Environment
Eriskay youngsters
join with CnES landscape architect Robert Stubbington to plant wildplant seeds
to regenerate the area around the Ceann a Gharaidh ferry terminal. This is
part of the full-scale environmental regeneration project which has already
restored much of the Eriskay Causeway site to a natural appearance.
Picture courtesy of
Am Paipear.
Environment
Road "Greening"
The curves of the
road to Ceann a Gharaidh, the greening of the Haul Road where the road surface
was vanishing within weeks under a returning peat layer and a view down
to Ceann a Gharaidh.
Environment
Even
before the main construction work on the Causeway and the Ferry
Terminal at Ceann a Gharaidh was completed in mid-2001, work had
begun to make sure the new structures blended into the natural
environment.
It
was planned from the outset to make the areas of land used solely
during the excavation and quarrying phase dissolve back into their
original site as quickly as possible.
At
the start of the project major commitments were being made to
preserving the ecology of the area during and after the work on
the Causeway. These included:-
1)
The top layer of peat cleared off the land sites to be stored
carefully in order to preserve the natural seedbank.
2)
A three-spanned bridge section in the causeway to allow the passage
of whales, doplphins and other sea creatures.
3)
Otters to be provided with four culverts almost a metre across
to pass from one side of the causeway to the other.
4)
The Ludag quarry site to be restored to match surrounding landforms
and vegetation.
ByJune
and July 2001, work was underway to make sure that the quarry
slopes looked more natural and that the roadways to the quarry
and from the Glendale road to the causeway vanished under their
original peat.
Work
had already been done in the backdrop to the Ferry Terminal to
make sure that the quarry back wall looked like a natural cliff.
In the cutting where the road enters Eriskay the slope of the
cutting was deliberately broken up to look like a natural rocky
slope while the road down to Ceann a Gharaidh was made single
track with gentle curves to minimise its impact on the landscape.
Environment
Quarry Restoration
Environment
Haul Road - Environmental restoration
Now you see it, now
you don't - the haul road in full scale action near Ludag on July 20, 2000
and back under peat and ready to return to grazing land on July 11 2001.
Environment
Eriskay Cutting
The greening of the Eriskay
Cutting section of the road.
Environment
Otter Resting Place
An
otter specialist was called in at the start of the project to monitor a potential
otter resting place. If the otters had continued to use this, they would have
had to cross the new access road. The original one has now been filled in
under Scottish Executive licence and a new one built on the seaward side of
the road
Environment
The environmental renewal
programme around the Eriskay causeway is showing dramatic results as the reconstituted
landscape starts to blend in with its
surroundings. The two pictures above show the Glendale haul road junction
as it is today.
While a flashback to
July 2000 below shows it hard at work as a major traffic junction and core
access point for the constuction sites.
