Sink above Shooting box aven, Birks fell, Yorkshire

[alastairgott]

I went for a walk today, parked at Buckden, with the aim of getting to an area of limestone on the opposite side of the hill. I didn't manage to quite get to the area of hillside I wanted to. On my way back down I had a little bit of a look around when I came back down to the limestone level. prodding bits of ground with a crowbar, and drinking enough water to drown a cat.


having no real idea where the caves were underneath, despite Kevlar handily scanning me copies of northern caves and an OS map marked up with all the cave entrances. I stumbled across the sink at SD 93193 76801 which on closer inspection at home appears to be above the aven at the end of the Shooting box series. Looking into the drier part of the sink, it appears as though there is some black space beyond. I had no way of blocking up the entrance so I didn't start to attack it with a crowbar, knowing i'm committed to a trip in Derbyshire tomorrow.

CPC 1970 Birks Fell Cave.png (8414?5792) (cavemaps.org)

 

[alastairgott]

1st photo- drier part of the sink
2nd photo- water sinking in first hollow, with drier part of the sink beyond.
3rd photo- taken from the dry streambed beyond sink, with water sinking on right and drier part of the sink on the left.

 

[molerat]

According to ULSA Explorations Journal II, in 1988 "a little digging through the collapse exposed a drop down through boulders to a 20ft (6m) section of passage that ended at a very low duck which was not forced."

 

[alanw]

Cavemaps http://cavemaps.org/data/ has gpx/js/json/kml files for caves in the three Northern Caves books.

I load them into OSMAnd https://osmand.net/, instructions on my web site: https://wylie.me.uk/cgi-bin/blosxom.cgi/2019/05/06#osmand-caves

 

[alastairgott]

Cavemaps http://cavemaps.org/data/ has gpx/js/json/kml files for caves in the three Northern Caves books.

I load them into OSMAnd https://osmand.net/, instructions on my web site: https://wylie.me.uk/cgi-bin/blosxom.cgi/2019/05/06#osmand-caves

HI Alan, not sure where the coordinates I have on my GPS came from, but i've got quite a few of the dales caves on there, I knew that I was 200m away from Birks fell entrance when I was at the Sink, but knowing the cave is nearby is not quite the same as knowing part of the cave is 10-30 to 50m away under the ground. I think I got the GPS locations on after a few drinks.

According to ULSA Explorations Journal II, in 1988 "a little digging through the collapse exposed a drop down through boulders to a 20ft (6m) section of passage that ended at a very low duck which was not forced."

Thanks molerat, sounds like they had a good time, I guess it must have been walled up to stop lambs and sheep playing lemmings.

I think I might need to visit Birks fell, you seem to love the place, it does sound like a good trip.

 

[hardstal viewer]

I went for a walk today, parked at Buckden, with the aim of getting to an area of limestone on the opposite side of the hill. I didn't manage to quite get to the area of hillside I wanted to. On my way back down I had a little bit of a look around when I came back down to the limestone level. prodding bits of ground with a crowbar, and drinking enough water to drown a cat.


having no real idea where the caves were underneath, despite Kevlar handily scanning me copies of northern caves and an OS map marked up with all the cave entrances. I stumbled across the sink at SD 93193 76801 which on closer inspection at home appears to be above the aven at the end of the Shooting box series. Looking into the drier part of the sink, it appears as though there is some black space beyond. I had no way of blocking up the entrance so I didn't start to attack it with a crowbar, knowing i'm committed to a trip in Derbyshire tomorrow.

CPC 1970 Birks Fell Cave.png (8414?5792) (cavemaps.org)

As a CPC member involved with the BIrks Fell Cave discoveries, I and other members dug in these sinkholes back in 1968, and also in the stream bed of the beck near the shooting hut. This water is that which falls down the Shooting Box Aven.

 

[alastairgott]

Hardstal viewer, thank you for the message, it’s pretty perfect conditions for a trip at the moment, I’ll have to see if I can wriggle a trip in. Maybe get some of the youth out of Derbyshire.