Willow whips and wire
11 June 2010
Just recently a group of Fix the Fells volunteer lengthsmen tackled some pigeon hole erosion above Force Crag Mine near Braithwaite.
Pigeon holing occurs when people follow the same line up a grassy hill, wearing the grass away and exposing the soil to the weather. It is usually seen as the first indicator of serious erosion.
The repair of pigeon holing itself is not a complicated process, simply a matter of removing soil, filling the resulting hole with small rocks and replacing the soil to it’s original level then grass seeding the area. However without some protection repairs can soon fail due to repeated use from people and livestock. To remedy this the lengthsmen constructed a cloche, made from green willow stems and fine wire netting, to protect the area and give it time to regenerate.
cloche netting> stretching into the distance>
Willow stems were laced to form hoops across the repaired sections then longer pieces were placed on top to form a ridgepole. With the framework complete it is draped with fine wire netting, which is fastened tightly to the willow and pegged in place. This forms quite a rigid structure which should keep grazing animals away and allow the vegetation to recover. A final touch was to cut some small sections out of the top netting to allow trapped birds to escape.
The project was set to run for two days, but with an enthusiastic push from volunteers Malcolm, Claire, two Christines, David, Peter, Jenni and Martin, and spurred on by the presence of B.B.C Radio Cumbria, it was finished in a day.
This was a perfect example of how the Lengthsmen have evolved into a unit which can be relied upon to carry out small projects and produce excellent results, we would hope to provide more opportunities for this type of project in the near future and they have the gratitude of myself and my team.
By Paul Delaney