INTERACTIVE school visits and a dedicated education centre have helped Lafarge’s Dry Rigg Quarry earn a top honour in a major wildlife competition.
The site, near Settle, North Yorkshire, picked up the Community Award for the Dry Quarry class (less than 5ha of water) in the British Trust for Ornithology EDF Energy Business Bird Challenge 2010.
Run on a biennial basis, the challenge seeks to recognise the best business sites for birds, conservation and people in the UK.
Awards are given to areas where birds thrive and initiatives are undertaken to protect, enhance and promote biodiversity.
For the second consecutive challenge Dry Rigg, operated by Lafarge Aggregates & Concrete UK, was applauded with the judges saying the site ‘excelled’ in community work.
Activities which particularly caught the judges’ attention were the refurbishment of old quarry buildings to create an Education Centre and the link-up with nearby Settle Middle School to help design floating Tern nesting platforms.
The quarry narrowly missed out on the Conservation Award – the honour won in the last challenge for its work in encouraging lapwing breeding habitat.
Kate Aldridge, Challenge Organiser said:
“Many industrial sites in this country are havens for birds and the BTO – EDF Energy Business Bird Challenge is a wonderful opportunity for the British Trust for Ornithology to showcase what industry is doing to enhance biodiversity.
“Lafarge’s Dry Rigg Quarry did some fantastic work enthusing visiting students about the wildlife that is encouraged on site. The final total for educational visits was 447 –truly impressive for a small working quarry.
“We offer our congratulations to all those involved in the site’s management, they are making a major contribution to conservation in the UK and thoroughly deserve this award.”
Mick Lambert, Quarry Manager at Dry Rigg said:
“It’s fantastic news for everyone connected with the quarry that we’ve won this award. It’s the culmination of several years work really, as we’ve had steadily increasing amounts of visitors from all over the country and now we have the redeveloped education centre hopefully this year we’ll see even more.”
Assistant Quarry Manager Mik Cardus added:
“Working with local schools is especially satisfying. The students seem to really enjoy learning how a modern quarry operates while being sensitive to local wildlife. It also gives the students first hand experience of an important local industry and all the opportunities it offers.
“We take our role in promoting biodiversity extremely seriously and the Bird Challenge helps us focus on our actions and take stock of the results.
“Everyone on site keeps an eye out for any unusual birds and I’ll go and check them out. We had Hen Harrier and Long Eared Owl as first records this time and once again a pair of Ravens raised a family on the quarry face.”
