A cache located in Silverdale Community Country Park. The park is on the site of the former Silverdale Colliery, the last deep coal mine in North Staffordshire. The mine closed on Christmas Eve 1998 after a long history of mining on the site. The mine opened in 1830 and initially also mined ironstone. The coal and ironstone were used by the nearby forge.
The "Void" was formed by open cast mining on the site which has now been reclaimed to form part of the Country Park. The park is only a few years old but it is already a haven for wildlife. Greater Crested Newts can be found around the pools and Skylarks and Lapwings nest in the park during the spring and summer. There have also been sightings of rare birds including a Red Backed Shrike in July 2012. The Red Backed Shrike is carnivorous and eats large insects, small birds, frogs, rodents and lizards. It is known as the Butcher Bird, because it impales corpses on thorns and barbed wire fences as a "larder". In all over 100 species of birds have been seen on the park in 2012. A real success story and it shows how quickly nature can reclaim former industrial sites.
If you are lucky you may even find a fossil plant if you look at the rocks on the ground. I found the one below just after placing the cache. It was this type of organic material that formed the coal that was mined in this area.
The cache is just big enough to hold a few small trackables. You will need to take your own pen/pencil.
Parking can be found on Cannel Row on Silverdale Enterprise Park, in the village near the church (you can access the park from behind the church) or on High Lane off Black Bank Road. Most of the paths are good, although some of the paths in the park can get muddy.
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