19/9/17

From Duncan

Tuesday night's digging was steady progress - approx 50 bags dug between 4 of us. Half were taken to the surface and half are stacked at the start of the aerial ropeway. The tube is still going straight ahead. Only minor glitch was Stu locked himself out of his van blocking the rest of us in. We managed to squeeze our cars past (tight and slippy). Dave took it on the chin and shuttled Stu home to get a spare set of keys while Miri, Jon and I retired to the Hunters.

11/9/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Stu Lindsay, Mike Waterworth, Dave Walker, Duncan Simey

2hrs 15mins

Despite arriving just after a downpour and the hole nearest the gate taking a stream, the dig itself was quite dry. Emptying the bags from last week was quite gloopy at the spoil heap though. Stu did a bit of maintenance on the wire, and apart from Stu not wanting to dig tonight, we took it in turns and did 10-15 skips each and are still steadily moving forwards with the floor still being like there are sort of boulders there and not following the trench anymore. Think we need to continue to follow the main passage forwards for now as it’s still heading onwards with similar dimensions although drying out and the digging is definitely harder. 

6/9/17

Blog from Duncan Simey

Just five of us last night - Jon, Dave, Stu, Miri and I.
Emptied last weeks bags and brought about 40 more to the surface. Reasonable progress considering the team size :)

The two rocks in the floor just past the hole still aren't fully uncovered yet. Discussion in the pub about whether they will need banging. They aren't particularly in the way at the, so only need to move them if want to see what is underneath. We think that will depend on what we find in the metre or so of passage on the other side of the rocks.

Digging is quite a bit slower than it was. There is enough stone in the clay that the mattock is getting less effective and the clay is drier/firmer than it used to be. Colour banding in the dig face is rather beautiful.

I was loading the aerial ropeway and noticed the rear roller has a flat spot so bad the rope is actually cutting through the central pin. Front roller is badly worn but not quite so bad. Stu is on the case.

28/8/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Duncan Simey, Miri Simey, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker

3.5hrs

Arrived to find Duncan had filled the place with canned smoke! Unfortunately there was very little draught tonight, despite the good signs last week, so can only assume we’ve blocked the floor hole or something else has changed below us – to stop the hole filling anymore, an empty bag was put in to block it anyway. Good session tonight though with the longer time, end is changing - no longer following the groove in the floor and changing shape and the angle of the sediment layers is more diagonal. Very little draught tonight, but with 3.5hrs digging session, quite good progress made.

22/8/17 a draught!

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Dave Walker, Jonathan Riley

2.5hrs

A bagging session tonight as only 5 of us. A large boulder was moved by Estelle and then removed by James and Mike and this exposed a hole in the floor that started draughting a lot – can lose the crow bar in it and it looks like it is surrounded by boulders rather than the floor now, but need to expose some more before we can work out what is going on. You could feel the draught up by the inner end of the aerial runway! 

15/8/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Dave Walker, Andrew McLeod

2.5hrs

6 of us can just about work it with the skips rather than resorting to bags, but it’s harder work having to take them further, but we each took it in turns to remove 15(ish) buckets from the dig. There is a large boulder we’re digging around in the floor and seems to be going down a bit as well there – suspect the boulder will need some additional persuasion of the Dr Nobel’s kind to reduce in order to get it out. Still a reasonable amount of digging around it to actually see how big it is though. Estelle removed the 2^nd of the catch boulders with hammer/bar below the aerial highway so the buckets are staying on better now too as the line has sagged a bit again. 

8/7/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Duncan Simey, Stu Lindsay, Dave Walker, Andrew McLeod

2.5hrs

Good digging session and we tightened the wire for the aerial runway too and also filled a bunch of the new brewery bags we’d got. All bar Stu had a dig tonight and still going down slowly although lost about a foot on height at the moment at the end. Floor channel still there and a bit of an alcove off to the left. Pulling out a few larger boulders now. The spoil heap outside is slowly rising! 

1/8/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Duncan Simey, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Stu Lindsay, Mike Waterworth, Luke Edwards, David Walker

2.5hrs

Really good productive digging session. Firstly moved from staging area to outside and emptied the 30 odd bags Kevin filled last week, then we set to digging using the skips this week as with 9, it gave us easy movement. Mike showed Luke around the site initially as he’d not been before and also with his geology knowledge would hopefully give us some ideas of what’s in the spoil. Stu dug first and as there was a lot of us, we did roughly 15-20 skip changeover for everyone. David went in second, then Mike W, then Luke, then Duncan. We were into 3 figures of skips, by the end, lost count though! The spoil heap is noticeably getting bigger and we’ve put another layer of bags around the base of the ladder. Needing to get some more brewery bags before next week’s session. 

25/7/17

Estelle Sandford, Jonathon Riley, Kevin Clinton, Joan Goddard, David Walker (WCC & Wells museum)

2.5hrs

Emptied the bags from last week and then got on with digging. Kevin stayed digging the face all evening and filled some 30-40 bags. David and Joan were collecting samples of the spoil to get it geologically investigated. 

18/7/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Liz Wire - Jon had car problems and didn't make it

2hrs

emptied the bags we filled last week and then Liz filled about a dozen which we brought to surface for emptying. Few baby toads to rescue too. 

11/7/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Miri Simey

2hrs

Not enough to do the full haul so a bag filling session – did 10 bags each and stacked ready for moving next week as ran out of time. Dig still looking good and heading nicely downhill following water worn passage. Toad rescue for 3 big toads that were in the spoil heap. 

27/6/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Duncan Simey, Miri Simey, Jonathan Riley, Stu Lindsay

2.5hrs

Last week Duncan, Mike and Jon filled a lot of bags from the dig and stashed them as only the 3 of them, so first job was to get them out. Duncan’s bags were massive and I think he may have learned he will lose friends (to a hernia if nothing else!) if he overfills bags again! They need to be smaller and more ‘rugby ball’ shaped rather than massive footballs to make it easier for emptying. Once emptied, digging and hauling out commenced. Estelle did all the digging tonight as we didn’t start digging until a bit later. We must be a good 10m down the slope at least now and there is a water worn channel in the floor and still getting mini-avens above. 2 large rocks removed from right hand shelf tonight as well. Usual quality of random coloured and textured spoil coming out. 

20/6/17

Duncan Simey, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley

from Mike - As we were short on numbers we filled 40 bags with mud & found another tiny aven before retiring to the Hunters'.

13/6/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Duncan Simey, Miri Simey, Jonathan Riley, Stu Lindsay

2.5hrs

Duncan, Miri and Mike rotated through digging all evening while Stu was fettling the aerial runway and James, Estelle and Jon were hauling and emptying buckets and Jon filled bags to go around the base of the ladder to protect it from getting buried! The aerial runway takes the need for 2 extra people out, so means we can get away with 5 now. 3 below and 2 surface hauling and emptying. The base of the wall is in place, so getting some filled bags in place as a path was the next mission as the mud is still very sticky. Repaired buckets with string for handles don’t work on the runway so we need to get some more as down to 4 useable ones. Hopefully back to more regular digging again now the engineering works have been done and we’ve set up for better spoil dumping – hopefully we might find cave with space to dump stuff before we run out of space…!

