Last summer the Team at Leyburn began looking at ways they could improve the Quarry; one of the areas they were looking at was traffic management.

Brett Burrows, Quarry Manager, takes up the story: “One of our Loading Shovel Drivers, Ed Dale, took ownership of the area around the entrance into the Quarry basin.  He has put up bunds around an area where water collects to create a pond; built a sand martin sanctuary to encourage them to dig their burrows here instead of in our stockpiles; put in a couple of small islands and some top soil to help vegetation grow and provided cover for ducks/other birds.

He has also built a small bird shelter out of some waste pallets and put it on to one of the islands. Alongside this, there are also some standing stones and the beginnings of a reed bed – all in the name of traffic management, biodiversity, and sustainability!”

It’s amazing what can be done in any area of a site with a little thought and time.