20/5/25

Estelle Sandford, Jon Riley, Mike Moxon, Ed Ford, Matilda Doel, Hollie London

1.5hrs

Estelle & Hollie dug first and filled the first round of 34 buckets. Digging is easy and quite dry mud, which is easy to empty. On the left is going in 2 directions, up left looks like an aven possibly again, right hand digging is easy and dry and still going forwards and also down a bit too. After the spoil from the first round of buckets was emptied into the old left hand dig hole and a load of rocks removed, plus a bit of crazy paving in the puddle, 19 buckets went back down and Ed and Matilda filled those and they were brought out and emptied before heading to the Waldy. 

13/5/25

from Mike Moxon

Ed and Mike arrived 6pm to find the rheas in the garden (they were still there an hour later when James and Jon turned up). We took 24 buckets down, filling 18 from the front and 6 with puddle slop, and had got them back along the further 2 hauls by the time others joined us. The wet ones went onto the spoil heap, but most of the mud was dumped down side passage. J&J then dug the full 34 loads, plus about 6 lots of rock - latter left either end of first haul (depending on size) and buckets all dumped down side passage - followed by some vigorous scraping! Out by 9pm for a quick stop in the waldegrave with Estelle and Stu as they closed up around us.

6/5/25

 Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley and Matilda Doel

1.5hrs

Was expecting Duncan and Fran to join us later, but they didn't make it. Filled all 34 buckets 0 Mike and Matilda at the front digging, whilst Estelle shuffled them up the chamber and Jon shuffled them further up the cave. Once all filled, we moved everything out of the cave. Some of the spoil filled the last couple of bags that had space from previous weeks, some was dumped down the hole in the floor and some in the usual spoil dumping spaces. Headed to Waldy after. 

22/4/25

Report from Mike Moxon

Jon, James, Ed and Mike - 32 buckets dug out from end in pretty short order (3 filled with rocks and couple more larger ones left to side), whilst 2 others filled with slop from puddle, were then ferried back to spoilheap and most of last week's bags filled, rest dumped. Broken tools were also brought out and one of small shovels plus crowbar taken in. Off to hunters before 9pm.

15/4/25

Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Matilda Doel, Stu Lindsay

1.5hrs

Estelle, Matilda and Mike filled all 34 buckets. Estelle and Matilda at the front, there is easily space for 2 at the dig face! On the left, there is what looks like a large boulder that currently feels solid but needs to keep an eye on. Mike continued to clear slop from the winter flooding. All buckets were transported through the cave and emptied at the surface, mostly into bags which Stu can do alone. Hunters tonight as Waldy closed early.  

1/4/25

 report from Mike Moxon

Mike had a live herald moth in his suit at start, he headed in and dug the slump from aven on right (he and Matilda also climbed up - it's now mostly solid roof with a few, sort of, mud formations). She moved all 34 buckets back to the first haul, whilst James dug the way forward. Fortunately Fran arrived in time for the second haul, so we could get tubs out to Stu at the entrance. 7 bags had 2 loads put in them & need topping up next week, rest was dumped quite easily, with minimal scraping required. Dead duck was removed from below entrance. Met Estelle and Duncan in waldegrave.

25/3/25

Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Matilda Doel, Stu Lindsay, Fran Campbell, Ed Ford

1.5hrs

No sign of any water level at the end, but the layer of flood slurry, plus the slump is going to need a fair bit of work to clear. Estelle & Matilda filled all available buckets, think it's 34, with a mixture of slurry from the end chamber and slump from the aven and these were transported out of the cave and emptied into bags and spoil heap. Waldy afterwards. 

Winter consolidated update

15/12/24 still flooded to top haul

Weather over the winter months has been fairly consistently wet, so no visits were undertaken as it was assumed the dig would still be flooded. 

11/3/25 Report from Mike

Me, Matilda, Stuart, Callum bisley, Ed and Kat found it was still flooded just above the conveyor belt. We removed 17 buckets of slumping / sludge from along the passageway, 1 big frog and a toad. Left 12 or 13 buckets on shelf down near the water. Callum had a look around the other bit of the cave. Then went to join James, Estelle and holly at the waldegrave (photos Kat and Mike)

20/3/25 Mike visited the dig - just a pool over the drainage hole and slump from aven on right, so is now diggable. 

