Restoration and aftercare at Hermitage Quarry

Gallagher complete 20-acre restoration of western section of their Kentish Ragstone site

GALLAGHER Aggregates have recently completed the restoration of the western area of Hermitage Quarry, near Barming, in Kent.

The two-year project has seen some 20 acres returned mostly to agricultural land together with traditional hedgerows and a coppice woodland of native hardwood species, which is already encouraging an abundance of wildlife including kestrels and deer.

As part of the restoration project, the company has also created a lagoon with a Kentish Ragstone rock feature and weeping willow tree at its centre. The lagoon is stocked with grass carp and is now home to a family of swans, as well as coots, moorhens and ducks.

To date, in their efforts to restore the landscape, Gallagher Aggregates have planted 500,000 trees, shrubs and plants, along with more than 10,000m of hedging and more than 50,000 standard mature trees and whips.

The company has also restored 87 acres to agricultural pasture and more than 20 acres to native woodland, with an additional 100 acres in progress, transformed 46 acres of meadowland for the sole purpose of habitat creation, and preserved and translocated more than 200,000 square metres of ancient woodland soil.

‘Our mission is to borrow the mineral and restore the landscape to a condition better than it was when we started,’ commented Pat Gallagher, executive chairman of Gallagher Group. ‘Our restoration programme not only brings with it environmental benefits, but during lockdown, hundreds of local people used our woodland walks for their permitted daily exercise.’