Willow Spiling Continued

Today was the third day of the willow spiling course here at Foxglove. After the first two days we had all of the stakes knocked in and approximately half of the weaving done.

We again started the day in the classroom getting an understanding of the theory behind riverbank restoration using willow spiling. We then headed out and started where we left off yesterday.

We spent the morning finishing off the weaving of the withies to create the new bank.

In the afternoon we put a layer of hessian behind the willow wall. This will help prevent the material that we use to backfill the bank washing away should the river flood before the willow has had a chance to set root and hold in the bank.

We then used stone and soil from the bank behind the spiling to fill in the gap between the willow and the old line of the bank to create a new stable solid bank.

Everyone has worked really hard over the last three days of the willow spiling course and created something that with a bit of luck will stabilise the bank along Risedale Beck for many years to come.

We would like to thank everyone who has helped complete this project not only have you done a fantastic job but you made it an extremely enjoyable few days!