About the reserve

At the southern tip of the eastern edge of the chalk Wolds, this quarry was once the Gunby estate chalk pit. The lime kilns are probably older than those at Mill Hill Quarry in Claxby, and the quarry has been disused for longer. The chalk cliff exposure shows only the Lower Chalk.

Several habitat types merge into one another. The track passes through tall hawthorn and ash wood, and scrub of dog rose and hawthorn, and finally emerges in an open grassland area, which is still being colonised. Most of the chalk flowers of the south-east Wolds (including four orchid species) are present, and woodland flora has developed in the ash wood.

Breeding birds include garden warbler, whitethroat, spotted flycatcher and several species of finch. Butterflies are abundant.

Access is very difficult and largely restricted to essential management.