Thursday October 17th was a great day: over a mile of verge arisings raked along Cowbar Lane and 27 little gorse plants safely in the ground in just one day. This couldn’t have happened without fantastic support from Cowbar residents and Paul Murphy, the Redcar and Cleveland Countryside Ranger. Paul has always been very supportive and generous with advice and practical help. He showed us how to plant the gorse and gave us sleeves to protect them from rabbits. He also brought along some hi-vis vests and an impressive collection of rakes and shovels!
This year was the first time we had outside help:
Our thanks to Claire Blindell and the Yorkshire Rewilding Network team. The physical energy they brought was phenomenal and it was great working alongside people who share our passion for nature and protecting and restoring wild places.
We also welcomed a raking team from the Esk Valley Camphill Community . Many thanks to Etienne, Frank, Mark, Mirja, Joe and Ned for high energy raking and good company.
It was fresh inspiration to feel that we are now part of a network which will support us and which I hope our community can contribute to in turn.
We are also grateful to Andy Roberts, our Streetscene Redcar and Cleveland Council officer. He organised the yearly mowing schedule, lent us some road signs and his team then collected the arisings from all along the lane. Another first!
If you would like to read more about our Cowbar verges and how we are trying to encourage the biodiversity they support, you can use these links: