Following our day in Rose Hill Quarry in February, we returned to this site in mid-March to continue the good work. With help from the Duke of Edinburgh team, the Ranger Team, members from BCGS and a team from our own group, we managed to get a lot of work done.
 

Working at the rock face to clear away some debris

Work progressed west from where we worked before, and a lot of vegetation has been cut back, treated and cleared, and large roots that were against the rock face have also been removed. Although we didn’t dig down as far as we did in February, between five of us working at the rock face we shovelled a lot of dirt! We have extended the exposed area of quartzite and started to spread the debris down and out over the quarry floor. The plan is to create some small steps and hopefully a viewing terrace so that visitors can see the rock face easily.
 
During the digging, we also uncovered some more bands of clay, some of which are quite green in colour. We believe this to be bentonite, which is altered volcanic ash! No one knows for sure where the volcano was situated, but layers like this have also been found in Barnt Green Road Quarry, and also over in Dudley.
 
We’re certainly making progress in this quarry, and we will be returning to it in May to continue. Working in different quarry sites around the Lickey Hills helps us to piece together the geological puzzle and helps to develop the geological story of this area, as well as giving us new areas to show off!

The ‘dirt lines’ from our February session and March! We’ve dug quite a way down.

The team working, Photo from Friends of Kings Norton Park (@kingsnortonpark).