Gulley blocking on Kinder: Sunday 26th Aug '12

Seven of us joined with 3 of the High Peak Rangers to travel to the top of Kinder Scout for our work-task of 'gulley blocking'. We 'off-roaded' part of the way in the Rangers Landrovers before completing the journey on foot with a 40 minute walk and climb. By the time we got to where we were working, we were ready for elevenses!!
After our drink, we went to see some of the 'dams' that have already been put in place to try to prevent the peat being washed off Kinder and into the local reservoirs, where it costs the water authorities large amounts of money each year to clean the water so it is suitable for drinking.

Once a dam is in place, most of the water in that small area is stopped from running off Kinder and, instead, the peat silts up behind the dam, eventually making ideal conditions for cotton grass to be planted. As the roots of the cotton grass spread, they help stabilise the peat so it's not as easily eroded away and heather can then be grown as well.
Dams can be made from many different materials: planks, tree trunks, plastic piles or rocks, all of which have been used on Kinder. We were using rocks which had been helicoptered in place in one-ton helibags so we could unload them to build our dams.
Although it rained on us for a short time in the afternoon, we managed to empty many helibags between us and were pleased with what we had achieved :-)