6/6/17

blog post written by Mike Moxon

Duncan & I arrived before Stu & Jon, so Duncan went to look for survey points in the top passage, whilst I went to check out the main dig - turned out some of the mud had collapsed at the end of the passage, so I levered out some more & found another small aven. Once Stu & Jon had arrived they started fixing the cable & I filled the buckets from the collapse before hand over handing them back to the spoil heap. Cable fixed at both ends & first bucket run back along it, but needs more work in removing rock that gets in the way (mainly on floor). Some more of the collapse still to remove as well.

30/5/17

Blog written by Duncan Simey

Relaxed evening at Cutlers Green.
Stuart fettled the ladder to make it easier to step on and off.
Jon and Mike built the wall
Miri and I improved the rock to clay ratio in the foundations at the right hand end of the wall.
Wall building finished with a team effort getting large boulders into the foundations at the right hand end of the wall.
Last job of the day was for Stuart to measure and plan for installing the Ariel Ropeway.

22/5/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Stu Lindsay

2hrs

Estelle and Jon descended the ladder whilst it was held securely at the top and set to work levelling the floor out to make a good base for it while Stu and James broke down the old ladder and moved the scaff bars back with the rest of the tower from the ladder and drilled the bolt holes to retain the ladder at the top properly. Once the ladder was properly sited at the bottom, the top was secured and then all continued moving rocks and mud around at the bottom to get ready to start building a wall of bags/rocks to retain the spoil in the rest of the shaft. Noted a rock in the underhang not looking too good, but unless it decides to move itself, best left until we’ve added more mud at the bottom for it to splat onto! Next week’s session will be creating aerial runway for hauling from the bottom of the dig to make that easier!

16/5/17 New Ladder!

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Stu Lindsay, Jonathan Riley

2.5hrs

New ladder! Stu had attached a bit of wood to the bottom of the section we retrieved from HLIS. He set to drilling the holes to join that to the longer section from WP. The rest of us moved the remains of the scaffold tower to by the greenhouse and then assisted Stu with bolting the sections together. Long section is in the middle and the shorter WP section at the top. It was very heavy, but we decided the best way to handle it was for Estelle to go down the bottom via the old ladder so as to help move that and guide at points where it was safe to do so! Estelle assisted lifting the bottom of the old ladder to the right to give space for the new one and the new one was lowered into place with ropes, while Estelle hid at the entrance to the dig in case any rocks came down. Once the ladder was on the floor, Estelle guided the bottom, but it was decided the old one needed to be removed to make it easier to relocate the new one into the best position. Old ladder removed, new one in position, needs some work to stabilise the bottom and build up some rocks around it as it’s above the location where the old one and there’s a hole where the old one was. The top has been temporarily tied off with ropes as bolts need to be put in place to secure it with chains, but ran out of light and time (and weather as it started to rain!) so retreated to the pub. 

3/5/17 - measuring pit and ladders

Estelle Sandford, James Begley

30mins

We have measured everything up properly now - from the ledge (allowing nothing above for safety!), the depth is 7.02m to the rocks on the floor the existing ladder is now resting on. The WP ladder is 2.37m + 3.79m = 6.15m (to the holes, so this will be the actual joined length). It's width is 27cm to the outside edges. We need to locate a 1-2m section of steel ladder from another location or if someone has a section spare – putting the feelers out around club/diggers forums to see if anything is available. We’re thinking that we would gradually fill in that side of the pit for safety as we’re seeing more and more loose rocks at the top now from ‘weathering’ and it does solve the spoil dumping issue for quite some time. The idea then being that we’d raise/shorten the ladder as required (so the section can be a loan for a short period of time!), but looking to wire/chain/bolt it at the top to fix it securely and also put a bit more safety around the top for getting onto it. 

2/5/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley

2hrs

Mike checked out a couple more bits of precarious looking rock on the hedge side and a couple of bits came down with no effort, but the worst bit visually is actually quite solid thankfully. We then set to work digging the ladder out. Initially we assumed that we’d buried just the one rung, but it appears that the spoil has slowly crept up around it and we had actually managed to bury 4 rungs. Once uncovered, which took most of the evening, we were able to raise it. 2 of us exited to the top so we could hold the ladder up with rope while Mike and Jon filled the hole back in and topped it off with large rocks to sit the ladder on for now. The bottom run and the feet are buckled and not looking good having been buried for some time, so replacing the ladder is now a matter of urgency. It is now tied off to 3 fixings at the top as it’s a bit unstable! James and Estelle agreed to pop back over Wednesday with tape measure and distoX to measure what we need to get to put the steel ladder in place. 

26/4/17

Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley

2hrs

Spent the evening dismantling and removing the remainder of the scaffold tower. We need to replace the ladder as soon as possible as that is looking a little banana shaped these days and quite vulnerable without the scaffold tower. Also need to arrange to get some digging bags from the brewery. 

18/4/17

blog from Mike

Stu, Jon, Dave Lossl & Miranda Litchfield (both MCG) helped remove the top level of scaffold tower (and a bit more loose rock around that edge) before I showed our visitors around the dig & the others worked out where a winch could be placed, as well as the length of ladder required, before retiring to the Waldegrave at 9pm..

10/4/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jonathan Riley, Duncan Simey, Miri Pihlaja, Stu Lindsay

2.5hrs

Good digging session, lots removed from the bottom – Duncan and Miri dug first and then Stu dug for the remainder of the evening. Going down nicely and still easy digging. Scaffold tower needs removing and then we need to look at best methods for spoil dumping – with the collapses on the walls far side, it’s making sense to actually fill up that half of the hole with spoil to help protect it. We also need to swap the ladder out as soon as possible. 

4/4/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Duncan Simey, Miri Pihlaja, Stu Lindsay

2.5hrs

Before going digging, we decided to check out a rock that looked like it was getting loose near the top of the shaft to the left of the ladder as you look in. With no effort with a crow bar at arms length, a large boulder came down, hitting the scaff tower side bars quite badly and bending 5 of them. During the course of the evening whilst digging the other side and spoil dumping, the spoil dumping people reported smaller rocks coming down over that side too. All bar Stu dug tonight for around 15 skips each and dig is still progressing well and easy digging. 

27/3/17

Estelle Sandford, Jonathan Riley, Duncan Simey, Miri Pihlaja

2.5hrs

Estelle went in first to dig for around 15 or so skips, still easy going, still following floor, ceiling and 2 walls and still draughting, plus still getting the array of colours out of the spoil! Jon went in next and did around the same number of skips before Duncan had a go and did his 15, then Miri’s turn and she just carried on until we stopped supplying her with empties! Dig is continuing down and still looking very interesting. 

21/3/17

Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Stu Lindsay
2hrs
After checking the place for surplus frogs/toads/newts and putting about a dozen in a bucket to remove later, we got on with digging the top dig. Estelle got 2 new buckets of the good type and set to work digging first. Fairly easy digging through layers of sediment and gravels, clays, etc. like usual. Still following a solid floor at the moment and have solid roof about 4ft above and about 3ft wide with solid walls. Air circulating well. Jon went in after Estelle and then Stu and Mike, all doing 15 buckets each, but Stu stuck in a sneaky one, so we got to 61! By the end of the digging the roof is going up slightly so maybe another aven? Dig continuing well forward and can lose the bar in it. 

15/3/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon
1.5hrs
spent the evening removing frogs, toads and newts from all the holes, around 120 frogs and toads and about 10 newts - all relocated to the pond. Quick look at top dig found a small pool on the left, but will resume digging next week. 

21/2/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Duncan Simey, Suvi Miri Pihlaja, Stu Lindsay, Jonathan Riley
2hrs
Good session in the top dig, Mike went in first and dug and was followed by Duncan and then Estelle, the floor is now solid rock at the end and sloping off slightly towards the left hand wall. Both walls appear to be reasonably solid although not probed far enough to see where the gaps are yet and the last greyer boulder exposed towards the end of the evening  looks more like a boulder than floor. Going forwards is a wall about 4ft of mud/clay/sediments of many colours and textures - all fairly easy going and still following down the scalloped roof. 

14/2/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Jeremy Fry, Stu Lindsay
2.5hrs
Estelle started on bottom dig and this was soon dug to a point of conclusion that the only way forwards is to attempt to blast with a dose of Dr Nobel’s – will debate this before deciding if this is worth following. To the far end, it has closed down to rock, which does feel like it might be reduced, but hard to tell. The ‘way on’, getting narrower and narrower, is heading back under the entrance and means undermining everything and would be too dangerous to continue. Having done that, James took to the top dig and continued work in there as that does look a lot more promising and is still easy digging. After a number of skips, Stu took over digging and then the final session was Jon’s. Lots of spoil removed and continuing downwards and onwards. Bit of an issue exiting as the gate decided to fail about a metre wide and needed the key to get out! Still made it out by pub time so all ok!

7/2/17

Written by Duncan Simey - Estelle and James skiing so not around!

Productive session at Cutlers last night with Mike Moxon, Leonie, Jon, Suvi Miri Pihlaja and Stu doing electrics above ground.
The team worked in the right hand dig continuing last week's effort.
The layer of black/red/yellow clinker has largely been removed. Underneath that is approx 6 inches of bright pink bubblegum (a sod to dig out). We dug a hole through the bubblegum and hit a large flat rock surface with a trickle of water running across it. We tried to look for a join between the flat rock and the wall in case it is floor, but we ran out of time.
We also attacked the far wall of clay. The expected ceiling continuation didn't emerge. Instead, we have what could be the start of a round tube promising an easy horizontal crawl onwards.
The air was in tip top condition with no mist all evening and a noticeable constant drift towards the entrance. Breathing at floor level still looked like it was heading towards the entrance. It seems it is coming in from somewhere and is not recirculation.
Stu says the clinker is not iron - he is working out what it is.

31/1/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Duncan Simey, Suvi Miri Pihlaja, Stu Lindsay, Jonathan Riley
2hrs
Top dig session tonight, bottom dig has a puddle in it at the moment. Jon went in first and had a dig and initially the work caused a fog, but then Jon found a little hole somewhere and the fog cleared and for the remainder of the evening there was a draught and no real fogging again. Stu in the meantime capped a boulder nearer the top that was in the way. James went in after and continued digging down, before swapping with Duncan and Miri. Lots of interesting yellows, reds and blacks in the mud, not really sure what it is, may need to seek some advice from a geologist! 

24/1/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Stu Lindsay, Liz Wire
2hrs
Digging the top dig for a change as we had enough. Haven’t touched this since the flooding back in November so most of the first couple of digs by Estelle and Mike were clearing the spoil that had come in from the flooding before Mike and then Liz were able to continue actually digging the bottom. Some of the roof isn’t looking great since mud has washed out from between some rocks lower down and we need to investigate some stabilisation for the future. 

18/1/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Tony Massey
2hrs
Digging the bottom dig, need a rope to haul up the buckets now as too far down to pass them up, but it’s useful to have knots in the rope so not using the bolt yet. Estelle dug first, followed by Jon then Tony followed by James for the last bit. A good 8-10 ft down now and possibly hitting some more solid boulders/rock. Need to clear more out. Need to bring more rope over and a pulley. 

10/1/17

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Jonathan Riley, Stu Lindsay
2hrs
digging in the bottom hole again, still going down nicely and dig a little drier, making it easier to empty buckets a bit. Stu turned up late to cap the boulder at the top, which took 3 caps to break it up enough and then that was removed and also drilled for a bolt, so we can now look to haul up from the dig as it's getting to be too high to pass the buckets now.

3/1/17

Estelle Sandford, Jonathan Riley, Fran Campbell.
2hrs
Fran slightly late and others all not available, so Estelle and Jonathan got on with digging - it was very hard work to dig and transport buckets and empty and ended up doing this in 2 stages until Fran arrived. Good digging, going down nicely, needs a boulder capped on the ledge at the top and will need a bolt soon too for hauling up from dig as it's starting to get out of reach. 

20/12/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay
2hrs
Digging in the bottom dig, Mike started off, lots of clay & gravelly stuff coming out, continuing straight down. Estelle took over and removed a bit of rock as well. As you look into the dig, the right hand wall is closing off slightly, but appears the left hand wall is undercutting, so just keeping on digging down and removing everything! James took over for a bit until pub o clock! Said Merry Christmas to Kevin before heading to the pub. Next trip 2017!

13/12/16

James Begley, Mike Moxon, Mike Richardson, Duncan Simey

Digging bottom dig, continuing down. 

6/12/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon
2hrs
Having confirmed dry enough to dig on Sunday, 3 of us digging in the lower dig. Few large boulders removed and digging gravelly corally spoil out now. Quite a reasonable sized hole - about a metre wide by 2 long going straight down pretty much with solid walls around it. James not feeling too good so didn't dig as long as usual. 

4/12/16

Estelle Sandford
1/2 hour
Estelle went down to check water levels. Top dig still had a little puddle in but had some subsidence on the way to the dig and tools mostly under water. Lower dig was driest and no sign of any subsidence. All good to dig on Tuesday. 

22/11/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay
30mins
The rains had been torrential on Monday and Kevin had observed the dig so the spoil heap was 2ft underwater, so a lot of flooding and backing up. By Tuesday the digs were still very full of water, but the main spoil heap area had drained. Suspect it will take a couple of weeks of dry weather for the digs to drain. We only went down to look and take a few photos. 

15/11/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Duncan Simey, Miri Pihlaja, Jeremy Fry, Stu Lindsay
2.5hrs
No-one made last week, so clearing rubble from bottom dig - there was a lot, the bang did good! and also digging the top dig. Now needs 5 people as it's getting quite deep. Following a good solid roof and both left and right walls are solid too. Going down steadily around a metre wide and keeping good working space in height. Bottom dig cleared well and still going fairly well straight down. 

1/11/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Jeremy Fry, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Mike Richardson
2.5hours
Estelle & Stu prepared the bottom dig for a bang while the others worked on the top dig. Lots more spoil removed and the bang went off well. Will be interesting to see the damage!

25/10/16

Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Mike Richardson, Andrew Horeckyj, Stu Lindsay, Fran Campbell, Jeremy Fry plus James Begley arrived late.
2.5hrs
7 of us to start and then James joined at 8ish. We split into 2 groups to dig both top and bottom digs. Bottom dig was Estelle, Jeremy and Andrew mostly and was very messy still and hard work going in and out for spoil emptying with the levels of clay trying to glue you down! Both digs made good progress and the spoil heap is getting larger and larger. Good to have so many keen and enthusiastic people there digging. 

18/10/16

Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Jeremy Fry, Mike Richardson (MCG)
2.5hrs
Gained Mike R this week and we hadn't scared Jeremy off. Mike M did the guided tour of the rest of the cave for them while Stu started digging and Estelle handling the buckets back. Soon the rest arrived from exploring and we started relaying the spoil. Mike R took over for a bit and pulled out a massive boulder and then swapped out for Jeremy who dug until pub o clock. Good session, getting deeper and still easy digging in mud/rocks. 

11/10/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Jeremy Fry from Waldegrave
2.5hrs
Good digging session, lots cleared and dig getting bigger and bigger. Having met Jeremy last Friday in the Waldegrave, he experienced his first trip underground by going digging, we probably should take him caving sometime soon! He seemed to have a great time and managed to remove a pretty hefty boulder during his digging session. Mike dug first, Jeremy second and Estelle third. 

4/10/16

James Begley, Stu Lindsay, Duncan Simey

James to add detail... Estelle went to Brownsea Island instead and left the lads digging - think it was a bit too much hard work with only 3! 

27/9/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Duncan Simey, Stu Lindsay, Mike Moxon
2hrs
When we arrived we decided that we'd try and move an RSJ to nearer the cave, but between 5 of us, this was still quite hard going. Kevin had provided an old trolley, which didn't look like it would take it, but was stronger than it looked. We got it across the lawn and down the slope but there is no way that will go across the field, so need to wait until Kevin is back and do it then with the digger.
Good digging session, James in first, Duncan in second and then Stu in to finish the session off. Is easy digging in mud and some water-worn rocks in the mud. The mountain of spoil heap is getting quite large now! 

6/9/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay
2hrs
Mike set to work in the dig first and removed the two boulders in the floor, but these were too heavy for Estelle to move, so she set to trying to break them up a bit with the hammer. Noticed that another rock in the roof looked a little loose, so Mike came out and prodded a bit and brought more ceiling down. Mike did a little more digging while Estelle passed up to James and Stu the boulders that were small enough. Mike then took to beating boulders while Estelle had a dig. Mike did some then James had a go and finished them off. Dig itself is draughting well from the right, which probably links to the dig from the higher section and is digging very interesting colours of sediment layers to the level which is very squidgy on top, so probably where the water flowed. 

23/8/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Mark Denning, Kevin Clinton
2.5hrs
Mark went in and saw all the cave and digs as he'd not been here since the big hole was dug, but the rest of us didn't really go far underground as the evening was spent putting a scaffold tower ready to start work putting an RSJ above and getting a staircase put in. Scaffold tower fitted nicely around the ladder, there can't be too many digs you can fit a scaff tower in apart from Templeton!

9/8/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Duncan Butler, Stu Lindsay, Duncan Simey

2.5hrs

Estelle was late getting there down to work, but the others got stuck in and lots of progress made on the middle of the digs. Slight draught and easy digging in the mud and rocks. Duncan B had a dig, followed by Estelle and then James. The mountain outside is getting greater!

2/8/16

Estelle Sandford, Duncan Simey, Mike Moxon, Jackie Bishop, Anya Keatley, Mike Waterworth

2hours

After Mike M had shown Jackie around as her first trip, they joined in digging and we were digging from both digs and clearing the spoil - good progress in both cases. The spoil mountain is getting higher and higher! Ladder work for new staircase had to be delayed as too much rain and it would have been dangerous working near the edge. Hopefully next week... 

26/7/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Stu Lindsay and Mike Moxon

2.5hrs

Mike had arrived earlier and gone in on his own to the top end dig at the very top. James and Estelle arrived and Kevin showed off the new staircase he has acquired for putting in there instead of the dodgy ladder - like a stairway to heaven or something... Anyway plan for as many as possible to arrive from 6pm next week to try and install it.

Stu arrived soon after and we headed down and removed all the ceiling rocks we could between the 3 of us that were on the floor from last week's effort. Stu then set to capping the last 3 big ones that were too big to move while Estelle and James dug in the bottom hole. Mike continued to dig the other dig on his own. Estelle removed 2 large boulders from the wall in the bottom dig also. We then joined Stu and assisted clearing the remaining broken up rocks before pub called. Quick look at the end seems to be draughting from the right... Mike thought the dig he was working on at the top was draughting from the left and it's very close to this dig as the survey showed.  

19th July 16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Duncan Simey, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Sarah Payne

2hrs

digging in usual middle hole, starting to get drier mud in general and still pulling out reasonable sized water worn cobbles and rocks from the floor. About 2.rds of the way through the session started to look at a rock in the roof above the dig and thought perhaps it might not be so secure, so made the decision to gently bar it and see what happened - it came down rather easily! We then decided to have a go at a few more bits of the roof that appeared to have gaps or looked like they were being held up by mud cement! Quite a lot of the roof brought down. Cleared some of it and then Mike had a final go at it and we'll have a proper look next week for safety and remove what's there. 3 large rocks need capping. 

Tuesday 12th July

Present: James Begley, Duncan Butler, Mike Moxon (?) and special guest Jon Riley.

Estelle was away with the puffins at Skomer, so it was a reduced team to go digging at Cutlers, boosted by the arrival of a guest digger, Jonathan Riley. Whilst James gave Jon a guided tour of the dig sites, the others started to clear the spoil left over from the previous weeks session at the middle dig site. James and Jon then went to the lower dig site and moved some mud and rocks, whilst the others continued to work at the middle dig site until the call of the beer at the Waldegreave Arms became too strong and we left for some refreshment.

5/7/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Claire Havard and Kevin Clinton joined us to catch up with what we'd been doing.

2hrs

Claire's first visit so lifelined her down the ladder before showing her the digs and then letting her explore the top bit with Kevin who had been away for a few months and we've made a lot of progress on the lower digs, although he's still keen the top digs look interesting. The draught of the middle dig was good again and that is what makes it most interesting. James dug for a while then Claire had a go then we gave up and went to the pub. 

14/6/16

Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Duncan Simey, James Begley, Andrew Atkinson

2.5hrs

James and Andrew continued the survey, while Estelle, Duncan and Mike set to clearing out the bang debris in order to get a look at the way on in the floor. The bang debris was so great, it took most of the digging session to clear it, but eventually Duncan was able to squeeze in a little way and fire a camera around the corner at the end. The end doesn’t look greatly inspiring at the moment, but the site was draughting well at various stages of the evening. Our spoil heap is about 2m higher than it was when dug out now. The survey gave us 113m for the main hole, which was longer than expected and the lowest point is actually in one of the very top digs, but the whole thing trends towards Sherborne Springs/Cheddar sort of direction. 

7/6/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Mike Waterworth, Anya Keatley, Duncan Butler, Duncan Simey, Andrew Atkinson
2.5hrs
Estelle and Stu headed into top dig to drill and set up the bang – 8 holes drilled and quite a few boulders included. Andrew and James set to surveying the other holes to start with and the rest worked on the bottom hole, with Mike Waterworth climbing up the opposite side and digging a bit up there. Once drilled and set up, we all headed up top while it was banged. It took longer than previous to clear, but was just about ok to go down and check. Nicely turned to gravel ready for clearing next week. 

4/6/16 digfest weekend

Estelle Sandford, Duncan Butler, Sam Goodyear, Pat Hillier, Olivia Dawson, Rostam Namaghi, Jonathan booth
3hrs 45mins
Part of the digfest weekend, we gained some extra diggers. Duncan set to work with Jonathan, Pat and Oli in the top dig while I worked with Rostam and Sam in the bottom dig. Soon the bottom dig was getting drier mud coming out and is looking really quite big. Jonathan went in after Sam and had a good go, while Oli did some capping with Duncan in the top dig. By the end of the session the top dig needs banging and the bottom dig is easy digging and drier. 

31/5/16

failed to access, gate failure with no electric supplied to it so couldn't get in the driveway!

24/5/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Stu Lindsay
2.5hrs
James set to digging with Estelle in middle for haul and skip filling and Stu pulling from the end and dumping it, then Estelle and Stu swapped and eventually Estelle and James swapped. The hauling is really hard with only 3 of us there, we need more people next time as it’s quite backbreaking!
At the end of the digging, Estelle had exposed a second hole above the first one which gives a bit more visibility into the way on, but it is low and water worn and will need a lot of digging down still. At least we have a solid roof to follow though. 

17/5/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Duncan Butler, Stu Lindsay
2hrs
Duncan brought capping kit so set to work capping the big boulder in the way in the top dig first, then another in the dig, while Estelle dug. He then moved to capping the boulder in the bottom dig leaving the rest hauling out lots of spoil created by Estelle. By the end of the session it was possible to stand up in the chamber and there is a hole in the floor which is draughting and turning left and then right from what can be seen, as it’s not very big. 

3/5/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon
2hrs
Lots of spoil and rocks continuing to be removed from the top of the two lower digs. Quite easy digging, so chamber getting bigger. Could do with capping 2 rocks next week that are slightly larger than moveable at the moment. 

26/4/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Duncan Simey
2hrs
arrive to find the place 'gated'! Fortunately we were able to get hold of Kevin for the access code as he'd forgotten about us coming!
Got to work with digging and removing all the bang debris from the top of the two bottom digs. Easy going, lots of spoil removed and opening up a bit of a chamber at the end in order to try and work out which way on to dig at the moment as it's not obvious, but there is a lot of mud and rocks... 

19/4/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Duncan Simey
2.5hrs
Stu drilled and banged the bottom dig and nicely demolished the right hand wall boulder and the one at the end. This now needs a lot of clearing and hopefully we now have plenty of space to haul as well. Estelle then drilled and banged in the top dig to finish off the available bang. That made a satisfactory sound which resonated around!

12/4/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Leonie Woodward, Stu Lindsay, Mike Waterworth, Duncan Butler, Fran Campbell
2.5hrs
Mike and Leonie were already doing toad rescue from the other holes when everyone else started arriving. Stu set to capping a rock in the bottom dig while some of the others were continuing removing spoil and breaking rocks in the upper dig. After a few caps, the rock broke up a fair bit, but the right hand wall boulder showed signs of being unstable, so it was deemed to plan to bang that one next week. Duncan and Estelle continued removing rocks and mud from that side making it larger while being a little mindful of the slightly mobile rock.
Stu then went up to the upper dig and continued capping in there while the others dug and hauled. They managed to make a round trip in there and lots more spoil coming out making it bigger and bigger! Not so many toads this week, probably 30-40ish total. 

5/4/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Waterworth, Dave King, Stu Lindsay
2.5hrs
Stu got to work drilling for a bang and Dave started collecting toads from around the dig. When the rest of us arrived, Mike helped with the drilling as he had his own drill too and Estelle and James helped Dave collect toads and when we were confident we'd removed all we could find this week in that hole, we also cleared as many toads, frogs and newts from hole 1 as we could find too. Probably circa 40 in our current hole and 50+ with 3 newts in the first dig! All were dumped down by the pond in a hope they can find a new life there without being eaten too quick!
A bang was then done in the rocks at the higher of the two bottom digs and about 10mins later we went back. It was a little smelly, but not too bad and there was plenty of damage to the rock and lots of gravel. This was soon cleared and a few large fractured rocks then were easier to remove. Whole site looking a lot bigger now and realistically probably 3 weeks work in one session! Looking to repeat the process next week and maybe cap some rocks in the bottom muddy dig too. 

22/3/16

Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Dave King
2.5hrs
started off with issues with electricity. Kevin's drill required it for us to cap in there. After a bit of fettling, the neutral wire was found to be off in the top extension lead, so once repaired, we took the drill down and Stu started capping while Mike went into the dig to dig.  Estelle and Dave initially went scouting for frogs and toads and removed some more to the pond before helping Stu. Bottom dig still wet and needs the rocks capped, but focused on capping the top rocks and have removed quite a lot more rock now. 

15/3/16

Estelle Sandford, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Duncan Simey
2hrs
the bottom hole had clearly flooded again since the last time we were there, probably on the Tuesday night after we left as been dry most of the week since. We found quite a lot of frogs and toads, one of them a very heavily pregnant female frog and these were evacuated to the pond before settling in with hammers and chisel to beast the rocks in the upper of the two digs. Mike mostly digging in the dig and the rest of us taking turns with the hammer and chisel. Moved quite a lot of large rock out of the way, really does need capping to make life easier. 

8/3/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Leonie Woodward, Duncan Simey
2hrs
Continued work digging in the bottom dig with Estelle digging first followed by Duncan. You can see a 'tide mark' of leaves about 6ft up from the entrance of the bottom dig where the dig had flooded during Storm Imogen last month. The top layer of clay in the dig was particularly slimy! Mike spent most of the evening trying to reduce a rock in size with a hammer to get it out of the way, but the rock won. 2 toads rescued and put into pond.
We really need to get some capping done next week, 5 rocks in lower dig and a couple in upper dig. 

