Dung Rangers Tour #1 - Wintersett Traditional Cache
windswept: This cache has been out for a couple of yaers and is 'old hat'.It is wet through so we are archiving it.
Dung Rangers Tour #1 - Wintersett
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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Within the boundary of Wintersett Reservoir, near Ryhill, West
Yorks.
This cache is placed near the Wintersett Reservoir, next to a
nature reserve. The reservoir is full of waterfowl, so take your
binoculars - it's worth a look at any time of year. There is a very
good cafe, 'Squires' open 10am - 5pm everyday, and a bike rack, to
secure your bike.
The cache is accessible on foot, by bike, with
wheel/pushchair,(except the last few feet) very dog friendly and
generally a super walk.
Cache is a normal snap top plastic box containing lots of goodies.
Wintersett Reservoir between Wakefield and Barnsley) was created to
supply water to the Barnsley Canal, which is no longer in use and
is partly filled in.
Coots fight it out near the outlet. At one stage it is two against
one, but the outnumbered adversary escapes drowning and hurries
away. The victors puff themselves up, wings raised.
A colony of Pignut grows on a dry grassy bank of the reservoir. A
lot of local people remember eating the peanut size tuber as a wild
food.
The prevailing wind has created a little wave cut cliff (about as
high a man) at the top end of the lake. A coal seam is exposed,
blocky and jet black, both at its foot and on the wave cut platform
that forms lake bed immediately below.
Horsetails are springing up along the path edges - a reminder of
the forest giants that dominated this part of the world when the
coal was laid down, 300 million years ago. Sheep's Sorrel is a
plant you might easily overlook, but it's worth giving it closer
scrutiny; it has tiny red flowers at the moment and the leaves are
shaped like ornate spear heads. It is an indicator of acid soil.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Arkg gb gur srapr, ng gur onfr bs n gerr.