Friday 10 January 2020

Day 5 - all done

With three banks and fields to sample today and a lengthy drive home I got up at 6 a.m. to make sure I was at Sennowe Park prompt at 7 a.m. This entailed a cold breakfast of toast which didn't put me in the best of moods. I got to Sennowe Park for about 7.15 am but then was unable to get started until after 8. Whilst I waited it started to rain. So not a great start but the clouds had a silver lining because by the time I was able to start the rain had stopped and it turned into a sunny day. Two of the three banks turned out to be the same age so I only sampled one of those which also meant an early finish enabling me to get home at a reasonable hour though in truth three banks of different ages would have been good.
A rather diffuse bank, c. 20 years old
The final bank of the tour, c. 26 years old
The first bank was rather diffuse and it was tricky to work out where the bank began and ended - it sort of merged into the uncultivated strip next to it. The second was a bit better though had lots of brambles on it which was a nuisance.

The soil was far sandier than the previous days but still had a little flint in it. It was also deeper and ended in a clay rich layer rather than the previous three days chalk - nice for a change.
Flinty not chalky surface

A good auger's worth of soil without hitting parent material
Orange tinted, clayey stuff from the bottom of a core
And that was it - a drive back to York with more Radio 4. In total over 700 miles of driving and a grand total of 216 samples which now I just have to process....





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