16/2/16 - logging on behalf of Mike Moxon

Last Tuesday Stu L & I arrived at the dig to find a lot of leaves plastered around the walls & the slope between both entrances had slumped, burying the extension cable. The mud was everywhere slick & we realised the hole had flooded to about 2 foot above the lower entrance (just as well we gave the previous Tuesday a miss!). We cleared a lot of mud out of / away from the lower entrance to prevent it getting washed in again, but guess the mud we are chucking into the bottom is reducing the drainage. When Dave King arrived we tirfored the big boulder further out of the way & took the winch out to the surface so it can be washed (along with the drill for drying). There was a large frog in the corner dig, who must have been woken up by the water - we left him down there.

2/2/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Leonie Woodward, Stu Lindsay, Mike Waterworth
2.5hrs
Continuing digging in both higher and lower of the two bottom digs. Lots of mud removed, lots still to come out! 

12/1/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Mike Waterworth, Mike Butcher, Stu Lindsay, Duncan Butler and Kevin Clinton joined us too.
2.5hrs
Kevin has got a turfer winch to remove large boulders, so Stu, Duncan and Kevin were drilling and bolting a bit boulder to move it while Estelle, Mike Butcher and James were digging in the lower dig and other Mikes x2 were digging behind where the big boulder was being attempted to be removed. For safety, when they were working on that we had to exit the lower dig and it was bitterly cold waiting for the attempts before being able to get back in and did. By the end of the session a very large (circa 5 tonne(?)) boulder had been moved a few feet and rotated out of the mud, but not quite exited so we left for the pub! 

5/1/16

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Leonie Woodward, Mike Waterworth, Stu Lindsay, Duncan Butler
2hrs
Estelle, James and Duncan set to work on the bottom dig with Estelle in the bottom digging to start and then Duncan taking over while the rest of us helped clear spoil out as it needs 3 people now it's round the corner. Looks quite interesting and the clay is certainly very good quality.
Mike x2, Stu and Leonie worked on the dig above with lots of rock splitting and digging out in the end of it. All looking a lot bigger when we'd finished.

Additional note, Kevin sent Estelle a couple of photos the next day showing that he had removed some of the larger boulders from the front of the digs with a new winch he has got and will join us next Tues to work out what else needs removing. 

15/12/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Mike Waterworth, Fran Campbell, Duncan Butler

2.5hrs

Continued digging in the bottom dig making it larger so it's easier to get into the new bit and carry on digging. The 'aven' looks like just it might go to the type of shafts we already have as it's not really that far below the surface, but it is quite wet and washed clean. Loads of clay and rock removed from there by Estelle, Fran and Mike W. Duncan, Mike M and James focused on the one blocked with boulders and removed quite a few more. Much easier when they are capped though when Stu is back!

8/12/15

James Begley, Mike Waterworth, Lee Knight & John Boulton

2 hours

We met up to show Lee & John around the site and for them to gather a couple of samples of the biological mats that have been puzzling us. They were shown around the upper dig first, including down into the chamber first explored a couple of weeks earlier, and they collected a couple of samples to be sent off for analysis, but are almost certainly bacterial based. We then went to the lower dig site, where a bit of enthusiastic digging allowed first Mike then the rest of us to extend the lowest dig and get round the corner to a point where there is an aven going upwards for a couple of metres and a trench in the floor full of silt and clay. Digging it out will require making the floor deeper all the way along, but should only take a couple of sessions. Mike also pushed on to the right from the higher dig, to a  low chamber with another aven and what appears to be a connection back to the upper dig – yet to be confirmed.

1/12/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Duncan Butler, Stu Lindsay and Kevin Clinton

2.5hrs

Capping is the way forwards! Stu soon released the stuck plug and feathers and broke up a number of rocks to moveable size. Estelle and James continued digging in the bottom dig and that’s starting to go around the corner and has a channel below which looks interesting, but can’t get into it yet… Kevin joined us and helped with the rock removal as well. Duncan went and had a look at the previous week’s finds and then came back to help manhandle the rocks. 

24/11/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Stu Lindsay, Mike Waterworth, Mike Butcher

2.5hours

Stu brought along a drill and Estelle some plug and feathers. The attempt didn’t work well and they ended up stuck in the rock, capping is likely to be the way forward as most of the rocks are nicely accessible. Estelle carried on digging in the dig below where Stu was working and the rest of the lads headed down into the bottom of the top dig where they dug their way into the bit down the hole at the end, retrieved Kevin’s drain rod and continued on into a bit more passage which had a bit of a chamber as well. 

17/11/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Mike Waterworth, Duncan Butler

2.5hrs

Took a couple of old hammers from HLIS over and while Mike W and Duncan did the tourist trip into the top bit of cave, the rest of us started on trying to move boulders and mud from the lower digs. Duncan came back and joined in helping and Mike W decided to dig in the end of the top dig. Mike M joined him after a while. Estelle carried on digging out of the lowest dig while James and Duncan got ‘personal’ with a few boulders and beat them up and got them out. A drill and either caps or P&F would be more productive, but we do need more tools in general in there – couple of decent hammers, a small shovel or 2 and maybe another bar or 2 wouldn’t go amiss. A few of the cable ties on the ladder are starting to come loose and we really should look at getting a better ladder to make it safer. While we were digging we could hear storm Barney blowing a hoolie over the top of the digsite! 

10/11/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon

2hrs

Evening spend attacking boulders and digging in the lower digs – broke the hammer so need another one and boulders too big to extract. We decided then to start at the entrance and make it all bigger so a few big boulders dragged out before exiting to the pub. 

4/11/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon

1.5hrs

Estelle forgot gloves so had to race back home for them, but James made a start and then Mike turned up as Estelle got back. Got down to digging in the lower hole where there is dark space beyond boulders. Moved a fair bit of rock and spoil between us. Really needs drilling and plug and feathering to deal with the rocks. We also need to work on tidying the surface by the top of the ladder as it is quite slippery up there. 

20/10/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Duncan Price
2.5hrs
Mike arrived earlier and put a rope down to do a bit of clearing on the fence side above the digs and then we all went down and did some digging. Duncan turned up and went into the top dig and looked at the cave as he grew up locally and there was never cave this side of Mendip! He seemed reasonably impressed and came and joined us digging at the bottom after. Going at 2 separate holes at the bottom at the moment, Stu and i digging at one from two sides and Mike, James and Duncan on the other which is going down well. 

13/10/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Leonie Woodward, Stu Lindsay, Liz Wire, Dave King
2hrs
Mike collected a couple of ladders from the Belfry and brought them over so we could look to access the top dig. This worked with just the one longer ladder and Mike then cleared the shelf of all loose rubble to make it accessible safely. Leonie and Dave went in with Mike to have a look as they hadn't seen it before and also had a dig up there. Stu's leg was too sore so he continued with path building while Estelle, James and Liz took it in turns to dig the bottom dig bringing out quite a bit. Now need a skip in the dig as we're far enough in. 

