Condition surveys have been undertaken at Waverley Wood Farm SSSI and Harbury Quarries SSSI in partnership with The Geology Trusts. The purpose of the visits are to determine the current condition of selected SSSI for Natural England.
Waveley Wood Farm (naturalengland.org.uk) SSSI is located in Bubbenhall Wood and was visited on the 6th September by Kathrin Schuetrumpf, Peter Hawksworth, Anthony Allen and Gareth Jenkins. The SSSI designation comprises interglacial sediments in contact with the paleo ground surface of the Mercia Mudstone. There are channels, organic sediments, pollen and fossils. However, the entire area is currently buried beneath the woodland! The former exposure was created by Waverly Quarry which has subsequently been land filled in the 1990s.
During a site visit on 30th September, more dramatic exposures were observed at the Harbury Quarry SSSI W/S/17 (naturalengland.org.uk). Kathrin Schuetrumpf, Peter Hawksworth and Gareth Jenkins observed the interbedded limestones and mudstones of the Rugby Limestone Member (part of the Jurassic, Blue Lias Formation) which former quarrying has created dramatic cliffs overlain by further glacial sequences.
Caution is required near these exposures due to some slope instability and the extensive presence of lakes used by the local fishery. Specimens which were safely recovered indicated the mudstones were very thinly laminated shaley), with some shell debris on the bedding surfaces.