The DPA Conservation Team gathered again near Clearbrook, on Roborough Common, on Friday 17th September 2015 under a somewhat leaden sky – the weather showed us both sunshine and a light shower during the day. By the “close of play”, we had reached the road – Roborough Down Lane, which is a milestone along the…

The DPA volunteers (and you can join us!) started a new project on Wednesday 26th August 2015 on Mardon Down.  This is an area that is rich with Bronze Age archaeology as well as more recent features, particularly from WWII. The meeting point was beside the Headless Cross, otherwise known as the Maximajor Stone after the…

Tuesday 16th June saw the trusty DPA Conservation team starting work again, clearing bracken on Roborough Common. We started at “The Camp” – the old Iron Age hilltop structure and moved onto Drake’s 1591 Plymouth Leat after the morning coffee break. This team doesn’t hang around! The bracken growth seems to be a lot less…

Dendles farmstead was been obscured by conifers for almost 40 years until 15 years or so ago.  After that, stock were excluded from the area to allow regeneration of native tree species, but gorse, bramble and rank grasses grew to such an extent that the farmstead was again invisible.   The DPA conservation volunteers have…

Friday 6th February saw the motley crew that is the DPA Conservation Team assembling in the car park beside Plymouth Leat on the road down to Clearbrook.  Derek met us there to collect my own tools and then drove via Chub Tor to the end of the tarmac road to deliver the tools to the…

Perhaps I should thank Helios, the Greek sun god? Friday 23rd January was a quite glorious day on our part of Dartmoor, as the photos below show, although the sun faded just as we finished work, with perfect timing. When I got home, the rain set in – the weather forecast was quite accurate. This…

Friday 9th January was a grey day as the DPA Conservation Team congregated in the car park by the leat on the road down to Clearbrook.  The group was split into two parties with four people driving to the end section of Drake’s Plymouth Leat while the remainder walked to the west end of the tunnel…

Three more photos from Friday 12th December when the DPA Conservation Team started clearing the end-section of the Plymouth (Drake’s) Leat. The photo above shows work on the habitat pile, made from cuttings, for the benefit of insects etc. Derek with a trenching tool borrowed from David, digging a drainage channel to take water from…

After a successful workday on Tuesday, on Raddick Bronze Age settlement, when at last the weather was good and so were the views, volunteers adjourned to the self-sown spruce just inside our land on Sharpitor.    Courtesy of Derek there were lights on the tree and carols.   To restore our energies after working there…

It started with a quick sortie to get a puncture repair kit for the wheelbarrow that was required to carry some tools. Go Outdoors was nearest and I have used their green “Slime” before. At about 9.30 am I was in the Clearbrook car park removing the valve from the flat tyre, squirting in the…