11/10/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Stu Lindsay.
4hrs
Estelle went down to the bottom to try and work on digging a connection to the old dig. It soon became apparent that the dig wasn't going the right way and was going straight on/more left. James came down and joined Estelle as it got deeper. Stu remained on surface doing path. Joan Goddard visited with her professor from uni Professor Desmond who was 92 years old and chatted to Kevin for a while. He was quite interested and amazing for a bloke his age. Kevin also came down and had a look at the digging. Now at a point where we consider it safe enough to dig when dry on evenings going forwards and it's quite easy digging and draughting well. Need a ladder to get to top dig - will need to grab from Belfry. 

29/9/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay
2hrs
Has been quite dry for the last week and the access to the entrance is much better. Plan was for Estelle and Mike to take a look at the bottom as not seen it since Kevin put a makeshift ladder in and for us to build a stone path from the top platform down towards the entrance to make it safer when wet and easier (and tidier). Estelle went down the ladder (3 ladders held together with scaffolding and cable ties and ropes!), which felt perfectly stable surprisingly! Looking at the bottom, tucked under the entrance shelf where there was previously lots of frost shattering, this is much better as it has slipped off down to the fault and is beautifully red and flat now. Above it at dig level on both sides are a couple of rocks that would be nice to knock down to bottom as they don't look safe. Looking around before it got dark, about 5m to the left the dig on the right wall (as you look towards hedge), it looks like a couple of hours digging would give us access back into the dig we were working on as you can sort of see through to there and it is easy mud and rocks digging to clear it. Mike arrived and went down also. Estelle and Mike both had a bit of a go at making a start with no tools (as they are stuck in the dig!). Looking around the rest, there's a couple of rocks and muddy areas that might subside which we need to take care of, but generally it is looking like it has mostly stabilised itself with the recent rains. Going downwards is unlikely to be an easy option going forwards without major engineering works, so is looking to be abandoned for now. Stu arrived and then we all spent the rest of the evening doing the path, which is mostly complete, just needs more rock added, but we need some tools to dig out some more of the suitable flat rocks. 

25/8/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Liz Wire, Dave Morrison (Tuska) and his girlfriend, Martin Grass, Joan and Simon Goddard
1.5hrs
Arrived at 7 and met with Tuska who came over to advise as large hole like this is similar to what they had to deal with at Templeton and he is probably the most expert at dealing with large excavations. Since the weekend and a lot of rain, a couple of large boulders had fallen into the bottom. Tuska advised on suspending any workings and platforms from RSJs and also clearing the areas around the edges of the site to ensure no rocks would wash in. He suggested one idea of rolling turf down the right hand slope and then pinning netting to it to allow it to naturally grow over whilst secured. The back edge by the hedge probably needs shuttering. The approach to the dig needs tidying and a path creating as there is a lot of mud and clay to stick to your feet. Martin came across and took photos for Descent. 

22/8/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley
2hrs
The digger having finished and gone, Estelle and James visited to look at the final result. The sides are fairly even now and the digger has done a pretty good job of cleaning out the edges making it look a lot safer. Need to sort out rigging and also work out how to get some sort of platform and hauling system in place to assist with this. Estelle contacting Templeton diggers to help out Tuesday, particularly Tuska if about. Chatted to Kevin over a glass of wine about ideas for how to access and dig. 

18/8/15 Big Digger!

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Stu Lindsay, Mike Moxon, Leonie Woodward, Kevin Clinton
3hrs
Estelle got a text from Kevin while over at Vurley Swallet saying that he had an 18m arm digger there digging the big hole out deeper. Estelle called in on way home from Cheddar to gauge what might be required for the evening and took a few photos and a bit of video. As soon as James got back from work, Estelle and James headed to dig armed with ropes, ladder, SRT kits, etc. to work out best method of getting down. The digger was still in situ and the arm had been left in a good position to act as a belay point, so this was used to attach the ladder via a length of rope to the edge and the lifeline. Estelle went down first and it is around 11m to the very bottom, but a 10m ladder suffices as you can come off easily enough on the slope. A couple more holes have been exposed on both the left and right, but a lot of loose stuff was falling in. Estelle came out and James went in and shortly after James came up from having a look Stu, Mike and Leonie arrived and Kevin came over in caving kit. Kevin started going down the ladder and as he got a few rungs down there was some movement and a couple of large rocks decided to come out of the right hand wall. He decided not to descend after that and came back up. Mike and Leonie both went down and had a look but Stu declined the ladder, although he was very keen for someone to get his shovel out of the dig that he needed to take for his holiday. Estelle went down for another look and took Kevin’s gopro down and then Mike went in again and managed to climb up to the dig using the longer ladder which was lowered down to use to get back up and also removed some rocks from the shelf that were perched and retrieved the shovel. De-rigged and went to pub. Digger planning on clearing out some more and also levelling off the right hand side and clearing all around the edges to hopefully make it all a bit safer.

11/8/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Liz Wire, Stu Lindsay, Kevin Clinton
2.5hrs
James brought up the survey on laptop to show Kevin and the others in survex. Total cave length between all holes currently at 107m and new cave at 61m.
Mike, Stu and Estelle started digging/hauling as James forgot his undersuit and had to pop back home, but was soon back and came in to dig and Liz also turned up too. It worked easiest to have one person loosening the spoil and one person filling the skip while a couple of people outside hauled and emptied. The mud is a particularly sticky consistency and stuck very well to the hauling skips making them heavier and harder to move as the evening went on and the heightening of the passage. Diggers swapped so everyone got a chance and it's easy digging with a lot of spoil coming out, hence 70 kibbles in one evening. Hauling got tiring and Kevin came down and assisted with hauling and emptying later in the session
Kevin is looking at getting an 18m digger in to have a go at making it deeper and safer, probably over a weekend soon, so the digger works Friday, we visit over the weekend and he does more on Monday. Await news on dates...

Left for pub just after 9:15, but Waldegrave shut so went to Ring o' Bells at Hinton instead - we need to plan letting Derek know and getting sarnies booked so he stays open! 

4/8/15

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Stu Lindsay, Martin Grass, Liz Wire
2.5hrs
James and Estelle arrived first and soon after Mike and Stu and we went down into the dig to start digging the entrance spoil out to continue the enlargement. Martin arrived and soon after Liz and both Martin and Liz were given the guided tour and Martin took photos for Descent. He left soon after and we all carried on working on the dig. For a little while James and Estelle worked on the other side dig but didn’t really have enough digging tools there yet. Will need to bring more next week. 