Hopefully this means digging can resume on a regular basis if the weather remains dryer. 

19/11/24 flooded again

Report from Mike
End was flooded just over Welly height, so James, Jon, Matilda and I moved about 15 loads of rock back to entrance.

12/11/24 flooding subsided enough to dig again!

 Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Kat Rosier, Ed Ford, Fran Campbell

1.5hrs

No real rainfall for several weeks, so guessed we'd be ok to dig. Took all the buckets down to the end and Estelle, Mike and Ed took to clearing the slurry and collapses that the flooding had caused. There was a pool by the forward dig, the aven had slumped quite a few buckets worth and plenty of slurry all over plus Kat filled a few further up passage too! After filling 35 buckets, moved them through the cave to empty in spoil heap and headed to the Hunters. 

28/10/24 Still too flooded to dig

 From Matilda

Water level has probably dropped about 3m

22/10/24

 From Mike

Serenaded by a pair of tawny owls, Mike, Jon and Matilda discovered the whole passage was flooded to just a couple of feet below the railway, as was left dig, so two hauls, 4 digging tools and one krab on short handline are underwater. Anything we could reach was moved up to spoil heap, a couple more bags filled to even out wall, then spare bags, tubs, ropes and the "railway carriage" were stacked in higher side passages, whilst 2 bags of sand, metal work, scrapers, buckets and anything not used recently were hauled up above ladder. Fran had arrived by then. I have one of Stu's krabs and a clip from bolt at end of railway

15/10/24

 from Mike

Jon went to end to check and it was diggable (left side still flooded), so Matilda filled all the buckets (except 2 with broken handles, although a third did go down and get filled - all taken to surface after). Digging was apparently fairly easy, then Ed passed them back to final haul, with Mike and Jon on either end, who also flattened out the conveyor belt and moved the middle sized rocks back to start of that haul. We then staged all buckets up to spoil heap and emptied them, leaving the tools and skip on shelf at start of final haul. It started to rain as we headed out just after 8.30, where we found Duncan and Fran (who had arrived late), but fortunately it didn't pour down until we left the waldegrave (everyone except Matilda)

8/10/24

 from Mike

Ed, kat, Jon, Matilda Doel and me. Flooded to 1 foot below conveyor belt, we moved a load more rocks back to entrance - mostly just larger ones left at end now. Tawny owl greeted us on departure (and insects taking cover) 

1/10/24

From Mike

Ed, Kat and Mike - End of dig half flooded, could just see tops of tools! Moved sensible sized rocks from end chamber to start of last haul, then 18 buckets of smaller rocks back to entrance. 

17/9/24

Report from Jon Riley

Jon called in on his way back from work as usual; Ed can clearly now be referred to as a regular; Mike is a regular at most digs. Hence, we can report that three regular diggers turned up at the appointed hour.

Being only a small team, an early decision was to take only a few buckets underground. A suggestion that we each take six buckets was instantly agreed. With hindsight we should have taken more underground.

Mike was appointed chief digger, supported by Ed. Jon was nursing an inflamed elbow, so took on hauling duties only.

Jon had missed a couple of digs; to him the air quality was noticeably improved.

The Team filled and removed their buckets with high efficiency. Consequently, they arrived at the local hostelry somewhat earlier than planned.

Perhaps more buckets next time?

10/9/24

report from Mike Moxon. 

Fran and Ed took it turns digging, Kat and Mike did first haul for 14 buckets then moving back to middle whilst others brought last 6 out. The puddle has flooded again by the conveyor belt. 

27/8/24

Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Fran Campbell, Stu Lindsay

1hr 15mins

 

Estelle and Mike started filling buckets, 12 were already in the cave empty and we took 6 more down so 18 were filled in total. The air was ok at the end and it felt like there was a slight draught coming up through the floor hole. Estelle filled the buckets from the left hand side under the big boulder and above the crack in the floor. Fran arrived and started hauling and we started moving everything up through the cave. The air wasn’t great when sat at the bottom of the middle haul, but the rest of the cave was ok. Stu hauled at the surface and part filled a few bags whilst waiting for help emptying on the surface. The mud was sticking quite a lot in the buckets, don’t know if it was worse due to the type of mud or that some buckets were left stashed in the cave. Waldy was closed so we went to the Hunters.

