wayfaring tree, a few maples, and some oak, and slightly raised areas of soil created to form beetle banks. Other habitats added or improved during this process included flower-rich grass margins, the crop fields themselves for specialist farmland wildlife, and the nearby Bourn Brook.  

Nest boxes have been provided for barn owls, as part of a local Barn Owl recovery area under the guidance of Colin Shawyer and the Barn Owl Conservation Network. 

The Bourn Brook has been protected through the reinstatement of permanent grassland areas adjacent to the brook, reinstatement of the historical channel (reversing destructive river engineering works from the 1970s) and control of non-native plants and animals. This forms part of a concerted effort to improve the whole of the Bourn Brook, in partnership with other landowners under the Bourn Brook farm cluster and in conjunction with the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire, the Cam Valley Forum and the Cambridge Conservation Volunteers.  

Over the last 15 years this ‘Bourn Free’ project has eradicated American Mink from the Bourn Brook, and has reduced populations of Himalayan balsam and giant hogweed, all of which were threatening the ecology. As a consequence, native wildlife has returned, particularly water voles, otters and moorhens. 

Helena Darragh, Jenny Ashdown, Emily Coleman, Vince Lea during an arable flora survey on some of the fields affected by the proposed East West Rail route that might cut through the land at Westfield.

Rarely seen Night-flowering catchfly (arable 'weed') found during survey of flora in arable fields that will be affected by the proposed East West Rail route. Survey done by the team during mid summer

Agriculture use at Westfield 
The four fields have been variously used for winter and spring sown wheat, barley, and oats, as well as triticale, spring and winter beans, mustard, and oilseed rape. The soil is not typical for the area, and is high in both stone and sand content, which is great for indigenous broad-leafed weeds that support a variety of insect and bird life. 

The method of farming developed over the last twenty years is unique, being a low-intensity variation on conventional farming; it does not fall into a recognised category of conventional or organic farming but has been designed to maximise benefit for wildlife. Small fields (based on pre-war field sizes) and diverse crop rotations, with no two adjacent fields carrying the same crop, means that opportunities for wildlife to thrive are maximised.  The work at Westfield contributes to the landscape scale nature recovery that is being attempted by many landowners as the West Cambridgeshire Hundreds farm cluster. 

The ‘Making space for nature’: review of England's wildlife sites published by the government on 24 September 2010 (Professor John Lawton) demanded a ‘Bigger, Better and More Joined Up’ approach to nature conservation in England, and this is essentially what we have been doing at Westfield since 2000. The area of land available to nature is now bigger than it was when we took it on, it is better than it was when we acquired it, and through partnerships with other landowners and conservation organisations, it is more joined up. The proposed route of East West Rail through this land will reduce, degrade and divide the area for wildlife. 

Environmental impact of EWR route on Westfield 

Farmland this rich in wildlife is rare and is the result of twenty years of work, starting from what was a standard, highly intensive blank canvas. 

Westfield farm is small already and the route of the railway threatens about one-quarter of the area, which will immediately reduce the population size of the species on site by removing their habitat. However, the impact will be larger than one-quarter reduction. Some species are present at low levels, requiring a large area of suitable habitat, grey partridge, and corn bunting, for example. Reducing the population from 2-3 pairs to 1-2 pairs will limit the chance of these species maintaining viable long-term populations and increase the chance of them going locally extinct.  

The disturbance caused by the high-speed trains – noise, physical impact, and the infrastructure – will have an impact beyond the confines of the line itself. Train-strike is a particularly concerning for low-flying birds such as barn owls and grey partridges and particularly bats.  

Noise pollution is a particular concern for songbirds such as skylarks. Overhead structures provide look-out perches for nest predators such as carrion crows and magpies, populations of which are also likely to benefit from wildlife killed on the tracks by passing trains, such as deer, badgers, and rabbits. Development such as this has led to Britain having one of the densest populations of these generalist scavengers in Europe, and they are opportunist predators of nests.  

The route of the line would cut through the path of our Butterfly Transect, which means that the survey would have to end after a run of over 20 years of contributing data to an important national scheme. Most of that data collection has been by volunteers, walking about 20 hours per year for 20 years, plus more volunteer time dedicated to data collation and entry.  

