Author: mendipgeoarch

3rd May 2018: with Jonathon, Alex, Tav, Brockers, Mike and Ray Deasy.

Another fine assemblage of willing diggers gathered, destined for the Sand Dig.

Alex digging, aided by Brockers, I was loading the skip, Ray on the slope, leaving Tav, Jonathon and Mike to manage spoil dispersal.

To say it was a jovial evening with plenty of banter uttered would be an understatement, Ray was prompted to suggest that the dig be named “Windrush”, very topical too!

However, at the end of the session, a significant quantity of spoil, had again, been removed from the dig, more good progress achieved.

1st May 2018: with Jake, Tav, Jonathon, Duncan and Mike.

A bigger turn-out than expected for this digging session.

At the Sand Dig, Mike digging, Tav shifting the filled buckets back up to Jonathon, who was loading the skip and, in between time, dismantling some of the old spoil heaps at the top of the dig. I was on the slope, helping to haul the skip, Jake and Duncan, sharing the hauling and spoil dispersal tasks.

We need plenty of room at the top to slope down, allowing the digging to go deeper, hence, the moving of some of the old spoil heaps. The rocks will be useful for building walls later.

By the end of the session, a large quantity of spoil had been removed but, there’s plenty more to shift.

26th April 2018: Brockers, Nick, Jake, Jonathon, Roz, Duncan, Mike and Alex.

A big team assembled this evening, keen to get the Sand Dig re-started, it might have been bigger had others been able to attend. Roz and I had arrived a little late, the rest of the team were ready, so off they went with the skip and ropes, Brockers had brought along some ropes as well.

At the dig, Jake, Nick and Brockers were digging and emptying the filled buckets into the skip. Hauling was carried-out by Jonathon and Mike; the rest of the team were assigned the task of spoil dispersal. Water was poured down the slope, an effort to ease the passage of the skip, it worked for a while, on the down-side, it also had the effect of muddying the rope making it difficult to grip. One of the spare ropes was knotted-up and replaced the slippery rope, making the haul a bit easier.

At the end of the session, a lot of spoil had been shifted. The sediment comprises mostly silty, fine to medium grained sand with the occasional cobble of limestone. There’s plenty more of it to shift too!

19th April 2018: with Nick, Duncan, Brockers, Jonathon, Mike, Claire Cohen and Ray Deasy.

A good team assembled for this evening’s foray. As there were plenty of people to carry-on with the dig down the rift, I decided to go along and check the current state of the Sand Dig, Nick came along too. We’ve had a spell of drier weather recently, and surface temperatures are rising. It had been noticeable on the trip through Chamber 20 that water flows had decreased, it was not a surprise to find that the Sand Dig was now, dry. There had been quite a slump of sediment into the end of the dig, as we were there, Nick and I started to clear-out some of the rocks. A skip and hauling rope will need to be organised ready for the digging activities to resume next week.

It was soon time to re-join the rest of the team, they had continued clearing the spoil from the fissure leading-off the rift. When they had emptied the last few bags and climbed the slope, we exited the cave.

12th April: with Tav, Jonathon, Brockers and Duncan.

Five go digging! I couldn’t make the trip last week, but others did and had cleared some of the bang debris, the flake had been successfully fragmented. This evening, we continued to clear the accumulation of spoil from the slowly expanding alcove/rift. The digging is the easy bit, the removal of spoil along the rift is awkward and quite technical, five people is the minimum number required to make digging effective. The spoil mostly comprises gravel and cobbles of conglomerate and limestone with the occasional boulder, these were soon reduced to a more manageable size with the small sledge-hammer. At the end of the session, I could stand-up in the rift and turn-around. There remains, plenty of spoil for another digging session, maybe we will be able to make a better assessment of the prospects then.

Some drier, warm weather is forecast, we might consider going to have a look at the sand dig soon.

This echinoid was recovered from the spoil heap of a prehistoric ditch being excavated in Sherborne, Dorset recently.

Micraster has a characteristic heart-shaped test, covered in small bosses and usually found in strata of Cretaceous age. Interestingly, the underlying geology at the Sherborne site is Jurassic, this poses a question: does the ‘heart of stone’ represent a placed deposit? Unfortunately, it was found ‘out of context’ so one cannot be certain.

21st March: with Roz.

A trip to apply some IRS. As usual, a pleasant trip though Chamber 20, a fine section of Mendip cave passage. There is still a good trickle of water in places.

At the dig face, 4no. awkward holes, 500mm x 12mm, drilled and filled, a loud retort and all was well.

Passing the Hunter’s Lodge Inn, it would be churlish not to stop!

15th March 2018: with Duncan, Jonathon, Max Fisher, Tav, Mike M and Leonie (MCG). Alex came too!

While us headed-off to the digs, Alex did his own thing, mooching around 20, etc. I went with Leonie to look at the ‘Sand Dig’, the others slid down the rift to go digging.

At the Sand Dig, water levels were higher than the last visit, a consequence of recent heavy rain. It could be a while before it dries enough for digging.

We left the Sand Dig and joined the rest of the team to help with the digging. At the end of the session, the dumped spoil had been removed from the alcove and the narrow rift beyond could be seen. Progress forward will require the application of some induced rapid speleogenesis (IRS). That will have to wait until next week after I return from the Peak District.

It was a fine evening’s activity!

While out on a regular early morning (c.05:25am) walk with the dog I made the following observation. After I leave home, I pass close to some residential properties, where there is constant artificial lighting, here early morning birdsong is well underway. When I reach the lane and walk-up the hill, there is only natural light, the birdsong has not yet begun. I return along the same route, 20 minutes or so later, the birdsong is just getting underway in the naturally illuminated lane.

An example of how light pollution affects the birds natural daily cyclic rhythm.

8th March 2018: with Jake, Jonathon, Dunc and Mike.

It was good to get underground again after a two week lay-off, due to snow and other things.

We continued with clearing-out the alcove and narrow rift beyond. I thought I sensed some air movement now the gaps between the fill are opening-up. The drips through Chamber 20 were active, water flowing down the cascades strongly. It was an enjoyable evening.

Should remember to bring the camera.

3rd March: with Roz, and Buster.

Not digging in Hallowe’en Rift today so decided to walk to the Hunter’s Lodge Inn. Also an opportunity to see how much snow was on the hill-top. Up to Smitham Chimney, the pond had frozen over.

Into the woods,

before crossing fields towards Wigmore Farm, stopping to admire some fine ice formations in a sink.

Some impressive drifts too. We continued the walk towards Red Quar, from there over Stockhill to the pub for lunch and chin-wagging.

After lunch, along the road to SMCC and across the Mineries, the pond was frozen over, but not hard enough to try and venture out.

Back …through Stockhill to Red Quar, the recently ploughed field has good evidence of aeolian sediment transportation having occurred, the plough ridges were wind dried.

Followed the bridle-path into the green lane before going across fields to Smitham, down to Garrow Bottom and through Harptree Combe.

A good day’s walk, about 7 hours. Trudging through the deeper snow was arduous at times, especially for the Jack Russell with his little legs.

22nd February 2018: with Jake, Jonathon, Brockers, Dunc and Mike M.

Mike M and myself dropped further down the route to Sump 23.75 to have a quick look at another potential lead, where a feint air current could be felt. This will be left on the back-burner for the while. We returned, up the climbs, to re-join the rest of the team clearing the alcove. Beyond the alcove is a narrow ‘draughting’ rift, it is this we are trying to regain access to.