20/8/24

 report from Jon

Three regular Team members (Fran, Jon and Mike) were joined by two visitors, Joe Holloway and Krystal Thompson from Mendip Outdoor Pursuits. Joe had previously visited; Crystal was paying a first visit to the dig site. The visitors had a quick look at the upper cave and then, in traditional fashion, they were invited to dig.

Joe took the lead, initially supported by Jon. The air quality remains poor. Krystal sensibly took a cautious approach of starting at a hauling point, until she had acclimatised to the air. She then moved forward, sharing the lead duties with Joe.

Given the air quality, the Team limited themselves to a small number of buckets. Twenty bucket loads were removed from the front; six rather liquid loads were taken from the bottom haul point, where Fran hauled. In due course, the Team moved up to fresher air; Fran again did most of the hauling.

The good news is that the buckets remain easy to empty.

The Team eventually relocated to a local hostelry for light refreshments, delayed a little by an issue with the site gate. Fortunately, the landowner came to their rescue. The Team extends a word of thanks.

13/8/24

 report from Fran

Jon, James Ed, Fran and Stu were at the dig with James and Jon at the digface. Ed and Fran and Stu hauled with Stu working the railway at the top. It was hot and humid with spells of rain.  We emptied all the buckets into bags or onto the spoil heap then headed for the Waldy.

6/8/24

 Report from Mike Moxon

Duncan dug the end, whilst Jon and I checked the buckets left last time still emptied (they did, but then it hadn't rained). Adrian arrived to help shift stuff back & Duncan stopped at 26 due to air still being poor, before assisting with getting them back to the entrance where we filled bags for the wall. Finished about 8.30 to find stu had only just arrived, before heading to the waldegrave where James, Estelle and holly met us.

30/7/24

 Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley

1.5hrs

Trying different ideas with 3. Mike, Jon and Estelle took 22 skips into the end of the dig, Jon filled them all and whilst he was doing that, Mike and Estelle moved them through the first skip run, there is space there to store that number, we actively left 2 skips in the cave in that area to see how well they empty next time having been left full in cave. We then moved them to the chamber end of railway with one each end of the haul and one on steps, followed by moving them out of the cave and emptying them, including filling 2 bags, apart from one skip which we left by the railway to test how well it empties next time. This took just over an hour to do from start to finish and we arrived in the pub just after 8:30pm. We felt 20-25 would be the max 3 could do and make the pub for 8:30ish on non-darts nights. The air in the dig wasn’t great, but not unworkable.

We discussed in the pub after with Stu and James present, options around trying bags instead of the skips like they use at Halloween, Jon said he’d see about getting some of those – from experience of many digs/mud types, we will probably need to experiment with leaving them full for a week, then maybe 2 weeks, etc. to see how well they will empty. We also suggested that filling some brewery bags and loading them into the pool just before the last run, with a view to putting another conveyor belt over that would lose that puddle with rocks in and make it more comfortable to get across and a little more storage space too. There is also a lot of smaller rocks by the last skip run that could come out allowing more stacking space if required. Basically there is probably work that can be done with 3 as long as the individuals are up for triple handling and being in a variety of locations working. We just have to accept we can’t do things as fast and vigorous with just 3! 

16/7/24 report from Mike M

 Ed Ford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley, Stu Lindsay, Fran Campbell

2hrs

Ed and James were at the front, Jon and Mike moved skips back, whilst Stu did the middle haul, for all buckets present, then Stu moved up to top haul and rest of us kept moving them along. Fran arrived as we were emptying.

