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In the December
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As you may or may not know the Wildlife Trust has been looking after a small nature reserve on Cinques Road in Gamlingay for the last 30 years. It has long been a quiet and somewhat wild area, and its sometimes scruffy appearance belies the history and significance of the site. Cinques Common is a small area of acidic grassland, which represents the only remaining area of Gamlingay Great Heath, a once extensive expanse of heath stretching far into Bedfordshire. It is a unique site in Cambridgeshire and is reputed to hold Cambridgeshire's only heather plant. Many typical acid-loving plants found here occur nowhere else in the county. Although the Cinques is a special site, well used by local people, it has little resemblance to the heath of the past. The Great Heath would have been grassland with clumps of heather plants and the occasional scattered tree, anyone visiting the Cinques today might be forgiven for thinking parts were wooded. The Wildlife Trust, as part of a review of long-term aims on reserves assessed the site and intends to literally turn back the clock. lt is hoped that with funding from corporate sponsors and Government grants and the support of local people we can restore balance to the nature reserve and make it a feature that the village of Gamlingay can really be proud of! There is to be a public meeting to discuss the details of plans for the area, but the main thrust of work would be preparing the site for light summer sheep grazing, rotational management of gorse and thinning of the immature scrub and trees which have grown up over the last 20 years. Work will be carried out by staff, volunteers, contractors and we would love to involve local people too. It won't all be hard graft; one of the other aims for the site is to propagate heather plants and plant them back across the site, so there are opportunities to help whether you are eight or eighty! Work is not just about the reserve it is about people too, we hope to install benches and new signs and information so that everybody can get the most out of the area. So if you want to find out more, or even get involved come along to the Public Meeting, 7.30pm l2th December at the Alms House Chapel, Church Street, Gamlingay.
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