Indeed - I went up to a small hole I'd found last year to attempt to pull out a rock that would hopefully give further access, only to find three small pairs of furry white hind legs poking out of it - they'd been stuffed in there like a cork in a bottle. Needless to say I was rather peeved about this, not least as it was on land that I thought would be managed more respectfully, let's say. We had permission to check shaft-tops, so we weren't breaking any rules. But it's their land, so stomping over and complaining wouldn't have had the desired effect, even though it's a SSSI. So we'll just have to wait until next year until they've hopefully rotted away, and I can try again. But it does make the 'Guardians of the Environment' angle a bit harder to swallow when you find stuff like this.
Some of the tales I've heard about dumping in shafts and opencuts on Dirtlow Rake in Castleton, and Moss Rake in Bradwell in the 70s and 80s don't bear thinking about in terms of cave/mine/water pollution downstream. Most of those incidents would ultimately have ended up in the River Derwent - or are still possibly stuck in sediments in the Peak-Speedwell system. This little find stunk particularly badly.