9/7/24

Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Ed & Kat Ford, Jon Riley, Fran Campbell

1.5hrs

Stu continued putting in some additional handlines and drilling holes for bolts for that ahead of helping with the hauling. Estelle and Ed headed to the dig and Estelle digging down in the forward bit and Ed clearing the last of the flood spoil from the aven area. Going down is giving rocks in the floor after a layer of spoil, all seem to be fairly loose. All buckets filled and then taken out and some bag filling was done before retiring to the Waldy

2/7/24

Report from Mike M

Mike Moxon, Ed Ford (MCG), Stu Lindsay, Fran Campbell, Duncan Butler, Jon Riley

2hours

Filled all 35ish buckets, Duncan clearing the front slump, then starting on digging forward, Mike loaded up about half of the aven slump, so it's now below the level of surrounding rocks. Ed Ford (MCG) and Fran started moving the tubs back whilst Jon brought in the two skip runs, after reattaching haul lines, then all 5 of us dragged everything back to the spoil heap, where we filled the low point in corner - buckets emptying easily. Whilst Stu did his with adding safety lines/drilling.

18/6/24

Report from Stu/Mike

18/6/24

James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley, Stu Lindsay, Fran Campbell

Some preparation work to aim to dig soon now the end has drained. Stu drilled a hole for a hanger for a safety line for the ladder, but the drill snapped off, so wasn’t able to complete the work. The rope supplied by Blitz is now in 2 pieces with one having 2/3rds of the necessary knots in, which Stu has taken home to complete.

Mike took a look at the right hand passage, looks much the same as previously but with extra slime from the floods, but a couple of rocks in the roof at the start have come out. He then dug a couple of rocks out from the collapse at the main end and there is about a dozen tubs worth of slump there and another half dozen below aven. Poured some water into end slot and it disappeared left out of view and gurgled away (probably more ahead direction), Finally removed both skips to daylight and filled a couple of buckets with mud from around the steps.

11/6/24 finally dry enough to dig!

Jon Riley went and took a look at the end and it's now completely dry at the dig, so good to go for next week planning to dig the end. 

28/5/24 water levels up!

Estelle Sandford, Stu Lindsay, Jon Riley, Fran Campbell

1hr

Estelle and Jon went to the end to look at the water levels and unsurprisingly really, with the recent heavy rains, the water levels had risen by around 0.5m since we looked a couple of weeks ago. More rain is forecast so we think it is unlikely to be diggable by next week and as such not planning to arrange anything. 

We had a clear up and also removed the blue pipe from the dig (relocated to by the other holes for now) and also the electric cable as we don't envisage using either again. Several bags of rubbish and dead skips removed and all the serviceable buckets now back where they should be. 

14/5/24 First visit after winter floods

Estelle Sandford, Jonathan Riley underground, Mike Moxon, Fran Campbell, James Begley and Stu Lindsay didn’t go underground. 

15mins

Estelle & Jon kitted up and headed down. There was polystyrene and plastic containers/tubs at the top of the steps indicating the water levels were higher than we’d originally thought from photos but think the peak was from Storm Henk in January from Kevin’s photos! Reasonable amount of cleanup work required on surface and in the spoil area as bags, buckets, etc. are everywhere! Headed down and while it’s a bit slimey from being under water for so long, there are little signs of any movement of mud or rocks from roof, etc. At the end, the conveyor belt was clear and above water, but the end of the dig is about 1-1.5m underwater still. Not quite diggable, but probably only a week or two if we get reasonably dry weather. Headed off to the Waldegrave after where Stu joined us. Discussed that it is worth a team going over next week to do some cleanup work and check levels with a hope we will be back in digging within the next couple of weeks. 

Edited to add the highest point of flooding from 24/2/24 from Kevin. 

5/1/24 after Storm Henk

 photos from Kevin - now about a metre higher than 2012! 

4/1/24 before Storm Henk

 photo from Kevin - another 3meters and it will be where it was in 2012...

31/12/23 Storm Gerrit

 Photo from Kevin

23/12/23 levels dropped a bit...

Estelle Sandford

15mins

Quick look in the entrance as far as i could go with just added wellies and gloves with a mobile phone. The water levels are at the 2nd step from the photos, a drop from earlier in the month. 

5/12/23 properly flooded

5/12/23 Mike Moxon popped in to check status of the dig after very heavy rains - photos and report below

Cutlers Green is flooded almost to the top of our spoil heap, which is over 10ft higher than it was last Tuesday (when it was about chest deep at the end - not that we tested it). It has been a bit higher (4 tubs & a bag were floating in the pool - I managed to recover 2) & the barrels etc were floating on lowest part, but hadn't been washed over (photos attached) 

 

28/11/23 flooded

 Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Duncan Butler, Stu Lindsay

15mins

Estelle, Mike and Duncan headed in ahead of the other two and very quickly discovered the dig was flooded to the level of the bottom step so quite a large backup. Nothing we could do, so headed to Waldegrave to console ourselves!

