Hook Norton Cutting and Banks is a biological and geological

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

south of

Hook Norton Hook Norton is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire, England. It lies northeast of Chipping Norton, close to the Cotswold Hills. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 2,117. The village is formed of four neighbourhoods: Ea ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

. The site is in three areas, two of which are managed as a nature reserve called Hook Norton Cutting by

Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust The Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT), is a wildlife trust covering the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire in England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It sh ...

. and are designated a

Geological Conservation Review The Geological Conservation Review (GCR) is produced by the UK's Joint Nature Conservation Committee and is designed to identify those sites of national and international importance needed to show all the key scientific elements of the geological a ...

site. Hook Norton Cutting is a nature reserve along two stretches of a disused railway line separated by a tunnel. Most of it is unimproved

calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcareous'' is used as an adje ...

grassland with a rich variety of flora. The site is notable for its bee species, including one which has only been recorded at three other sites in the country, '' Andrena bucephala''. The cutting exposes rocks dating to the

Middle Jurassic The Middle Jurassic is the second epoch of the Jurassic Period. It lasted from about 174.1 to 163.5 million years ago. Fossils of land-dwelling animals, such as dinosaurs, from the Middle Jurassic are relatively rare, but geological formations co ...

, around 167 million years ago, which are the

type section A stratotype or type section in geology is the physical location or outcrop of a particular reference exposure of a stratigraphic sequence or stratigraphic boundary. If the stratigraphic unit is layered, it is called a stratotype, whereas the stan ...

of the Hook Norton Member of the

Chipping Norton Formation The Chipping Norton Limestone is a geological formation in the Cotswolds, England. It preserves fossils dating back to the Bathonian (Middle Jurassic).Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Middle Jurassic, Europe)." In: Weisha ...

. Hook Norton Bank is a steeply sloping limestone grassland by the

River Swere The River Swere is a stream in Oxfordshire, England, with a length of 2.09 kilometres and an elevation of 322 feet. The river's source lies around Swerford. It flows north towards Wigginton, Oxfordshire, Wigginton, and then turns east, passing ju ...

References

{{Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Oxfordshire Geological Conservation Review sites