FARMERS took along some colourful characters to lend their support to the anti-fracking protest at Kirby Misperton.

Farmers Against Fracking gathered at the gates of the site known as KM8 and brought home-made scarecrows bearing anti-fracking messages.

Matt Trevelyan, a local sheep farmer, said: “When we come to the gates to protest we are empowered.

“It means we haven’t given up the fight and retreated to our warm front rooms.

“It means we still believe we can win.”

Mr Trevelyan called upon the farming community and other land-owners to join the resistance by denying fracking companies access to their land, saying that KM8 was “just the tip of the iceberg” in terms of the scale of the threat of shale gas fracking in Yorkshire.

Mr Trevelyan then placed a scarecrow at the gates and suggested that all farmers against fracking erect anti-fracking scarecrows in their fields in protest against the industry.

Meanwhile, the protestors, who have been a constant presence at Kirby Misperton since Third Energy began delivering to the site last month, say that they are buoyed by the Scottish ban on fracking and by the acquittal last week of ten Greenpeace activists involved in an anti-fracking protest in Lancashire.

Slow walks have continued to take place on the road leading to the hydraulic fracturing site this week.

A group of about ten people walked in front of a lorry along Habton Road on Tuesday afternoon delaying it from 2.05pm until 2.25pm.

On Wednesday, two slow walks took place to delay the delivery vehicles by 20-minutes each.

Police liaison officers facilitated the peaceful protests.