31/10/23

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Mike Moxon

2hrs

Jon digging the higher end of the dig and Mike focussing on the bottom area. More boulders and mud/clay being removed, back to quite a large digging face and no sign of being anywhere near a floor on the right hand side. 39 buckets, filled and due to only 4 of us, triple handled out of the cave to be emptied at the surface.  

17/10/23

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Mike Moxon

2hrs

James digging lower level by the hole and Estelle digging the top level, Mike and Jon also filling buckets from loose spoil further up to help prevent it washing in with the expected rains in the next week. James removed a couple of good sized rocks, Estelle was digging down and also removed some rock, Mike cleared by the hole and it's been exposed again by removing conveyor belt and rock that was covering it. Once all 39 buckets were filled up, we headed up moving them out, which is hard work with only 4 of us! Filled a few bags as well whilst emptying as the spoil is starting to go over our bag walls in places. Headed to Hunters as Waldy shut for maintenance.

10/10/23

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Duncan Butler, Greg Horveth, Fran Campbell

1.5hrs

Operation boulder removal - who needs caps, plug & feathers or bang, when you've a Duncan - he spent all evening beating up the boulder with hammer and chisel and reduced it to gravel and small enough rocks to handle. Beats going to the gym! Lots of mud on rocks and floor before it cleared by Estelle & Greg whilst Duncan broke the rock and 39 buckets filled in total before heading out. The end dig is now massive and easily will be diggable by 2 people at the front if we've enough numbers. Headed to Waldegrave for rewards.

26/9/23

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Stu Lindsay, Mike Moxon, Jim Hayward, Joe Holloway

2hrs

Jim digging the forward dig and Joe clearing the aven on the left. Estelle had brought over some conveyor belt for the pool chamber to replace the grids. With some bagging of spoil to help level it a bit more, this was laid and successfully used for hauling. Once that was done, the grids were moved up passage and during the course of the evening, taken out of the cave and to the top to dry out. The 39 skips were all filled and emptied outside and circa another 15ish or so were bagged as well. Headed to Waldegrave for refreshments.

19/9/23

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Chris Smart, Greg Horveth

1hr 45mins

James and Greg dug the end, with James working around the big boulder. Lots of red clay/gravel coming out of that dig, while Greg dug up in the aven which has the proper sticky mud, which sticks like glue to the buckets, particularly when they start out wet rather than dried out! The air was a Little thicker than sometimes, but not too bad, just aware that it wasn't as clear, but we did have similar last year at this time too. 39 buckets of spoil moved out of the cave in 2 stages, some of the spoil bagged, but the bags are holey now so need to get some more from Cheddar Ales soon. After scraping the buckets, we headed to the Hunters. 

12/9/23

Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Adrian Miles, Stu Lindsay

2hrs
Estelle brought along 10 new buckets (£3.94 each inc VAT from CRS) and we packed up the 29 already there and headed down to dig. Stu was making some measurements to make the climb up the bag wall safer as it's very slippery and we also measured the grids (18ft) for changing them to conveyor belt. On arrival at the dig, it was noted that the large boulder above the straight on dig in the roof, was now on the floor! Several of us had tried to bring this down before and assumed it was wall as it didn't come down with much beating, but clearly the clay had been doing a good job of keeping it glued in place until it started to dry out. It had brought down a lot of mud/clay as well, so it only took around 30mins between Adrian digging the right hand aven/dig into 4 buckets at a time and Estelle and Mike clearing the clay around the boulder. There is still quite a bit of clay left. 
Just as we finished filling buckets, Stu joined us. He initially hauled the grids and the rest of us did the other spots to get the buckets to the chamber by the railway. Then we all shuffled up to exit the buckets out and empty them. In hindsight taking down bags and adding more to the ex-pool chamber would have been more sense with the low numbers tonight as it was blooming hard work for all of us and the air wasn't great tonight either. Headed to Waldegrave for much needed refreshments after.

