Cavers we need your help!
As part of your caving trips in SSSI cave and mine systems in the White Peak, in the next year or so, we are asking whether you can help us check their condition and take note of any damage. Their condition needs to be assessed for Natural England at 5 yearly intervals and is required now. Natural England, in return for our service, provides funding for conservation, repair and clean up work to SSSI caves/mines and their entrances and many of you may have been involved in some of Pete Knight?s conservation projects that have tapped into this funding.

For more information on monitoring SSSIs see  https://thedca.org.uk/sssi-monitoring

?Monitoring forms? (surveys) are available to download. SSSI's in the White Peak - https://thedca.org.uk/sssi-monitoring/sssi
You can locate features to assess and whether important cave features like sediment sequences (CSS) i.e. mud, or the cave passage morphology CPM (rock), or minerals (M) have been damaged or not.

Some systems have been checked already and an indication of their monitoring status is shown.

Historically, in order to help look after and monitor our caves and save time, caving clubs/individuals have adopted cave areas but it?s not just down to those clubs and their members, everyone and anyone can monitor part or whole of a SSSI cave/mine system and any any level of contribution gratefully received:-

Cave SSSI areas (individual caves are listed under these on the website):-
? Castleton -TSG
? Bradwell Dale - Eldon PC
? Hamps & Manifold valleys - individual
? Lathkill Dale - Orpheus
? Masson Hill - Masson CG
? Poole's Cavern -individual/owner
? Stoney Middleton Dale - individual
? Upper Lathkill Dale - Orpheus

Many thanks and looking forward to receiving forms!

Best wishes

Christine Wilson (posted on behalf of)
DCA Conservation Officer
DCA Conservation and Access Team

Will flag up the Bradwell dale sites that need doing to the Eldon and try and get some ticked off!
However a quick look at the Bradwell page does bring up some problems.....
6 sites are listed as 'pending'. Of these I believe one has been quarried away entirely, and another two are on the land of a not very caver friendly farmer who has not allowed access for years.....
How important are these SSSI surveys? Important enough we might be able to persuade a grumpy farmer to let us have a look?

Well, this is really Chris' area but...? access does need to be 'allowed' to conduct a survey. DCA has hoped that the requirement to have these caves surveyed might grease the access wheels in future, but that is a pressure that only NE can bring to bear. The sites that have not had access for some time will not be a problem for DCA/NE relations now, so concentrating on the sites that do have caver access is the best way to go for the time being.

Oh, and any sites that no longer exist at all potentially, could you email that info to Christine please.

I dunno if there is meanna be 2 like everywhere lese but there is 2 holes and only one P hanger in moorfurlong dunno if ones been pulled out or what seems ok to me just thought id let ya know tho also does anyone mind if I fit some hangers about the other hole in there?

No, please don't put your own hangers in there, you might be breaking the law doing so. We have bolting schemes that do this to reduce "bolt rash", for conservation reasons, and for safety reasons.

Contact the DCAs projects team about it projects@thedca.org.uk - DCA are also looking for volunteers and could probably do with proactive folks like yourself 

DCA want me to have insurance and join a club tho but I like doing things on my own nothing to worry about then il sort another way of checking that other hole if im not allowed to put a hanger up n nobody else is gunna or it woulda been done

Yeah insurance is a pretty good idea, if you f*** up it stops whoever is suing you taking your house money and possessions etc. 

I wouldn't assume nobody is going to do something just because it hasn't been done yet. As I said, they're short of volunteers.

You can probably ab down it with a scaffold pole or somat. Enjoy.

The DCA don't 'want' you to have anything Jon. There are some landowners that require insurance as part of the agreement for cavers to be on their land. The easiest and cheapest way to have that insurance is to be a club or individual BCA member. There are relatively few sites with those restrictions and many more you can visit without it if you are set against having any.

On the subject of anchors - there is a long established scheme where good quality anchors are installed by trained people and tested. This scheme came in as a way of preventing a return to the old days of random bolts placed by anyone with a drill and not necessarily any knowledge. If you think a site could benefit from a new anchor, or you think that a BCA anchor is defective or missing, please report it to the DCA Equipment Officer via the DCA website. Of course, being a BCA/DCA member also funds these anchors, not just your insurance.

Anyway, this thread is about SSSI monitoring. Please can we save other discussion for a separate thread.

hahaha they would end up with not a great deal I figure if I had insurance it would give people a reason to sue me im sure coal authority would love some money outta me for making the lazy bastards actually do some manual labour and speaking of scaff bars im in the process of procuring 3 bars and 2 clamps and some cement to build a tripod over another shaft in a top secret location (BREEDON) where insurance is useless anyway as nutcases with obsessions about mines arnt welcome

I don't mind funding anchors or just supplying my own but I notice you like the resin P anchors now where I still use stainless plates anyways don't worry about it more I try talking to people about mines more I find im better off not and just getting stuff done I understand people not wanting my anchors as they are unknown by them but that also works from this way round I don't know your anchors or should I say anchor as there is only one there anyways its not a problem