2/8/15 surveying

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Andrew Horeckyj (MCG & geologist)
3.5hrs
Primary function for this trip was to survey the entire site. We used the large rock Kevin had pulled out from the big hole as a centrepoint and James and Estelle surveyed from it to each of the holes in turn and then into the holes to their ends, starting with the one nearest to the gate first and going anti-clockwise and ending up with the big one after we'd done all the others. It was quite hard work doing the surface surveying with the laser on the distoX disappearing into the sunlight! The new cave section is roughly 35m, not including the shaft and passage the other side. Noticeable that there is some instability at the hedge side with a trickle of soil as it was drying the whole time we were down there. Andy had a good look around to analyse his thoughts on the place geologically. He seemed to find it very interesting. Took a few photos using proper camera rather than mobile phone. Mike and Andy did some digging in the entrance continuing to remove rocks and mud to make it larger for getting in to start hauling from lower and reducing the amount of mud in there. Survey complete, we packed up and went home. Back Tuesday to dig... 

29/7/15 The big hole!

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Kevin Clinton
2hrs 15mins
Kevin emailed Estelle 28/7/15 with 2 images and that he had used a larger digger to dig out the big hole nearer to the hedge. We agreed to visit Wednesday evening for a look and dig.
On arrival, we were shown the large amount of spoil that had been removed which was filling in the top pond that had dried up but been too wet to level it since. We then went down to the newly dug out hole. To the bottom was about 5m or so with a bit of a ledge at the top and a metal ladder to climb down into it. There had been some infill down to recent rains and there is a section near the hedge which does look like it needs securing as rains may cause it to subside. To the right of the metal ladder (pond side) was a bedding plane going down dip with beautifully brownish/yellow (from lead probably) scalloped roof and the floor was several inches of sedimented mud over rock. Estelle clambered in and where it got a little tighter, gardened a few rocks to make it more passable and then carried on down following the solid roof. Looking forwards, to the right it carried on curved around with the floor being sloped  with rocks covered in mud and looking like they would head updip towards the holes we were digging previously. There was a couple of places at the very bottom on the left that had space between muddy rocks that could potentially be dug out. Going back to the left was a little bit of a climb down into a muddy small chamber which had a hole in the floor between muddy boulders, of which there was another hole below it that was about 18"x12" and currently too awkward to access safely. This needs some digging to access. Took a few photos on mobile phone as forgot camera and then headed back up, The amount of mud in there is incredible and the weight on the oversuit climbing back out was hard work. The passage continued some 40m in there. Kevin and James came in as far as above the last chamber before heading back out. Mike had been focussing on the driveway side of the dug out shaft and this appears to go in towards the original hole and others and he got in a few metres there as well. Kevin said the middle of the floor had slumped since digging out, but hadn't hit solid and was the yellow mud we'd been digging out of the holes previously.
We started digging out the entrance boulders and mud from the hole i went in while Mike went in and took some photos and had a look and by the end of the session had made it considerably more accessible. With the depth of the shaft down and the side passages off, reckon approximately 50m in there so far.
First thing we really need to do is survey the lot so we can see where everything is and where it's going and then clear a good route down to the dig as suspect we will have to haul out to surface as while there is quite a bit of space in there, it's on a slope so wouldn't make easy storage for spoil. 

Link to Estelle's images https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fxn6l8yi9cpbvpi/AADy5R5CqK58wga8CL9HNQCZa?dl=0

13/12/14 Winch removal

Estelle Sandford, Mark Denning, Matthew Wire
1.5hrs
removed tripod and winch and all digging tools from site and back to Belfry or home to clean and store until next needed.

27/8/14

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mark Denning
1.5hrs
Mark went in first to dig and broke off some more rock and carried on the gravel mining to fill about 8 skips. Estelle went in to have a look and we decided we would be better drilling more holes for bang now as most of the accessible gravel is gone. James went in and filled one last skip with gravel. Mark will communicate with Kevin to arrange electric for drilling more holes. We also took a look at the biggest hole near the hedge with a view to maybe drilling several holes in the bottom of that to see if a bang in there exposes anything - will do the one we're working on first though.

20/8/14

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon
2hrs
Clearing bang debris - Estelle went in first and quickly filled about 15 skips which the lads hauled out, then swapped with James who did about the same number again. Mostly gravel coming out, but some bigger chunks as well and James pulled out a large rock from the floor towards the end of his session too. Estelle went back in for a final couple of skips - we have gone down a good 2.5ft into an approximately 2ft x 2.5ft hole and there is probably another hour or so worth of gravel clearing to go. To the left as you look at the ladder is solid rock and will probably need banging again to make it bigger. To the right is still quite a lot of gravel going down, but quite narrow and there is a slot in the floor heading in the direction of the ladder that is a couple of inches wide by about a foot deep - can't really see clearly on as the gravel keeps backfilling it at the moment but ideally we need to employ a dwarf orangutan! Took a few photos at the end of the session.

10/8/14

Estelle Sandford, James Begley
20mins
Popped over between showers to check the results of the bang last Thursday. Estelle went down the hole and noted it was gravel at the bottom and everything completely blocked up and needing a serious clearing session. Need to plan a clearing session.

7/8/14 - Nigel & Martin banging Cutlers

James and Mike went along to assist Nigel Taylor and Martin Grass. large bang 2x 600mm deep 20mm holes and 1x 1m deep 20mm holes

5/8/14

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Kevin Clinton
45mins
Nigel Taylor couldn’t make it last minute to bang, but Kevin had sent over some photos from where he had been landscaping the area a bit and had dug open another hole next to the first one we dug out. Looks interesting, but probably not interesting enough to pursue. Hoping to bang either later this week or next.

14/5/14

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon, Mark Denning
1.5hrs
With an absence of haulers for Reservoir, we decided to go and clear the bang debris from Cutlers and drill holes for the next one. Clearing only took about 6 skips worth and hadn’t really done enough damage, so looking at the big guns and Mark drilled 3 x 16mm holes and 600m deep and then started trying to extend these to 20mm holes, but the generator was struggling with that and then ran out of fuel. Going to ask Kevin if we can have electric again for next time to make the drill work better.

6/5/14 - bang trip

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mark Denning, Martin Grass
1.5hrs
Mark drilled several 12mm holes in what looked like a shelf. 1 went right through, but the rest were ok, so Estelle and Martin then went in to place the bang, we used 3 of the holes and 20gm and 5gm to join them. Once set, it let off a healthy bang, but no real breeze outside so air didn’t show signs of clearing particularly quickly so we left for another day.

Kevin emailed photos next day to say he had had a look and cleared some of the spoil out of the way, but hadn’t done much damage, so need more bang.

14/4/14

Estelle Sandford, James Begley, Mike Moxon
1.5hrs
Estelle went into the dig and started digging – funnily enough, no-one else seemed keen tonight... Quite a lot of skips full of vegetative matter and slimy mud and rocks were removed and it didn’t smell overly pleasant down there, but basically after a dozen or so skips, we’re down to rock all around and it needs a dose of chemical persuasion to proceed. Removed 12 toads (including mating pairs!) and 5 newts from the dig site and a further 3 from one of the other holes and relocated them to the lake. Kevin had been tidying up a bit and there is now a fence and gate to the site.