Carlton Marsh

 The Origin of Carlton Marsh & Ringing (continued)

In 1977 BMBC started landfilling part of Pool Ings near Monckton Pit stack. By 1982, the refuse tip was beginning to attract wintering Icelandic, ‘White-winged Gulls. So, some of our younger birders started to watch the site. John Clarkson, Peter Senior and Jeff Cattle found Iceland and Glaucous Gulls feeding there. Keith and I, along with Richard and Robert Laverack, made many visits until the site was closed in 1992.

Meanwhile back at the reserve, one of our biggest challenges was the dispute over the disused Hull & Barnsley Railway and marshalling yard that was leased to BMBC as part of the nature reserve. The adjacent scrapyard owners claimed it was theirs. In their wisdom, in 1985 British Rail decided to sell it, including the old railway embankment we used as a footpath, to several Boulder Bridge scrapyard owners. An agreement was reached, with BMBC to allow the extraction of ash to go ahead with the proviso that the site be given over to the nature reserve after the work was completed. In 1990 two ponds were created and a wildflower mix was put on the land to create a wildflower meadow.

That said, the scrappers held on to the deeds and claimed it was still theirs. This argument with the scrappers rolled on until it came to a head in February 2013, when they blocked all entrances to the railway embankment with posts and barb wire and signs saying ‘Keep Out’. The police were brought in, but the scrappers objected saying they were biased against them. Our group members, at their own risk, removed the barb wire and carried on as usual.

Time moved on and in November 2018, after months of building a case with the BMBC solicitor, I went with her as a witness for BMBC, on the 5.30am train to Manchester where the case was heard in a court there. Unfortunately, the scrappers had a top London Barrister representing them, and he ran rings around the BMBC Barrister, by his own admission. However, nothing was decided that day, apparently that was only part one.

Nothing more happened until both parties got together and came to an out of court financial settlement in August 2019. Finally, after 33 years of constantly looking over our shoulders, in case we were whacked with a baseball bat, the dispute was over and the land given over to BMBC as part of the nature reserve. Phew! We have had no trouble since.