Vital scrub clearance was made possible at Clints Quarry Nature Reserve last week when Tanzanian visitors and their hosts from the Cumbria-Rungwe Community Link (CRC Link) spent the day on the reserve. The nine Tanzanians and 21 Cumbrians helped reserves officer Pete Jones cut down brambles, remove tree saplings and clear litter from the former quarry, near Egremont.

The former quarry is a haven for limestone-loving wild flowers and grasses and regular work is carried out to stop the encroachment of brambles and other scrub that would spell the end of grassland plants. This management is beneficial to the wide variety of orchids, like the common spotted orchid, northern marsh orchid and the pyramidal orchid, which prosper on the site.

Pete Jones said, ‘It was fantastic to see such a diverse young group coming to Clints Quarry to contribute some excellent practical work. The scrub clearance helps immensely to open up some of the previously wooded areas so that the rare limestone grassland which is such an important part of the nature reserve can flourish and the balance between wood and grassland is maintained.’

Students from the CRC Link have written a blog about their day at the reserve where they commented; ’We learned lots of interesting facts about the land while cutting down the brambles…Ragwort…is poisonous to livestock and…how the rabbits disappearance affected the land.’ Read more on the blog at http://crcl2011.blogspot.com/2011/07/conservation-at-clints-quarry-summer.html