Building in the Brecks

By Paul Waterhouse,  Assistant Field Officer Breckland

Fixing fences and hanging gates are fairly common tasks for most wardens, however last year the Brecks reserve team have created some slightly more challenging constructions.

Firstly, a new hay barn had to be built at NWT East WrethamHeath to store valuable winter feed for NWT’s Flying Flock. The barn itself was kindly designed by NWT volunteer William Mason. The main structure of the barn was built using recycled telegraph pole that the Trust had been donated. It will hold several hundred bails of hay and greatly reduce the Flock’s mileage across the county collecting hay as well as saving them precious time. 

We have also finished building a cattle corral at Cranberry Rough for the resident highland cattle there. It is a fairly complicated design with a number of gates closing after each other allowing you to move the cattle around the system while the handler remains safely behind a gate. The corral is essential for carrying out general husbandry of the cattle such as worming and health checks.