Red Hill
Parish: Goulceby
OS: 122 • GR: TF 264806 • Map ref: 37
27.30 hectares (67.60acres) • Freehold 1967
Habitat type: Grassland
(The above figure (hectares) includes the new Red Hill extension)
Location and Access
The reserve adjoins the Goulceby-Raithby road, about 1.5 km (0.9 miles) south-west of the Bluestone Heath Road. Parking places are provided at the top end and to the east of the reserve. A leaflet about the reserve is available from the Trust's headquarters in Horncastle.
Description and Management
The area comprises 1.6 hectares (4 acres) of steep chalk escarpment grassland with some scrub and 1.6 hectares (4 acres) of old plateau grassland, and a disused quarry with a famous exposure of Red Chalk, which is rich in fossils, particularly belemnites and brachiopods. Below the Red Chalk there is a considerable thickness of Carstone, here a coarse, pebbly sandstone, and above it a thin capping of the white Lower Chalk.
The plateau grassland is probably an ancient fragment of Lincolnshire Wold downland, and there is a rich assemblage of chalk plants here and in the quarry, including localised species such as felwort, yellow-wort, basil thyme, kidney vetch and pyramidal and bee orchids. Owing to the dominance of tor-grass the hillside vegetation is less varied.
The commoner grassland butterflies and moths, including an abundance of six-spotted burnet moths, are present. There are scarce insects among other orders and an exceptionally high spider population. The meadow pipit, a localised breeding species inland in Lincolnshire, nests in the reserve. Common lizard and grass snake occur.
Some mowing of grassland and verges is undertaken, but when possible the hillside and plateau grassland are grazed by sheep to maintain floristic diversity. The chalk cliffs are friable so that erosion easily occurs: they should not be climbed. For the same reason some areas are fenced off in order to reduce wear.
Red Hill extension
The Red Hill extention is approximately 23 hectares (57 acres).
The eastern part of the reserve is former arable land purchased in 1996 and returned to grassland. The aim is to try and recreate the kind of open grassland landscape that dominated the Wolds until the mid 19th Century. Although the project is at an early stage, results are encouraging and chalk downland plants have already begun to colonise the new area from the quarry and the well established part of the reserve. Grazing is an important management tool for this part of the reserve and sheep are often present. For this reason dogs are not permitted on the areas to the east of the road.
