Following last month’s building of a stone stile near Browgill, cavers have again been busy on conservation work. This time it was the turn of the wooded valley around Yordas Cave in Kingsdale.

A former show-cave and the subject of a sketch by JMW Turner, Yordas Cave is well known for its huge walk-in cavern with a waterfall crashing down into a smaller chamber at one end. Cavers equally enjoy the cave, entering it through one of two potholes further up the valley and abseiling down following the cascading stream.

The aim of the day was to ensure the boundary walls of the valley were stock-proof, while still allowing access for controlled grazing. Andy Walsh from Red Rose cave and Pothole Club had already done a great deal of work on building walls to fill in the gaps in the boundary.

Cavers from Bradford Pothole Club carried out a number of tasks: repairing a short stretch of stone wall, installing a water gate across a sheep creep, repairing a field gate, and replacing a fixed fence by a removable hurdle to allow easy controlled access of sheep.

The work was carried out as part of the Northern Caves Monitoring Project, a partnership between Natural England and the Council for Northern Caving Clubs in agreement with local landowners.