5/9/23

Estelle Sandford, Jon Riley, Mike Moxon, Duncan Butler

1.5hrs
James had injury to his head, so unable to wear a helmet, no-one else available so just the 4 of us. Duncan and Mike dug, forward and right respectively. Right probably has a couple more digging sessions to finish clearing, forward continues to go along and down. Only did the 1 round of 30 buckets before heading to the Waldegrave.

29/8/23

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Stu Lindsay, Fran Campbell, Dave Walker

2hrs
A welcome back to Dave to digging, he was impressed by how much further we'd progressed. He dug the side aven briefly before Stu got to the end and took over digging that one. Estelle dug forwards, concentrating on digging out the floor as there had been some tunnelling going on. The floor dropped by about 2 foot all in and boulders removed as well. Need to carry on clearing out all, but looks like it is dropping a bit there. 50 buckets were taken to the top in stages and emptied out. We're now down to 30 buckets with another handle failing tonight. Headed to Waldy after.

22/8/23

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jim Hayward, Jonathan Riley, Duncan Butler
2hrs

Jim and Mike digging, Jim going forwards and Mike digging off to the right. Right is looking more to be an aven, albeit still going up and probably still has a couple of sessions worth of digging out the spoil to reach a conclusion. Forward is still looking interesting and heading into more of a tube at the moment, although need to confirm the floor has been reached below. Is now a good body length past the hole in the floor now. First 31 buckets filled and transported up to the top railway and then all headed up to finish off the haul and empty them, then went back in for a second round of 31 and repeat. Finished just before 9pm and went to Waldy. 

15/8/23

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Adrian and Jack Miles, Duncan Butler, Stu Lindsay, Mike Moxon

2 hours

Jon and Duncan worked the end digs, Duncan on the forward one and Jon in the right side alcove/aven. 8 meant it was possible to get the spoil all the way out, but it was hard work as everyone had to cover more ground to do it. The mud was sticky so didn't empty easy either. First 31 buckets filled and then a further 24 were sent down in 6s until it was pub time. Right side looking more and more like just an aven now. Forwards is smaller than we're used to, but still plenty of compacted spoil coming out. Headed to Waldy. 

 

8/8/23

Estelle Sandford, Jonathan Riley, Adrian and Jack Miles

1.5hrs

Adrian and Jack were given the 2 dig sites and they set to filling the buckets, did one round of 32 and then took down another 12 as we were being so efficient and quick tonight! (One more bucket now died, so we're down to 31) Adrian dug the right hand one, bringing down more from the alcove, still a fair bit to go, not totally clear yet whether it is just an alcove or more. Jack dug forwards and continued on at the same level, very compacted spoil in that part. There was also some left over spoil at the start of the pool and by the hole in the floor from Mike last week. At the start of digging, Estelle put the conveyer belt back over the hole, the water was visible and probably only a foot or so down into the hole. Waldy after to meet James who was working late.  

1/8/23 unseasonably wet!

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Stu Lindsay

1.5hrs

Mike and Jon digging the end 2 digs, the water levels were up as it has rained so much recently and the pool chamber had the grill underwater again, plus some big pools at the dig end which needed draining to dig. The hole in the floor is still draining but quite slow, not sure if we've quietly blocked it with spoil or whether it is due to the extremely high water levels for time of year. 32 buckets filled and then moved out of the cave and emptied in stages. Mike also had a go at clearing the hole and also cleared some mud around what looked like it could be a boulder above the hauling spot for the grill, but confident now it's wall. 

Having emptied the buckets, we headed to the Waldy. 

25/7/23

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley

1.5hrs

Estelle digging at the end on the right, interesting going down, but unsure where this is leading, lots of spoil still to come out there and also above it as it will eventually fall on your head otherwise. Also the straight on bit looks like it may be closing off, but we still have the hole in the floor. Lots of rain since last digging, and the grill in the pool chamber was under water! May have to put a drainage hole in the dam somewhere... Did one round of skips (33) and then headed to Hunters. Hoping for more diggers next week.

