Da Voar Redd Up 2017

From the Shetland Amenity Trust website

“Da Voar Redd Up is the UK’s most successful community litter pick, with over 20% of Shetland’s population volunteering their time annually. This annual spring clean makes an invaluable contribution to Shetland’s natural environment and wildlife, clearing Shetland’s beaches, coastlines and roadsides of litter and the debris washed up by winter storms.”

Voar = Spring (Shetland dialect)
Redd Up = to clean up (old Norse/Middle English dialect)

So OH, Daisy, me and Haakon, complete with kishies to carry the bags and went to redd up the roadside we ride along almost daily.

We also went far into the hill for our litter.

I was on horse duty as picking up litter is a back-killer.

Haakon was a very good boy.  He carried full bags and he didn’t mind them flapping behind him or lurching unevenly on his sides.  He is used to our mad schemes and I had a pocketful of munchy-crunchies which he was happy to relieve me of.

 

Haakon was a bit surprised by the noise of this iron grill when OH pulled it down the road but he didn’t run off.

Some of the time, I would let him go while I disappeared into a ditch after rubbish.

His reward was all the roadside thistles he could eat.

There was some litter we left – silage bale wrap in barbed wire is impossible.

Why are folk so revolting?

Haakon took an interest in everything we picked up.

He had the occasional nose-kissey as well.

Everyone worked very hard.

OH even pulled a dead sheep out of the drain.  It would be polluting the water downstream.  The birds will finish it.

Once we had filled a good few bags (8, I think) and left them on the side of the road for collection, we went home.

Rewards for all.

 

12 thoughts on “Da Voar Redd Up 2017

  1. Michelle

    “Over 20% of Shetland’s population” – that’s impressive! Love your work crew, especially Haakon and his wicker baskets. I would have come to help for a piece of that cake!

    Reply
  2. Katie

    So this was a great post. The other most fascinating part is that here in the Pittsburgh area they use the term Redd Up as well! When I first moved here I had to ask what it meant 🙂

    Yeah for cleaning up our Earth.

    Reply
  3. Terri

    I would have carried the bags for a piece of that beautiful cake! Kudos to all who care about the environment! Haakon is a wonderful horse, in all ways. Nosey-xxs to him.

    Reply
  4. Darby

    what a great thing to do, and I love that the animals and people are working together to make your environment a better place, well done!

    Reply
  5. Linda

    Good job everyone! (Poor sheep, but he will be dinner for several animals/bird families…)
    And what a BEAUTIFUL CAKE!

    Reply
  6. Judith

    The BBC series “Shetland” just became available in the States. I love this series especially after reading your blog all these past years. I never understood one shot in the opening and now I get it! “…silage bale wrap in barbed wire”

    I keep expecting to see the minions too. But alas not yet. I’ve only seen three episodes so there is hope.

    Reply
  7. Nancy

    I would have helped for that piece of cake as well!!

    Over here, we sometimes do clean up days by the ocean/beach.
    As a diver, I sometimes just grab pieces of garbage if I see it in the ocean and take it with me when I leave to dispose of properly.

    We need to take care of our Earth! =)

    Reply
  8. diane in northern wisconsin, US

    Good job to all of you for a fantastic Spring clean up! Thank goodness there are people willing to help out so much! Even your sweet horse was a big help! and what a lovely delicious treat at the end of all your work! Thanks for the great blog!

    Reply
  9. Sam

    Please give us the cake receipe? We have a Clean Up Day here in Conn. My sister and I usually get the marsh near our house to clean up. But we don’t have a helper like you do.

    Reply
  10. The Green Dogs

    What a great idea – I love that everyone gets stuck in.

    (And thank you for the lesson. When we’re going to feed sheep in the shed for last time in a day we say we’re doing the “redding up”. I didn’t know its origin, or that that was how it was spelt. I am now educated!)

    Reply

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