A cracker of a connection

Yesterday I went caving with friends from Bradford Pothole Club in order to make an historic connection. The BPC digging team have been exploring a pothole called Pay Sank near Gaping Gill on the flanks of Ingleborough in the Yorkshire Dales.

The hole had been pushed to a point where there appeared to be a connection between Pay Sank and Christmas Pot via a section of cave called Grange Rigg.

Our job (Roger, Malcolm "The Face of British Caving" and me) was to descend Christmas Pot while colleagues descended Pay Sank and make the first ever connection between them.

After descending the filthy, frozen and stone-littered entrance, Christmas Pot turned into an attractive shaft followed by awkward progress through a boulder-choked rift before arriving at a small chamber. A pitch followed by twisting, decorated streamway and further short pitches lead to "the Drainpipe". The connection with Grange Rigg and Pay Sank.

A formation in Christmas Pot

The Drainpipe exists below an area of fractured and unstable rock which shows signs of recent movement and is exactly as it sounds. Arriving first on the scene I descended into the boulder choke toward the Drainpipe and mindful of the possibility of even more recent movement, retreated to await the arrival of my colleagues. Roger found the area too tight and Malcolm began prospecting another area of the choke. On finding a likely spot Malcolm invited me to descend, which I did, to find myself twenty feet down, in very constricted space, under many tons of patently unstable rock. Apprehensive about the situation, again, I retreated with care.

Malcolm then had a look at the Drainpipe himself and removing his harness, descended into the choke. It was then that a voice from "the other side" - Dave - mentioned that he could see Malcolm's boots. Thus encouraged and intoxicated with "connection fever", Malcolm bravely inched through the constriction to make the first ever connection - Christmas Pot to Pay Sank via Grange Rigg. Well done Malcolm and the diggers of the BPC!

Photo courtesy of the Black Rose Caving Club/Duncan Jones.

Raptor rapture

I managed to get a couple of hours cycling in this morning before visiting my BTO patch to record the habitat, as was last weekend's intention.

On arriving I saw a flock of around 15 Golden plover feeding in the wet fields and trained my bins on them as I've not really seen these lovely waders before. After a while they flew a short distance away and I returned to the business of deciding what the predominant habitat was. Just then there was a "poff" sound like someone dropping a cushion to the floor and pandemonium among the plovers. A female Sparrowhawk had arrived as if from nowhere and had a firm grip on a shrieking plover on the ground. It seemed that the clever raptor had capitalised on the plovers' wariness of my approach and seized its opportunity while the flock was distracted. She glared back at me with a beady yellow eye. A fantastic thing to have had the privelege to see.

The sparrowhawk took its kill to a nearby clump of reeds and had gone by the time my route took me past the spot.

Later in the day I was able to watch a stoat hunting rabbits and I also had the pleasure of meeting this beast.

Plan C

Plan A - Get some miles in on the mountainbike in preparation for this summer's Mountain Mayhem and Trans Wales enduro events. CANCELLED DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER.

Plan B - Visit my patch and record the habitat for the BTO's Breeding Bird Survey in preparation for my survey visits in spring. CANCELLED DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER.

Plan C - Sit in the hide at my local reserve, watching the swirling snow and see what turns up.

I converted this shot of Snipe to black and white due to the terrible purple fringing and graininess of the image taken at 48x magnification. It almost looks atmospheric!

Taking one step forward

I began training as a volunteer outdoor instructor at Space to Grow today. A provider of outdoor activities based at Otley Chevin in West Yorkshire. I had a really good time meeting the other members of the team, playing games and climbing at Almscliffe Crag. Saw a Red Kite from the Harewood House Reintroduction Programme too. Photo below courtesy of www.otleyinternet.co.uk.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how this arrangement develops. I'm keen to do more outdoor work with youngsters, perhaps moving in the direction of outdoor activities and environmental education. We'll see what pans out.

Out of the blue

I got a phone call last night from a friend inviting me to join them on a walk from Haweswater in the Lake District. I was glad they did because it looked like this.


I kept my eyes open because there's a Golden Eagle on territory in the area. I was happy to see a pair of Ravens and listen to their "pronk" calling, when this turned up.

The Penrith Mountain Rescue Team were practicing in the area. An activity which seemed to consist of waiting in the sunshine for their turn to have a ride in the helicopter. Nice work if you can get it!

We arrived back at the car footsore but extremely happy and set off back down the valley when I spotted a large raptor high above the road. Its size was difficult to make out against the open sky but I got the impression of a generally dark brown bird with pale wing patches as it made its way directly across the lake to the far side, alternating three or four powerful, "elastic"wingbeats with short glides, the wings held in a shallow V. I was still thinking "maybe buzzard" when it came closer to the horizon giving the impression of a much bigger bird. It continued to soar in the area of Laythwaite Crags before disappearing behind the horizon after perhaps 5 minutes. We had our Golden Eagle!

Snow happy

I was looking forward to taking a mountainbike leader assessment this weekend but it was cancelled because the snow made the venue inaccessible. So I took my bins and camera for a walk round the local woods.

Everyone was cheerful, saying how beautiful the trees were in the snow. Which they were.

I'm always pleased if I see Nuthatch, Treecreeper and Great Spotted Woodpecker at Northcliffe. I did, so it was hard to stay disappointed. I also had a single Lesser Redpoll which I've not seen here before. It's an amber list species so that makes it quite special.

Later in the day I tied to visit my BTO BBS patch (see Patchwork guilt below) but this was cut off too. However, BOG's watchpoint at Thornton Moor Reservoir and the reserve at Stockbridge were both accessible so I spent some time there enjoying the sunshine and snow.

Regaining my cool

By visiting my fridge.

Inspired by Katie Fuller's images at Bogbumper I took these shots which are an indictment of both the condition of my fridge and my photography skills.

The soft light is that cast by my living room gas fire on to the white sheet of paper used as a background.

Patchwork guilt

I've taken one more step toward deep unfashionability (it only really needed a small one) and decided to "work a patch" in the British Trust for Ornithology's Breeding Bird Survey. The idea is to monitor birds which breed in the area and report to BTO so they can keep track of population changes in Britain's increasingly beleaguered birdlife and lobby more effectively for conservation. Doing my bit, see!

It's here, on the moors above Halifax:

If you see me there in wellies and combat jacket with binoculars, 'scope and note pad, remember. I was hip too once!