Monday 23^rd September 2013

Five turned up on this rather beautiful soft grey, misty morning.

Disappearing into the mist (c) photo by Jane Lunnon

Intrigued by curious geophysics readings from previous days, Roger had decided we should go over the most interesting and confusing areas with the geophysics again, but this time using a higher resolution of ½ metre sampling instead of 1metre.

Work started well in Field 1 as the first four squares were covered.

Roger heading the cows off  (c) photo by Jane Lunnon

Meanwhile another grid of 4 x 20metre squares was laid down in Field 2 – which was full of freshly deposited cow pats. The curious little herd of heifers and calves cautiously moved towards the tapes, but Roger’s slow advance and face-off convinced them to back away.

A little later, and it was David’s turn to herd them back away from the geophysics drum and probes.

The calls of the bull in a neighbouring field soon brought them back, this time to a huddle around the gate, from where they loudly exchanged calls.

As Roger put it, we “tip-toed through the cowpats” with the frame, through the second half of the morning and into the afternoon. The farmer arrived on his quad bike with his sheepdog to herd the cows out into another field, and soon returned with a flock of sheep in their place.

Peter cleans Jane's probes! (c) photo by Ruth Spencer 

It all felt very leisurely today, but we easily covered the area allocated to us for the day. By the time Vena arrived from her morning at work, we were getting a little de-mob happy, making very silly jokes – far too much hilarity going on!

Peter develops his technique in the fine art of peg cleaning (c) photo by Jane Lunnon

Vena valiantly took over as the rest of us were wilting from doing the double step ½ metre measurements. We were finished by 3pm.

Roger and David tip toe through the cowpats (c) photo by Jane Lunnon 

Since we are still waiting for final approval from one of the authorities, we do not yet know when we will be back on site. Those of you who have expressed an interest in joining will be notified if and when we get the go-ahead!

Jane Lunnon, UWHG.