Quarries help wildlife out of a hole
Britain’s quarries could become safe havens for its rarest wildlife thanks to work by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. To help make sure that habitats created are the best and most suitable for the area, the RSPB is developing a unique online guide to quarry restoration.
The web site, which is due to go online early next year, will be powered by a huge database of information about every mineral site in England, compiled at the RSPB’s headquarters in Sandy, Bedfordshire.
Mineral firms and planners will be able to zoom in on individual sites and find out which habitats they are most suited to becoming. They will also be able to get advice on how to create that habitat, get an idea of the costs involved and read about similar successful projects elsewhere.
The RSPB hopes that by using the web site firms can turn their quarries into homes for some of the nation’s scarcest landscapes and creatures.
Nigel Symes, the RSPB’s land management advisor, said: ‘Quarries and mineral workings are a fact of life and the RSPB accepts there is a need for aggregates. What we want to see is the best possible return for wildlife when these sites reach the end of their useful lives. ?
‘The problem has been that, for many years, there was often an assumption sites would only go back to farmland without exploring other options. But times are changing and this is one of the catalysts for that change.
‘We are delighted we’ve had positive responses from planning authorities, which reflects a much more imaginative approach to restoring quarry sites. I get a sense they are really quite excited about this.’
Alice Davies, the project officer who has spent the last 18 months putting together the new web site, said: ‘These sites have the potential to be fantastic habitats for wildlife and for people to use and we are working with the industry to do that. All kinds of habitats could be created from wetlands to heathland.’
Mark Avery, the RSPB’s director of conservation, added: ‘Old quarries can be great places for wildlife providing they are restored in the right ways. This is a great opportunity for our generation to create wildlife-rich areas, which will help compensate for earlier losses of wildlife. This is positive nature conservation in action.’
The RSPB’s work has been funded by government through the Mineral Industry Research Organisation (MIRO). A spokesman for MIRO said: ‘The ability to understand what type of vegetation is best suited to the site environmental conditions, along with information on costs, techniques and examples, will be a useful tool for extraction companies and restoration practitioners.’
The web site, which is due to go online early next year, will be powered by a huge database of information about every mineral site in England, compiled at the RSPB’s headquarters in Sandy, Bedfordshire.
Mineral firms and planners will be able to zoom in on individual sites and find out which habitats they are most suited to becoming. They will also be able to get advice on how to create that habitat, get an idea of the costs involved and read about similar successful projects elsewhere.
The RSPB hopes that by using the web site firms can turn their quarries into homes for some of the nation’s scarcest landscapes and creatures.
Nigel Symes, the RSPB’s land management advisor, said: ‘Quarries and mineral workings are a fact of life and the RSPB accepts there is a need for aggregates. What we want to see is the best possible return for wildlife when these sites reach the end of their useful lives. ?
‘The problem has been that, for many years, there was often an assumption sites would only go back to farmland without exploring other options. But times are changing and this is one of the catalysts for that change.
‘We are delighted we’ve had positive responses from planning authorities, which reflects a much more imaginative approach to restoring quarry sites. I get a sense they are really quite excited about this.’
Alice Davies, the project officer who has spent the last 18 months putting together the new web site, said: ‘These sites have the potential to be fantastic habitats for wildlife and for people to use and we are working with the industry to do that. All kinds of habitats could be created from wetlands to heathland.’
Mark Avery, the RSPB’s director of conservation, added: ‘Old quarries can be great places for wildlife providing they are restored in the right ways. This is a great opportunity for our generation to create wildlife-rich areas, which will help compensate for earlier losses of wildlife. This is positive nature conservation in action.’
The RSPB’s work has been funded by government through the Mineral Industry Research Organisation (MIRO). A spokesman for MIRO said: ‘The ability to understand what type of vegetation is best suited to the site environmental conditions, along with information on costs, techniques and examples, will be a useful tool for extraction companies and restoration practitioners.’
