There's an aggregate quarry just off the track half a mile or so above our house which, at one time, boasted a small pond which was good for tadpoles and palmate newts. Since then, the pond has been filled in to provide a parking space for heavy vehicles but a small seep of water....
....rises in the middle of it and runs away to join....
....a ditch by the side of the track. Along this there are a couple of small, muddy and algae-filled puddles which offer a home to....
....a few remaining tadpoles - at one stage in the spring the pools were crowded with them -
and....
....a handful of pond skaters.
In sunny weather some weeks ago it was also host to some large red damselflies but it hasn't been warm enough since for them to take to the air.
I'm guessing, but the seep - what a lovely word - is caused by rainwater moving down through the rock pictured here, a very coarse conglomerate of Devonian age, and meeting an impermeable layer, possibly of compacted red clay, which causes it to drain sideways until it surfaces in the quarry. There's probably enough water in the conglomerate for the seep to continue to flow, though it will be interesting to see what happens if the current dry weather continues for much longer.
We have not had rain in Devon for what seems like months. The lawns are brown, the trees drooping and unwatered flowers dying. I put a fence post into the ground this afternoon and began creosoting it when there came thunder and lightning and a heavy torrent of rain. I caught myself saying "typical!". I suggest you get out some paint or creosote or perhaps wash the car. You will then be assured a good downpour.
ReplyDeleteGood advice there, Derryck!
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