Tarmac’s restoration at a long-established quarry in England is helping the site harness its biodiversity potential
Located in County North Yorkshire, England, Scorton Quarry is a busy and complex operational site which extracts, processes and sells approximately 450,000tonnes of sand and gravel each year.
In 2008,
Alan Coe, zone manager for North Yorkshire, explained Tarmac’s holistic approach: “Every site is different, and, being the custodian of the land, it is our responsibility to manage it in the best way possible. It was also a fantastic challenge to develop a bespoke restoration programme. From the initial concept plan, we have developed and enhanced the landscape and wildlife habitat at Scorton, while ensuring valuable ecological opportunities are not missed.”
The quarry is divided into six ‘phases’, and as each phase is worked out, restoration and landscaping of the area follows. Tarmac is only half way through the programme, which is set to be completed by 2016.
As well as being an active quarry, Scorton supports a wealth of wildlife and is used and enjoyed by local people, and has an increasing number of visitors coming to the site annually. Tarmac’s strategy was to ensure that this was maintained and enhanced through their restoration work.
In recent years, the company has made considerable progress, creating three hectares of reed beds with the aim of providing a new habitat for hundreds of species.
Tarmac oversaw the timely and technical process of growing new reeds from seed, which was collected locally before being propagated and grown on by Mires Beck Nursery, a local specialist. This was a key stage and helped ensure optimum root development, representing best practice with a local origin sourcing of plant material. As the reed beds have developed, there have been records of a wide range of species such as kingfishers, reed bunting and a healthy population of wild fowl.
“Three years in to the programme, the results of the reed beds are already really exciting and should provide a positive legacy for local biodiversity.
“It is critical that we use the most sustainable plants, carry out good ground preparation and continually monitor water levels, helping to form the right environment to support the reed growth,” says Coe.
During the planning of phase four of the restoration programme, ecological studies showed that the location of a mature hedge was favourable for the development of bat colonies. A decision was taken to move the complete hedge back to create a wider and more easily managed bridleway, while retaining the valuable habitat, including the associated ground flora. This was successfully delivered with less than 2% losses in the 320m length move, while the ground flora has continued to grow unaffected. Several mature oak trees were also removed and replaced as monoliths in the hedge line. Along with these monoliths, 30 bat boxes were installed in various locations across the site, helping to retain cavity habitat on site. This was all carried out at a particular time to avoid any conflicts with the return of bats to their summer roosts.
“The site contains a range of bat species and the phases of restoration have been designed to ensure minimal disturbance. When disruption has been unavoidable, steps have been taken to lessen the impact while continuing to harness a valuable habitat and long-term enhancement of biodiversity,” says Coe.
Significant numbers of bats and birds, such as the tree-creeper, use the reserve at Scorton as a safe haven, while the grassland attracts a range of birds including the skylark, linnet and goldfinch. Also home to four different species of bumble bee, the restoration programme has significantly enhanced the wildlife habitat.
A key stage of the phased restoration was the creation of a parkland area. The objective was to retain many of the existing features so that a range of habitats could develop within the eventual grazed parkland.
The varied topography of Scorton has helped to create a range of micro-climates and it was paramount that this aesthetic heritage was preserved.
After reinstating 18 hectares of land in 2011, the site was treated to reduce weed growth, before being ploughed. Harrowing was carefully directed by the restoration team to ensure that the topography of the land was followed, helping to avoid a flat agricultural field being created.
A grass sward has been developed to bind the surface before initially being seeded with 100% Sheep’s Fescue, which provides excellent ground cover. Over seeding of a specific wildflower seed mix was then carried out to ensure a rich wildflower meadow was created.
Tarmac has also helped sculpt the parkland to form a characteristic wooded and grazed parkland landscape by planting single specimen and groups of trees. 50 trees, approximately 1.8m in height, have been planted across approximately eight hectares, including oak, ash, beech, sweet chestnut and hornbeam. This approach has been beneficial to the establishment of woodland with large areas of glade habitat, creating opportunities for colonisation by woodland ground flora.
“The tree species were selected to both reflect the native trees of the area but also to acknowledge the manmade nature of the parkland. Trees of this size have enhanced the landscape and have been planted to accentuate topographical features and convey a feeling of open woodland to visitors. Even at the end of the management agreement period these trees will be very young and only just be starting to show their potential as components of this landscape type,” says Coe.
Another key feature of the ongoing restoration taking place at Scorton is Tarmac’s community engagement work, which has ensured that local stakeholders and members of the community have been kept well-informed at all times.
A series of events were hosted, including village community days and regular residents’ meetings.
The views of the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) were also canvassed during a recent site visit, with over 60 local residents attending. The turnout allowed Tarmac to encourage the local community to utilise the car parking facilities and help alleviate congestion within the village of Scorton.
“This two-way dialogue has provided the local community a voice in the ongoing restoration and added considerable value in the process.
“We have developed close ties and we will continue to work closely with them to ensure that they are kept involved and included in our plans. In a recent local liaison meeting traffic was raised as an issue and our healthy relationship with the RSPB has allowed us to reach out to a broad section of the local community to mitigate the clogging of the local network during peak periods.
“Tarmac has a real passion for what it hopes to achieve at Scorton Quarry. The results of our work so far are already really exciting with a wide range of habitats helping to nurture and preserve thriving wildlife. There’s such huge potential at the site and it is developing rapidly in to a haven for a variety of bat species.
“More nature conservation, habitat creation and public access are planned for the next few years. It is very satisfying creating a new landscape that will benefit others for many years to come,” concludes Coe.
