Reflecting on Bradford's archaeology and distinctiveness

Part of last weekend's visit to Buck Wood involved an examination of the local archaeology.  In 2006 the Friends of Buck Wood commissioned an archaeological survey and produced a leaflet describing their findings which included remains of an iron age settlement.

 
The cover art is by a local and very talented artist, Joolz Denby.  I thought she might be interested in contributing to a local distinctiveness project I'm involved in (here) and in that spirit she sent me an image she'd taken of Bradford's City Hall.

Image of Bradford City Hall by Joolz Denby

Joolz has some very positive views on what makes Bradford such a distinctive place and one worth celebrating.  She airs them very eloquently below and, through her work, contributes to local distinctiveness herself.



Thanks Joolz.

Buck Wood geology

A quiet weekend, this last one. However, on Saturday I enjoyed a walk round local woods with The Friends of Buck Wood and in the expert company of Alison, a former geologist with Bradford Museums Service.

Buck Wood (in the bend of the River Aire, in the northern part of the map) lies on the Soft Bed Coal, Flags  and associated shales, seat-earths and other rocks of the  Lower Coal Measures and the Rough Rocks of the Millstone Grit Series.  These were laid down in the tropical forests and river deltas of the Upper Carboniferous period about 300 million years ago.

Alison showed us, among other things, fossils.  The one below is of Sigillaria, a tree-sized club-moss. The pimply holes are scars left by rootlets growing from a main root. The fossil is in a rock known as Ganister, a tough, fine-grained seat-earth (found immediately below coal seams) formed from quartz sand.

Lucky dip

It's unusual that we get a school group visiting the reserve at this time of year.  Primary schools seem to hibernate once the nights start drawing in.  However, today we had a very able group of 5 year olds pond dipping and "being a bird" at RSPB Fairburn Ings. We were fortunate to have very warm and sunny weather. Perhaps that had a bearing on our being judged "outstanding" by the accompanying staff!

Excited by such an accolade, some of our reserve residents felt the need to cool off.

See more, recent images from the reserve here.

Navigation course

I met up yesterday with Jen Suilven and clients, Charles and Pauline, to assist on a navigation course for Lupine Adventure Co-Op at Ambleside.

It was useful for me to get experience working with adult, commercial clients rather than the school groups I'm more used to.  Jen is a very experienced and well qualified instructor and it was helpful to see how she used the area around Loughrigg to best effect. We also had a good deal of fun!

Starting to stack up

Among a number of appointments today I met John Hendy of Creative International Adventures at Shaw Lodge Mills, Halifax.

Chimney stack at Shaw Lodge Mills

Over the last year or so he and his team have renovated the previously derelict boiler house of the huge and architecturally impressive mill complex.  Inside, climbing, caving, circus skills, archery and other activities can be practiced by local young people.  The building also provides a base for expeditions locally and further afield.

John has big plans which will benefit young people in the Calderdale area.  I hope I can be part of them.

Wood watching

Aside from Toy Story 3, mountainbiking in the Yorkshire Dales and a couple of birthday celebrations, I spent some of the weekend in my local woods at Northcliffe, sitting quietly, watching and enjoying the September sun.

I saw a nuthatch placing acorns in fissures in branches, pecking at them to get at the kernel, trying out a few variations to see what worked best. I watched speckled wood butterflies dancing through dappled patches of sunlight and basking in the late summer warmth. A common carder bee foraged on the ground, investigating dark places under leaves; looking for a hole to overwinter? Flies buzzed and the leaves sussurated in the breeze. There was a faint fungal whiff of earthy, woody decay on the air. As the sun went behind ocassional clouds a chill descended. In less than two weeks will be the autumn equinox and the summer will be gone. There's certainly a sense of the season turning.

A Muscid fly rests on an oak leaf.

Means business?

I actually prefer the term, "contact card". "Business card" is so Gordon Gekko!

These are from Moo and are made of recycled paper and environmentally friendly inks.

The images are from my Flickr photostream. Aside from it being a handy and, I hope, attractive way of passing on my contact details, it's like walking round with my holidays in my pocket!

Not working, networking

Today I attended a meeting of Bradford Environment Forum.

Representatives of Bradford Friends of the Earth, Bradford Environmental Education Service and Bradford Community Environment Project, along with a senior officer from the council were all in attendance.

The level of discussion around sustainability issues was really encouraging and it's clear that Bradford faces some significant challenges. It was heartening to hear them being met with such creativity, enthusiasm and intelligence.

I may also have snagged some work.

Later we adjourned to the New Beehive Inn for "Green Drinks" where the discussion was rather more exuberant.

Grass Wood search practice

Last night's Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association practice took place at Grass Wood near Grassington.

Aside from being a great place to practice searches, with its complex network of paths, crags and rocks and dense vegetation, it's a fantastically beautiful place too. Even in the dark.

It starts here

Over the last few years I've been shifting the balance of my work to include more environmental and outdoor teaching.

I've had a good deal of success with work (some voluntary, some paid) with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Bradford Council Adventure Activities Development Unit and recently with Lupine Adventure Co-op.

This year I've decided to step up a gear by negotiating a further day away from my main employer.

The aim to increase my work in the outdoors even further starts here.

From tiny acorns...