Network Rail Employs Flock Of Sheep To Save Wild Orchids

Network Rail Employs Flock Of Sheep To Save Wild Orchids

Until now Network Rail has had to pay staff or rely on volunteers to keep the brambles and hawthorn scrub, which poses a threat to the rare orchids, in check.
Regular and careful maintenance is required because rare flowers and native grasses would otherwise be crowded out of their natural habitat.

But it has discovered that the job can be done just as well by the Wiltshire Horn, a breed of sheep with short fleece that naturally moults in the spring.

This makes the animals less likely to get tangled up in the scrub and bushes.

While they do eat the scrub, apparently the sheep do not touch the rare flowers.

They are also not members of the RMT rail union, and therefore unlikely to take industrial action.

The sheep and shepherd – described by Network Rail its High Output Ovine Vegetation System (HOOVES) – have been provided by Huntingdonshire District Council.

But at a time when it is coming under pressure to cut costs where it can, the four-legged intervention has been warmly welcomed by Network Rail chiefs.

“Britain’s railway network provides a 20,000 mile green corridor spanning the length and breadth of the country, home to some of our rarest species and a major source of biodiversity,” stated Steve Featherstone, the company’s maintenance director

The partnership we’ve put in place with the Council means we can continue to improve standards at Great Stukeley while driving down costs – which is good news for nature lovers and taxpayers alike.”