Can Humber Wild women - and their woodland - survive the upheavals at Lindsey Oil Refinery?

 

Humber Wild women and (male) judges at the award ceremony on Saturday

AN uncertain future beckons for a women-managed woodland that sits alongside the troubled Lindsey Oil Refinery in North Killingholme.

For the past two years, the woodland has been developed and nurtured by an organisation called Humber Wild whose female volunteers have done stupendous work, planting hundreds of broadleaved trees and installing nestboxes not just for songbirds but also for Tawny Owls.

They diligently register all the notable wildlife that occurs on site and fire off their data to the Lincolnshire Environmental Records Centre. 

They also run a range of craft courses not just for themselves and other women but also for children of all ages.

So admirable have been their efforts that they reached last weekend's  final of the 2025 Lincolnshire Environmental Awards held at Whisby near Lincoln, narrowly being pipped for the top prize by the group,  Sutton-on-Sea Beach Care.

However, the Humber Wild operations are under a shadow because the future of land occupied by Lindsey Oil Refinery - including the woodland -  is up in the air after its owners, the Prax Group went into administraion.

The women are hopeful that they can continue and are eagerly awaiting clarification.

* In another development, it emerged today that 125 staff - a third of the workforce - at the refinery were to be made redundant.