In 2023, we hosted, for the first time, a camp for Gold Award Duke of Edinburgh participants. The organisers (Cambridgeshire Duke of Edinburgh’s Open Award Centre) visited all CRT farmland beforehand and chose Westfield as the perfect base for over 20 young people to spend a week living outdoors and gaining experience of bushcraft, wild food and campfire cooking, conservation work and so on. The feedback from this group was highly positive. Places like Westfield are hard to find where young people can get away from modern life and experience nature. This event was repeated in 2024 and bookings are already being taken for 2025; a great opportunity to give young people an experience of nature, many of whom are coming from less advantaged and inner-city backgrounds.  

Westfield Farm is part of two farm cluster partnerships: The West Cambridgeshire Hundreds and The Bourn Brook Farm Cluster. These groups of farms have been working together to improve habitat and connectedness for wildlife in the area. A train line cutting through the Bourn Brook valley and through the farmland is doing the opposite of what we have been trying to achieve, by dividing habitat into smaller chunks.  

The old Victorian Oxford to Cambridge line once passed through Westfield and was discontinued in the 1960s under the Beeching Review. The remains and effects of that are still seen, including sections of the brook that were deepened, straightened, and badly damaged to provide bridge access, and lines of concrete and wire fencing left behind. That railway line (Varsity Line) lasted just over 120 years. 

Skylark nest found among the crop at Westfield on Lark Rise farm, in one of the fields which would be affected by the East West Rail proposed route.

Two days on from previous visit, nest of Skylark at Railway field Westfield

Wildlife at Westfield 
 
Birds: Westfield is significant for many farmland birds that are in serious decline. This includes Red-listed bird species such as grey partridge, lapwing, skylark, linnet, yellowhammer and corn bunting. Our surveys show that Westfield bucks the national trend for the decline of these species, and it is often referred to as an ‘oasis’ when compared to the surrounding, less nature-friendly farmland.  

Significant species, breeding territories (average): grey partridge (3), quail (occasional records), red kite (first bred 2024), sparrowhawk (occasional breeder), lapwing (bred in 2021), stock dove (3), barn owl (1), tawny owl (1), hobby (1 pair, sporadically), kestrel (occasional breeder), skylark (20), starling (1), song Thrush (2-3), dunnock (5, increasing), yellow wagtail (occasional breeder), linnet (6), bullfinch (1), yellowhammer (8), reed bunting (2) and corn bunting (2).  

One of the important differences between the CRT farming and standard arable farming in Cambridgeshire and England in general, is our high proportion of overwintered stubble and the use of direct drilling (no tillage) to grow crops from one year to the next. This provides important seed and invertebrate food for birds to help them survive the winter. In addition, specific areas of overwintered seed crops are left for birds, and grain is provided at feeding stations (hoppers) designed for game birds.  

These options bring large numbers of birds onto the farm in winter and help our resident birds such as grey Partridges survive. The trend for wintering birds at Westfield has been steadily increasing, and without this winter food many species would significantly suffer. Winter counts are variable but can include grey partridge (20) golden plover (up to 100), skylark (over 100), linnet (200), corn bunting (20), yellowhammer (150). The abundance of birds in such a small area also regularly attracts predators, including occasional marsh harrier, merlin and peregrine. In 2022 a great grey shrike visited, a nationally rare species with fewer than 100 birds present in the UK in any winter. 

Butterflies: Butterflies have been monitored at Westfield since 2002, contributing data to the United Kingdom Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS). Twenty-six species are currently listed as recorded on site (data entered up to 2022) but in 2023 a 27th species was recorded, the silver-washed fritillary. Two of these are priority species in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan, White-letter hairstreak and small heath. The range of species is very impressive for a small farm site, partly a reflection of a long history of recording, but also reflecting the range of wildflowers and habitats on site. The numbers of butterflies on site are also impressive and steadily rising. 

Mammals: A wide range of widespread mammal species have been observed, with important populations of harvest mouse, brown hare, water vole and otter and an extensive badger sett. Until 2024, bats were not studied in detail at Westfield, but bat monitoring at the nearby area of Countryside Regeneration Trust farmland in Barton (Lark Rise Farm) has shown that our sympathetic management has increased the abundance and diversity of bats, bringing in species such as serotine, noctule, brown long-eared bat, common and soprano pipistrelle and most notably the barbastelle bat, whereas baseline monitoring prior to restoration showed bats to be extremely rare and restricted to single individuals of pipistrelle species (this was before the taxonomic split of common and soprano pipistrelle).  

