1.5 Ghost Pingo Excavation update - September 2023
In August 2023 four ghost pingos were excavated on two separate privately owned landholdings in the Brecks close to Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s Thompson Common nature reserve. More
Photo credit: Matt Jones NWT
Water levels are rather high on-site at the moment! If we were simply just digging random new ponds this would be less of an issue, but as we discussed yesterday, this is an experimental project looking to try and restore a pre-existing feature, where we are trying to excavate down to a specific and generally quite shallow sediment layer. In addition, the hope is to log and sample soil profiles as we go along to try and better understand the structure and history of these features. All of this would be impossible in a hole full of water, and while it is this wet pumping is unlikely to help.
With the current dry weather and the planned removal of trial dams from the adjacent ditch, the hope is that the site will dry sufficiently to undertake some excavation work towards the end of September.
