Our abandoned ‘Quarry’carries the scars of our industrial past, but steadily the land is being reclaimed by nature
Years Reclaiming Nature
Custodial Duty
As custodians of an area with a breathtaking mix of history, industry, geology, wildlife and flora, I am keen to record the land’s journey, development and biodiversity growth, photographing as a log, as a memory in time.
The land is now beginning to talk back to us, reaching beyond its post-industrial activity to its former life and previous nature.
A record.
The early years…
A 20-acre site
Mans Hand
The old spoil heaps and quarry valley floors have vegetated, and a colourful range of habitats has developed. As more plants colonise this man-made landscape, a complex mosaic of wetland, grassland and woodland scrub has slowly regenerated on the 20-acre site.
Wetland
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Grassland
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Woodland
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…and now
Restoration Ecology
An Emerging Science
Restoration ecology is an emerging science, a trend that has grown astoundingly in the past three decades. Something that we have been actively working towards over the last 15 years by bringing degraded, damaged ecosystems back to life and simply giving nature space to recover. We have taken nothing off the site, acknowledged the soil’s sustainable use, and engaged all its natural resources.
Over the last 15 years, we have helped regenerate the land, exposing freshwater springs to enhance the large wetland valleys and link existing rock-faced ponds to a series of new unlined ponds.
20+
years
Regenerating the Land
The Future
Temperate Rainforest
We’ve planted native deciduous forests, watching them grow and slowly become drenched in velvet mosses to provide a lush, green feel all year round to support an abundance of life. Branches and trunks are heavily caked in moss that resembles miniature lost worlds when encountered close up and magnified. A young temperate rainforest in the making through ambient moisture and low cloud. A precious habitat. Remote, tiny, young, fragile and unmapped.
Protecting, regenerating and nurturing nature, preserving ecosystems woven into mythology and lost, now slowly developing and restoring.