11/7/23 report from James

A low turnout this evening, with Jon and Duncan meeting at 18:00 to start breaking up some rocks and James joining them at 19:15. Duncan had his drill and capping kit, but forgot to bring his molegrips, so decided not to use the caps but instead broke up the rocks using just a drill and some hefty blows with the hammer. All the loose rocks in the end chamber have been made smaller, and moved back into the 'pool' chamber. 12 skip loads of mud was also removed from the end. Plenty of space at the end to resuming digging operations again next week. All out and in the Waldy by 20:45.

4/7/23

 Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley, Duncan Butler

1.5hrs
rained a lot today, but didn't affect the dig. James and Duncan did the digging, Estelle did the moving up to the grill and Mike and Jon filled bags in the pool chamber until they ran out and then the rest of the skips went out. Estelle struggling tonight with a sore back. As we were earlier, the Waldegrave was still open.

27/6/23

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley and Stu Lindsay turned up for the later haul shift. 

2hrs
Estelle and Jon dug, Estelle right hand wall and Jon going forwards. Most of the spoil was bagged and then a load of buckets were taken out too. About 10 bags filled and a dozen or so skips taken out. Straight on has a flake that looks dodgy on the left, the right hand dig can dig down and bury the crow bar, so be interesting to see how it goes. some decent sized boulders removed. Hunters as Waldegrave closed early.

20/6/23

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley

2hrs

with only 4 of us, we decided to take some bags in and start to level off the pool chamber area. Overall target to level off at least where the grill is, so the grills can come out, probably put conveyor belt across it to make it easier to haul and also there isn't a need for the pool now we have the hole in the floor. 

James and Mike got on with digging. James at the dig above the hole in the floor, continuing forwards and unearthing another large boulder, whilst Mike worked at the right hand walk. That looks to be an aven and could be an alcove, but with a fair bit of spoil and rocks coming out of it, it doesn't look to be hitting a wall yet... Estelle passed the buckets up to where Jon was filling bags - around 9 or 10 bags filled and then filled the dozen buckets we were using and brought them out to scrape and dry for next week. Hunters tonight as Waldy closed early with no darts. 

Still need to take krabs, sort the skip and take a new hammer in. Also there are a good number of boulders now needing capping near the end. 

13/6/23

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley, Stu Lindsay, Fran Campbell

1hr 45mins

Estelle went in to dig, had moved on surprisingly since the last time i was at the front. The left hand side above the hole has progressed as far as a large boulder (or possibly wall) but still needs more clearance. I spent most of the session digging lower at the left and working on the right wall. Still easy digging and plenty of spoil to come out. Everyone had to be underground with only 6 of us and then once the 34 buckets were emptied, we all headed to surface to empty them, then headed to Waldy. We all still forgot the krabs, knife and skip. Also looking now at replacing the ropes, but we need to measure the distances for that. 

6/6/23

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley, Duncan Butler, Stu Lindsay, Chris Smart

2hrs
Another dry week, Jon went in and filled a couple of buckets and then Chris took over and filled the rest of the 34 before Jon took over again for the last 18, so 52 buckets in total. 1 really good sized rock came out of the wall, which has temporarily blocked the hole at the bottom, and also a medium sized friend. Rest was mud and small rocks spoil. A number of the larger rocks in the bottom chamber have been moved to the pool chamber now with a view to gradually levelling that off leaving only very large rocks that need capping/plug and feather. Also removed the 2 scaff bars to the surface as no longer needed next to the grill. Rest of the team worked hard moving the spoils to the surface and emptying them before we headed to the Waldy for bevvies.

Need to try and remember for next week - new lump hammer, 2 replacement crabs for middle skip and either a knife to cut the rope or tools to try and undo the stuck crab on the middle skip. If we can get a better middle skip ready that would be good as the one going in for now is quite a shallow one.

30/5/23 Dig dig dig!

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Adrian Miles. Duncan turned up towards the end but didn't dig tonight. 

