Alderley Edge Copper Mines

I had a week off last week and spent most of it outside in the general region of where I live, the weather was fabulous and I mad a special point of spending every minute I could outside....one of my trips out was to the Prehistoric Copper Mines In Aldeley Edge Cheshire...not just a mine this is a beautiful park with rolling woodlands a hidden Garden called Hare Hill, a Wizards Walk and a natural habitat for a multitude of animals and insects...the Copper Mines stopped producing Copper in the 1960's and were shortly after taken over and the area became under the protection of the National Trust...it is still possible to go down the mines with the Derbyshire Caving Club twice a year and have an explore.

The woodland is predominately Scots Pine and Beech and this along with a sprinkling of oak, birch, rowan and holly help hold the fragile nature of the site together as the area is wholly made up of red sandstone and the many hundreds of years mining have taken its toll on the landscape with lots of areas under constant erosion by the elements...this aside the whole area brings back the wish to go and explore which is what I did with abandone.

I was amazed at the freedom you have to go and explore and was expecting not to be able to go in some of the caves, but they are there and freedom is what you have....there are Red Kites, rabbits, several species of songbirds including  wood warblers, redstarts, marsh tit, redpoll, woodcock, several types of finches and the bigger birds such as ravens, crows, magpies and pigeons, lots of rabbits and this is the time of the year to see the kits (babies)...not afraid like the parents you can get close and almost pick them up as they have not yet learned to be afraid....there are Bees, mining bees, honey bees and my favourites the dragonflies.

There are also three types of bats to be found living in the caves of the species, Pipistrelle, Daubentons, whiskered and long eared bats, as well as winter roosting they can be found living in the eves of local buildings during the warmer months...of course the insects are in abundance with a couple of rare species including the winter gnat which is a nationally scarce.....in the ponds you will find frogs newts and dragonflies as well as damselflies and more bitey bugs.

What a place!, one story that I was told by the national trust warden was that from time to time coins are unearthed especially Roman and several prehistoric axe heads have been found on the site, the largest being a small pot full of roman coins from the first centuary AD found in one of the roman shafts....what a find.

Wild mushrooms for the pot and lots of edible berries are to be found amongst the brambles and hedgerows and as I like to forage this was a nice bonus to the day.....I spent several hours trudging around taking in the whole area and have vowed to take my two girls with me this weekend for some more exploratory fun, with a picnic, my trusty Trangia cooker for the hot drinks and my suffering wife we will have another free day of fun in the countryside.

You can find details of this site and others at. www.DerbysCC.org.uk   go on have a fun, free day out in the countryside on me....all you pay for is the carpark.