Drains, and Heathland restoration at Alderley Edge 18 Aug 2013

I enjoyed a muddy day at Alderley Edge - thanks to Tim for leading on the day and for bulk of this report. I had two cameras with me - both with flat batteries! 


Six of us met up in the car park at Alderley Edge and were led to a site where work had been recently done by the Chester volunteers.   Our task, working with a local volunteer, was to clear and extend an open land drain stretching some three hundred feet from a series of drainage ponds to the main road. The drain its self was a ditch some two feet across and three and a half feet in depth. The Chester group had cleared about two thirds of the trench, and by the end of the day we had cleared the rest and managed to excavate a further twenty feet running parallel to the road. During the morning two volunteers investigated drainage pipes discharging into one of the ponds from the direction of the car park. The first was 32 m long and appears to take surface water from the car park - the second 10 m and was redundant.

In the afternoon the majority of the volunteers went across the road to a site where the lowland heath is being restored.  Globally lowland heath is a very rare habitat found mainly in Britain and Scandinavia. We started to remove the bramble an small birch saplings, a task that the group will be returning to soon. 

Although the main task was extremely muddy most people kept reasonably clean and I for one was very satisfied with the work we did. 

One of the ponds that the water drains into looked a bit peculiar to me with very steep sides, and as mining was prolific in the area I suspected it may have been connected to that enterprise. Fortunately I have a friend who is part of a group who are exploring and excavating the mine systems on the Edge. He thinks this pit could be a caped shaft leading to a part of the system that is troubled by flooding and is going to explore the possibility further with the hope of rectifying the situation and adding the knowledge to the charts mapping the mine workings of the area.