With around 65,000 visitors a year tramping along our footpaths, it's important that we keep them in tip-top condition.  

So when a team of volunteers, part of Yorkshire Water's community programme, 'Hands Up', offered to help out on the reserve, we knew exactly how to their put them to good use.  

Clearing an overgrown cliff top footpath is hard graft - even harder when there's a wind strong enough to knock you off your feet blowing in from the sea.

So the group, mostly from Icom Field Ops based in Bradford, were in for a tough time. 

But despite being more used to dealing with brain-boiling computer problems rather than back-breaking digging, they approached the challenge with gusto.

Armed with spades, picks and shovels they spent the day scraping weeds, digging out grass, and shovelling soil before hauling the resulting rubble in wheel barrows across the reserve and using it to fill in a trench.

Team leader, Geoff Dyson, felt opportunites like this brought the team closer together as well as giving important help to a good cause.

Kathryn Wilkinson summed up another reason for doing her bit:  'It would be lovely to come back in summer and say, 'I did that'.'

Assistant Warden Dave Aitken had only praise for his temporary assistants:  "Geoff and his team were fantastic. We were lucky to get such an enthusiastic and hard working  bunch, who didn’t mind a breezy and less than mild day on the cliffs."


  

Hard at work on path clearing duties.

Putting the rubble to good use.

  

Team YW: Back row: Josh Woffenden, Darren Metcalfe, Geoff Dyson, Chris Amys. 

Front row: Steve Whitaker, Bethany Shaw, Kathryn Wilkinson, Helen Chambers, Tina Chambers.