2hrs

Mike went in to dig the end with Estelle supporting. He focussed on digging above the hole mostly (the conveyor belt covers it nicely) and was removing plenty of spoil and rocks. He worked into the top of the rift above the hole and the texture of the spoil is more 'sediment' and softer layer from water flowing rather than the harder tiered mud/clay layers we normally see. Whilst we waiting for Adrian to turn up, James cleared 8 buckets from the chamber at the end of the railway of the flood slumping and made more stacking space and emptied those buckets. Once Adrian arrived, he and James started shuttling the buckets up to that chamber. 34 buckets were filled up from the dig and sent out and emptied and then we sent Adrian down with 12 more as we still had some time left. 54 buckets filled and emptied in total. Good digging session, but hard work with only 4. Hopefully more people back available next week. Went to Hunters as Waldegrave closed early tonight. 

23/5/23 back digging again, no longer flooded!

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jon Riley

2hrs

Arrived to find many of the buckets still part full of slimy sludgy water from the flooding and stagnating and sadly 3 dead fledglings and a dead rabbit between them too. We emptied all the buckets and headed down to dig. The hole at the end is now around 18" of water below the 'neck' of the rift, so heading down nicely and Jon said the pool above was at the grill last week and that was a good foot lower too. Estelle had taken down a piece of conveyor belt a few weeks ago and now it had drained, that was put over the hole in the floor to stop us getting too much spoil down it whilst digging above it. James dug, he started off by clearing flood debris spoil and then dug forward to the right first and then headed more left as the evening went on. Couple of rocks came out and there is still a mix of rock and clays, quite hard in places, so not the fastest to dig out. He filled about 30 of the 35 or 36 (not sure) buckets - quite a few were very stinky from stagnated water, hopefully by next time they will smell better! Whilst he'd been digging, the rest of us filled a few buckets with flood debris spoil in the passaged to clear up a bit and Mike and Jon managed to get most of the buckets to the top of the steps and were hauling the railway by the time Estelle and James came up with the last 4. Emptied all the buckets and lay them out to dry. Hopefully we're back digging every week now for a good while, could do with more people as only 4 of us was very hard work! Headed for sustenance in the Waldegrave after. 

16/5/23 dry enough to dig now...!

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley

15mins

Jon was changed when we arrived, so he headed down to check the state of the end of the dig. He came back reporting that the left side where the hole is was about 18" of water, but straight on and right was now diggable. With only 3 of us, there was little we could do, so didn't get changed and we headed to Waldegrave. We did note that there was possibly a couple of rocks that had come down from the walls by the fence and left of the fence and a few looks precarious, need to take a long pokey stick and see if any do want to come down easily to make it safer. Hopefully back digging with a full team next week and then for foreseeable.

1/5/23 still flooded

Estelle Sandford, James Begley

15mins

only Estelle went underground with oversuit over clothes as suspected it would be flooded still. It was flooded to slightly lower than where it was on 21/3 but not by much and does not look like it will be diggable for a week or two still unless very dry weather, which with the forecast is unlikely. Aim to check again on 16/5. Noted that since the last time we visited, the buckets were scattered so that indicates that it has flooded above them recently. 

21/3/23 back underwater again - unseasonably wet weather!

Estelle Sandford, Jon Riley went underground, also Duncan Butler, Mike Moxon and James Begley turned up. 

30mins.

As the first two dressed for underground, Estelle & Jon went in to check water levels. It was backed up on the floor to the usual sit point for the middle drag run, so dig completely submerged at the moment. The rains recently have been heavy and ongoing forecast to be bad for the next week, so suspect we won't get back into the dig for at least another couple of weeks.

28/2/23 Back Digging

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Fran Campbell, Duncan Butler

1.5hrs

Estelle went in to dig and after clearing a bit of slump on the right of the hole in the floor, started working on going straight on ahead. Tried to avoid dropping mud into the hole, we need to cover it whilst digging, maybe bag of bags, or will cut a bit of conveyer belt to bring over. It is easy digging and since popping over Sunday, the dig water level has dropped by about another foot. As low numbers, had to all come up to complete emptying so we finished at 35 buckets and went to the Waldy. We need a longer pokey stick for a couple of loose looking rocks and try and remember some conveyer belt too.

26/2/23 Water levels dropping nicely

Estelle Sandford

15mins

put oversuit on top of clothes and went to check the state of the water levels. The pool with the grill had dropped to nearly dry and the hole in the floor had around a foot or so of water above it. All means good to go with digging Tuesday.