Northern SSSI Cave Conservation Monitoring Scheme

Great Douk - A visitor guide to this well used cave is available to download from the 'Other Documents' section. A useful resource for cave leaders and anyone who thought there was nothing to see in Gt Douk. Waterproof copies of the guide printed on tyvek are available if you contact Andrew Hinde - through the 'contact us' section.

 Crescent Pot - Ian Walker and the team from DUSA have produced an inventory of the features of scientific interest in Crescent Pot. It is a fine piece of work ( hard won) and is worthy of study. It is located in the completed monitoring forms section. A photo record is next on the list of tasks for the adopters of this cave ,which could be the next big thing in cave exploration round these parts.

Little Pot- A stock proof fence has been constructed around Little Pot( adjacent to Large Pot- Marble Steps Area) by volunteers from Northern Boggarts and BPC. This will be planted with native trees this winter to increase the biodiversity of the site. Mr Handley will not have to worry about losing lambs down there in future. This mini woodland will be a mamorial to the late Al Watson who was a keen caver in the Dales. The project was supported with a generous cash donation from the Watson family .Oct 2011.see documents section for photos.

Crescent Pot - Stabilisation work has started on the entrance pitches. The rotting timbers are being replaced with stone retaining walls. Thanks to DUSA for taking on this technical job.Oct 2011.

 Shuttleworth Pot - a few photos  by Pete Monk of the treasures of this new sssi cave. see Documents section. A fine example of best practice in digging on a sssi. Also see Descent 218 for full article.

Red Moss Pot. See 'surface works documents' section for a photo record of the stock proof entrance construction.

Browgill Cave. New stile constrcted by volunteers - see 'Surface works documents' section

18/1/2010 - Upgraded this site to use the the latest version of Joomla and php 5.

Pie and Peas supper at the Dalesbridge Centre.  In March, project volunteers, and those who had been involved gathering the cave monitoring data got together for a social evening and splendid pie and peas supper at the Dalesbridge Centre, Austwick.  Displays of the project work were shown, together with displays of some of the valuable scientific (mainly biological) work that has been undertaken in local caves by Mr. David Hodgson, over many decades. There was also a short meeting beforehand to discuss the best way of collecting the cave monitoring data in the future.  Thanks to Jon Beavan of the Dalesbridge Centre  and his staff for providing such an excellent spread.

Interpretation Board for Alum Pot Lane. This has been funded by Natural England and should be appearing soon at the end of Alum Pot Lane, with the agreement of the landowner.  It has been designed by CNCC, Natural England and the Yorkshire Dales National Park and will also show some rescue call-out information which has been supplied by the Cave Rescue Organisation.  Its purpose will be to explain the importance of the Alum Pot and Long Churn Caves mainly to novice cavers, groups and members of the public and to raise awareness about cave conservation issues. Horton-in-Ribblesdale Parish Council have been informed, and they are also very positive about the presence of the new board. 

Bat detection equipment.  Natural England has recently bought 2 sets of bat detection equipment which can be borrowed by bona fide individuals or clubs. If you would like to borrow these, please call Andrew Hinde Tel 015242 42021 or contact the CNCC via its website.  However, at the time of writing both sets are already in use.

Various activities in the Yordas Cave and Wood area, Kingsdale. Volunteer cavers from Huddersfield University, Natural England volunteers from the Ingleborough National Nature Reserve  and members of the Bradford Pothole Club recently spent a day in January having a good old rubbish clear out in Yordas Cave and Wood.  Four bags of rubbish were collected, plus some old ironmongery, and some of the unsightly soot from old candle stubs was removed from the cave walls in Yordas Cave.  The stock-proofing fence around Yordas Pot was improved and the wall at the top of Yordas Wood was repaired (in part).  All in all a good day, and the weather was kind, so thanks to all concerned. The work was undertaken in agreement with the landowner, and Natural England purchased the materials.

New stiles for Lower Long Churn and Diccan areas. You may have noticed the appearance of some nice new stiles in these areas. With the agreement of the landowner, the Lower Long Churn stile has been replaced and moved to a better position on firmer ground, and the Diccan stile has also been replaced. The small hole in the ground near Lower Long Churn has been fenced off, as this is on the route to the new stile. The wall-end which overlooks the Lower Long Churn entrance has also been tidied up.  The work was done in Arctic conditions by voluntary effort by the Bradford Pothole Club and the Northern Boggarts, and Natural England supplied the materials, so thanks to all involved. The work was carried out in December and February.

Ireby Fell Cavern. A new raised and flagged footpath  from Masongill Lane has been constructed by cave conservation volunteers. This increasingly popular route was in a right state, but hard work and Natural England grant money have made a long term improvement which will benefit cavers and keep the landowner happy. See photos in the new photo galleries section. There have been some requests to extend the path, so watch this space for further developments.

Publicity. Thanks to Chris Howes and his staff at Descent for giving the project such good coverage in the last few issues of Descent. There have been some excellent articles on the restabilisation and reopening of Whitewell Pot, rubbish clearout of Gunnerfleet cave and an article about progress on cave monitoring.  The Northern Boggarts have also produced an excellent article for Speleology on the technical challenges of the Whitewell Pot work. Well done to all involved and to those who provided excellent pictures. 

Good coverage of various aspects of the project has also been provided recently  in the Yorkshire Post and in the Darlington and Stockton Times. For a while we even had a video clip on the Yorkshire Post website!  One of the "Northern Boggarts" is preparing a special set of photographic display boards to describe the Whitewell Pot work which was undertaken last year.

New project flyer. A new, very smart project flyer has been designed and produced in an A5 format.  If you would like copies to distribute to your caving club or other interested parties, please contact Andrew Hinde  Tel 015242 42021.

Surface Conservation Volunteers are currently "resting" after a hard spell of work over the winter. However new projects are planned. If you want to help out, please call Andrew Hinde Tel 015242 42021.

Ingleton Middle School assisted the project by visiting Ingleborough Show Cave in February to undertake some cave conservation monitoring. The students assessed the condition of features of scientific interest within the show cave. The results that they gathered were compared with those gathered by a different Year 8 group in the previous year.  It was interesting to note that the observations were very similar, and there was very good agreement between the two sets of feature scores and the students' comments. Thanks to the owner of Ingleborough Cave and our cave tour guide for facilitating the visit and for making our visit so fascinating.

05/01/2009 - Corrected (and optimised) Open Document and MS Word format versions of all monitoring forms for the Newby Moss,

3.12.08 - First monitoring report returned and added to Documents page.

20/11/2008 - Surface works grant application forms added to Documents page.