Hare Hill gardens 14 Aug 2011

Seven volunteers turned out to Hare Hill gardens near Alderley Edge for a task originally billed as clearing a pond. There was a small change of plan as it was thought that there might be newts breeding in the pond, so the task became "checking the land drains that feed the ponds". Though in the event we only managed to start on one.

We started with the small pond between the walled garden and the toilet, over the course of the day we located the first 60 odd feet of one of the land drains that feeds it. We dug down to the drain in about three places and found that it was in good condition - but difficult to access as it was under about 4 feet of garden soil which also contained a lot of bricks. This was real work - we've got use to similar land drains in the park that are only about 18 inches down and far easier to find!

We also proved by then end of the day that the bore of the drain was open for a distance of about 60 feet - initially there were a number of regions where mats of root were blocking it - but these were fished out on the end the drain rods with the aid of a "pig tail". We stopped about 3pm to clear up the tools and me - the other volunteers had managed to remain comparatively clean! As I was in the pond with the drain rods, and wellies I didn't take any photos.....

A small group had also visited some of the other ponds on site to investigate where the water feeds into and out of them, but they didn't find much - being wise enough to leave a wasps nest well alone......

A large tree will soon have to be felled near the drain we were investigating - but as they now know where the drain is - they should be able to carry out the work without damaging the drain.