Nature reserve roots out 'forest pig' volunteers

These Oxford Sandy and Black piglets are rooting out the undergrowth at Tophill Low

A nature reserve which has brought in pigs, goats and cattle to clear overgrown vegetation and increase biodiversity is now seeking volunteers to help look after the animals.

The helpers are needed to check on the animals that have been loaned to Tophill Low near Driffield in East Yorkshire as they are too far away for the farmer to make daily welfare checks.

Yorkshire Water, which owns the reserve, is training volunteers to check the animals are safe and well with access to clean water and food.

Since the project began large areas of woodland floor and wet meadow have been cleared allowing new species to thrive as well as providing additional habitat for ground-nesting birds.

Gill Reid is a volunteer grazier

Volunteer Gill Reid monitors the animals to ensure they are not lost or lame and have adequate shelter.

Ms Reid, who helps out one day a week on top of her normal conservation work at the reserve, said: "I can see that they're nice and healthy. They're attacking that vegetation.

"Seeing them wandering around like that is brilliant. We know they're going to have a happy life here. I don't want them to go really because they're such nice little things."

Belted Galloway cattle graze in the wet meadow

Assistant reserve warden Amy Watsham said goats and cattle combined to graze the Hempholme wet hay meadow.

"It's completely changed the habitat and people would much rather watch the beautiful animals doing it than us with our powered equipment so it's a win-win for us," she added.

She said that before the animals were introduced you could not see across the meadow through the overgrown plants, but now there was room for ground-nesting birds to raise their young.

"The biodiversity has improved as well. We've got beautiful wild flowers coming up through it, a heron out there enjoying all the hard work that the Belted Galloways have been doing and it's just a really nice environment."

Assistant reserve warden Amy Watsham said the animals had made a huge impact on the environment

Farmer Jasmine Pattison, who supplies the pigs and goats to the reserve, said the benefits of grazing her Oxford Sandy and Black pigs were obvious.

"They are known for conservation grazing - their nickname is actually forest pig," she said.

Jasmine Pattison from J&J Farms began breeding pigs specifically for Tophill Low

"We know that they live a happy life and then obviously we get the end product... all the nice pork, it's all free range, delicious."

Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer at the reserve to watch over the animals or get involved in other conservation projects is being invited to contact the team at Tophill Low.

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