In 2024, in response to the threat posed by East West Rail, bat recording was undertaken at Westfield by the CRT using recording equipment borrowed for the purpose. Echo Meter recordings on July 29th and August 17th indicated the presence of common pipistrelle, greater horseshoe bat, long-eared bat, Myotis species, Nathusius's pipistrelle, natterer's bat, noctule bat and soprano pipistrelle. 

Data from an SM3 static bat recorder operated between Oct 30th and Dec 3rd analysed using the BTO Acoustic Pipeline showed the presence of barbastelle, brown long-eared bat, common pipistrelle, daubenton's bat, leisler's bat, natterer's bat and soprano pipistrelle. With over 30 registrations of barbastelle in the late autumn recording period, it is clear that Westfield provides an important foraging area for this species which has a nationally important population at the nearby Eversden and Wimpole Woods Special Area of Conservation. With up to 10 species of bats recorded in 2024, with a limited level of surveying effort, it is clear that the Bourn Brook corridor area is of great significance to bats and bisecting it with a high-speed rail line is likely to have a severe impact. 

The first live record of an apparently pure polecat in Cambridgeshire in modern times came from Westfield when one entered one of the mink traps on November 11th, 2010. The use of mink traps since 2010 and collaboration with landowners in the rest of the Bourn Brook has produced conditions which have allowed water voles to recolonise the entire length of the brook and has been adopted as a method which is now being rolled out across the rest of Eastern England with a view to eventually eradicating mink from Britain.  

Herpetiles: Grass snakes are the only reptile recorded but common and great-crested newts, common frogs and common toads have been seen.  

Fish: The most notable fish records from the Bourn Brook are bullheads, various other common coarse fish have been seen including minnow, stickleback, dace, roach, chub and gudgeon.  

Arable Weeds: As already mentioned, arable weeds are not only tolerated on the arable farmland but actively encouraged. Some of these are of conservation concern due to serious declines in range and number. In addition to the rare arable weeds, large numbers of common species are also allowed to flourish, providing food for abundant invertebrates and seeds and forage for birds and small mammals.  

The site was surveyed by the Cambridgeshire Flora Group in October 2024 and they have proposed it for consideration as a County Wildlife Site, to be considered at the panel’s next meeting in February 2025.  

Two particularly notable species were present in the October survey: Viola tricolor (wild pansy) is county vulnerable and near threatened in England; it was present in Golf and Railway Fields, in company with more frequent viola arvensis (field pansy). Silene noctiflora (night-flowering catchfly) is county endangered and vulnerable in England; there was a significant population of over 20 plants in Golf Field, with another plant in Lake Field. In addition, Scandix pecten-veneris (shepherd's-needle) and/or torilis arvensis (spreading hedge-parsley) are likely to be present based on previous records but were not seen in October.  

In summary 

The CRT strongly believe that the EWR link will be a disaster for Westfield and its wildlife. Significantly, the type of species that are present at the site need open areas to thrive. While EWR say they are providing ecological compensation sites to mitigate for environmental damage, these are unlikely to help all the types of species that are found at Westfield – particularly farmland birds. At a time when the UK Government is demanding farmers do more to protect and restore the countryside to meet its globally important environmental pledges, destroying farmland that is already achieving so much for the countryside is a huge mistake.  

Route-wide matters section on consultation document

The southern route, with its long curve from Cambourne to Shelford, cuts through an area of relatively undisturbed countryside, crossing the valleys of the Bourn Brook, River Rhee and River Cam, and cutting through the chalk ridge around Haslingfield. 

By comparison, the northern route would be following an already existing transport corridor. As such, there is far greater environmental impact from the southern approach to Cambridge compared to the northern route.  

Most significantly, the southern route cuts through countryside used for foraging by barbastelle bats from the Eversden and Wimpole Woods Special Area of Conservation; it is known that these bats visit locations such as Hardwick Wood and Lark Rise Farm within the route proposed by EWR, and they would be severely impacted by the construction and operation of the railway. Simply protecting the barbastelle’s maternity roost site is not sufficient if their foraging routes are subjected to high-speed trains.