Gritty quarry soil is home turf for heather bees

Hill End, Weardale Turf starved of nutrients creates a doll’s house lawn, a tapestry of fescues and eyebrightFrom the fell where we stood, knee-deep in purple heather, the old limestone quarry in the valley seemed just another scar on the landscape, a great bite of mineral wealth torn from the hillside leaving a bare cliff face, rushy pools and broken rock. It was only when we got close, really close, that it revealed another legacy, one that lasts for just a few weeks in late summer. Cont