New springs & micro swales

Found another very boggy patch today, right above one of the ditches. Closer investigation found a small spring right on the bank (I'm sure there are others) so I dug it out a bit to see if it would create some useful flow. Was pleased to note the presence of proper clay - it's the reason for the spring being there, of course but I'd not come across it before - the other spring is on green sand, which looks like white clay but doesn't form slip in the same way. I think it's still pretty impervious to water and if some leaks through the pond dam then the trees and plants downhill will benefit from it.

Just to the left of the outlet, you can see a ramson that I planted. It's one of many dotted around so we'll see if it thrives in such boggy ground.

New spring, dam and ramson

I then had the idea of using the spoil from this digging to form a small dam across the ditch in order to create a tiny pond. It struck me that although the ditch isn't dug on contour, it doesn't have much of a gradient and thus with a series of small dams, one could form micro-swales all the way down. This tiny pond soon filled up and considering my boots don't seem to be watertight, it wasn't especially comfortable working there. Added to the fact was the incessant rain and my waterproof trousers which keep coming down.

In order to access the ditch I had to clear a lot of brambles. I call this "therapy" as using a machete certainly takes some effort. Some of the old stems were 20mm thick - there's probably a use for them (blowpipe? flute?). 

Fortunately, I started this task on an overcast, but dry, day and my heavy cotton smock (Titan) and leather gloves kept me scratch free. I piled the brash up as best I could to form a natural barrier and wildlife refuge. The field beyond is also ours so it doesn't have to be very secure but anything to stop the dogs from destroying the local fauna is a good thing in my book! You can see the dam and tiny pond in this picture with the brash pile on the far side. Plenty more brambles around for blackberry picking in the autumn and I imagine they'll soon shoot up through the brash pile anyway. I do need to get in there with a saw & open the ditch up a bit as lots of small trees have begun to invade. I can use the cut brush to reinforce my barrier and may get a bit of firewood from it too (it's mainly willow). Might be best to wait until Winter in case any birds are nesting there, I suppose.

Micro swale, brash barrier and mint

Now the bank was clear, I took the opportunity to plant some mint that we'd bought the other day from a garden centre. Planted black peppermint, ginger mint and apple mint. They'd doubled in size in the pots in under a week and this site should give them a decent home. It's quite shady but will get some direct sunlight and plenty of water. You may just be able to pick them out in the picture on the left hand side (the new spring is at the bottom of the image which is taken from the top of the bank)