Soil Associations

0551c CUCKNEY 2

Soil and site characteristics

Well drained sandy and ferruginous fine loamy soils over soft sandstone. Some coarse loamy soils affected by groundwater. Risk of wind erosion.

Geology

Cretaceous sand and sandstone

Cropping and Land Use

Cereals, sugar beet and potatoes; some field vegetables.

Component soil series

Subgroup	Series name	Percentage	WRB 2006 link
5.51	CUCKNEY	45%	Eutric Lamellic Arenosols
8.41	CURDRIDGE	20%	Luvic Gleysols
5.44	SPILSBY	20%	Chromic Cambisols

Covers 45 km² in England and Wales

Soilscapes Classification

10	Freely draining slightly acid sandy soils

0551c CUCKNEY 2

Detailed Description

This association consists mainly of typical brown sands of the Cuckney series, ferritic brown earths of the Spilsby series and typical argillic gley soils of the Curdridge series, developed on and adjacent to the Cretaceous sandstone outcrop near Spilsby, Lincolnshire. The moderately deep sandy soils and the ferruginous fine loamy soils of the Cuckney and Spilsby series respectively are permeable and well drained. The deep coarse loamy soils of the Curdridge series are also permeable, but grey colours and mottling in subsoils indicate they are seasonally affected by groundwater. Included are small areas of Wick, Arrow, Tadmarton and Rivington series.

Near Spilsby, the sandstone forms a steep-sided plateau. Here Cuckney soils are dominant with Spilsby soils on the lower ironstone outcrops; Rivington, Wick and Tadmarton soils are common minor inclusions. Further north where the sandstone outcrop is less marked, Curdridge series becomes more common especially on upper slopes, with Arrow soils on lower ground.

Soil Water Regime

Cuckney and Spilsby series are both well drained (Wetness Class I) because of the permeability of the soils and underlying rocks. Curdridge soils are occasionally waterlogged by groundwater (Wetness Class II). All soils readily accept winter rain so there is little surface run-off. There is wide variation in the available water reserve of Cuckney soils depending on the depth to, and the hardness of the underlying sandstone. They are generally slightly droughty for most arable crops and more droughty than Spilsby or Curdridge series.

Cropping and Land Use

The soils are easily worked and have adequate working days for both autumn and spring cultivations even in wet years. Yields from direct drilling of crops in Spilsby and Curdridge soils are likely to be similar to those obtained after ploughing, but Cuckney soils are unsuitable because of sandy texture and low organic matter levels. Cereals, sugar beet, potatoes and field vegetables are the main crops. Grassland is almost entirely restricted to steeper slopes. Under grass there is little risk of poaching or damage by traffic and yields on Cuckney and Spilsby soils are limited by droughtiness. Curdridge soils with larger reserves of available water are well suited to grassland. The soils are suitable for slurry application.

0551c CUCKNEY 2

Distribution Map

Note that the yellow shading represents a buffer to highlight the location of very small areas of the association.

Keys to component soil series

Eastern Region

Typical Landscapes

Eastern Region

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Citation: To use information from this web resource in your work, please cite this as follows:
Cranfield University 2024. The Soils Guide. Available: www.landis.org.uk. Cranfield University, UK. Last accessed 19/04/2024