Country diary: Wenlock Edge

Wenlock EdgeA band of 100 siskins flew over Lea North quarry. Low cloud and rain began to lift and the sun lit the yellow-green birds against blue-grey walls of limestone. I was part of a smaller crowd of people who had come to the quarry to contribute to a consultation process organised by the National Trust, which is negotiating with the quarry's owners to take over these big, enigmatic holes in Wenlock Edge. Different people want different things, but there was great interest in the natural processes working on the quarry. Geologists told how exposed lumps of limestone had been formed by the growth of coral reefs in patches, like those in the Caribbean but much further south and 425m years ago in the Silurian era. This highly fossiliferous limestone, wherever it occurs in the world, is called Wenlockian.A local historian told the story of this quarry, which began in...

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