Page 84 - The Light Dragoon 2024

The Regimental Journal of The Light Dragoons
Please Sir can I have another sandbag Getting bogged in
Global Charge Dinner / Dam Build
Ateam of sixty soldiers from the Light Dragoons joined up with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) to reinvigorate the peat bog ecosystem at Haweswater, as part of an extensive landscape restoration effort. This collabo- rative project, on Thursday 19 October, marked the second year of the British Army’s green initiative, Green Rhino, demonstrating their commitment to supporting local environmental projects. In an area of peat bog in the Riggindale Valley, a team of Royal Engineers attached, the Regiment recce’d the site before strate- gically moving several huge boulders, and hundreds of kilos of equipment up to the site, so that water will be captured and held in place to re-wet this landscape for a thriving habitat to develop.
Haweswater, nestled in the Eastern Lake District, was selected as the site of this partnership due to its long-term conser-
vation work. It is the base for ground- breaking landscape recovery work, which is the result of the pioneering partnership between landowner United Utilities and the RSPB, working together since 2011, to enhance this beautiful landscape for the future, to benefit wildlife, water, and people. The troops from A, B, and C Sqn were working at Sale Pot, situated in the Riggindale Valley adjacent to Haweswater Reservoir. Extensive peat bog drainage has historically occurred in upland areas, primarily for agricultural purposes. However, this practice has inadvert- ently impacted water quality, increased downstream flooding, and disrupted the bog’s capacity to support diverse plant and animal life.
The climb to the site was about two hours long as you wound yourself around the reservoir and into the valley. The ground underfoot was soaking, and you did very
well to keep dry feet – no one did. One thousand sandbags were carried up along with six foot pickets and rolls of matting. Not what was advertised perhaps but amidst the rain and wind all personnel made their way up – save a few who had had a rather large evening off the back of Bismarck Challenge success the night before. Major Mackey thought this would be an excellent opportunity to stick a hungover Lt Ferguson and LCpl Robinson in front of an ITV news camera. Delegate, delegate, and delegate some more.
Now light cavalry soldiers are used to digging holes, it is one of the few areas that we are SMEs at. To test ourselves, the peaty holes would fill with water as you filled sandbag after sandbag. The engineering crew controlling the building of the barrier (not a dam for conservational sensitivity reasons,) and the slow rise of the water provided a good indication that it was
Success
82