Over the past few months I have been working with the landowner at Craigton Farm on Natural Flood Management measures and issues on the land. Craigton Farm has a public footpath that passes through the land, which has two pairs of field gates and pedestrian wicket gates. The pedestrian wicket gates are dilapidated and not self-closing, which has led to instances in the past where the landowners horse/s escaped, including an incident with a horse on the A9!
Craigton Farm is situated between the villages of Ashfield and Kinbuck and therefore the path is an important access route connecting the two villages. The path is also a designated priority path for reparation work and is on the core path plan for Stirling Council. Therefore an opportunity presented itself to form a collaboration amongst the NFM Allan Water Project; Stirling Council that could provide gate materials; The Conservation Volunteers that can provide expertise and a site foreman, and local volunteers from Ashfield community.
The date was set for the work to be carried out on the 28th of September (last Saturday), and thankfully we were greeted by a gorgeous blue sky day by the Allan Water on site. The work involved removing and replacing a pedestrian wicket gate with a new bridle gate in one location. At the other location we were to remove both the field and pedestrian gate and re-establish the old field gate 50m down the path with an accompanying new bridle gate. The bridle gates increase horse user friendliness and they are self-closing in both directions making them stock proof and ideal for this site.
The team on the day included The Conservation Volunteer’s Stirling Volunteer Development Officer Ali Lawson as Site Foreman and local volunteers Paul, George and Lynn, and me and my supervisor Charles Perfect of the Centre for Riverine EcoSystem Science.
Here are some pictures, from the day’s work!
Before; Ali beside the old pedestrian gate
Before; the site where the removal of the field and pedestrian gate took place
Paul and I digging out the tray/hole for the new bridle gate that is 50m from the old site in the photograph above.
Volunteers securing and cementing the new bridle gate at the other location on the path
Team effort mixing the post-crete cement
Me making the teas!
After; the site where the old pedestrian gate was replaced by a new bridle gate
The team and the after photo at the site where the old field gate was moved 50m and re-installed with a new bridle gate adjoining it
Everyone worked extremely hard throughout the day, despite a lot of fun and laughter being had in the process of completing the work. I met some lovely people from the Allan Water catchment; the landowners land is now more stock proof; the council have improved the condition of one of their core paths, and the local communities have improved access between the two villages. Therefore the day and work was a great success that benefited many! I would also like to thank the volunteers for their hard work, and Graham Burns and Ali Lawson of TCV, Richard Barron of Stirling Council and Paul Davison of Ashfield for making the day a possibility.