Digging

A larger machine deals with larger rocks quickly. The larger machine makes more mess however, and you are more likely to be able to use a narrow bucket on a smaller machine. It doesn't make much difference. A larger machine will make less mess in a wet season.

A smaller digger needs a smaller trailer. A smaller machine can go through narrower gateways. The very smallest machines can go through a doorway to someone’s back garden for example. If a machine has a long arm it can sometimes usefully reach over and dig the other side of a fence or hedge.

Normal Trench digging

The digger will be working backwards digging the trench in front of it as it goes. It works in say two metre sections. It lifts the turf off and puts it to one side then starts digging down and puts the soil to the other side of the trench. It digs as deep as you tell it to. Very large rocks can be moved. But a few rocks are immovable in which case it may be possible to skirt round it or there is a kind of smashing action the bucket can do to break bits off the top. In extreme cases there is a ‘pecker’ attachment that is designed for this purpose (it’s just a solid spike). It will usually be a point of honour to get a rock out (a sort of scissors beats rock thing).

If the trench crosses a tiny stream, depending on a few angles, there can be a tendency for the stream to get diverted down the trench line and things get muddy very quickly. The diggerman should know how to cope with this by damming across the trench and maybe digging along the stream bed a bit.

• · As the digger retreats, the ducting can be put in the trench, making sure there aren’t any sharp bits under the duct, and tucking the duct under any broken roots.
• · Decent bits of soil should be used to cover the duct, by the volunteers.
• · Where there is a shortage of good soil it may sometimes be necessary to use the turf.
• · In the rocky sections where you need good soil most, there will be a shortage, you may have to collect some from further away.
• · When you are standing in the trench you will inevitably stand on the duct occasionally, it is unlikely to get damaged.
• · Sometimes a tree root is so big it cannot be broken up and it is necessary to thread the duct under the root. Occasionally the diggerman might use a chainsaw.

A digger runs on caterpillar tracks, so, when moving in a straight line it grips well and is very tidy. A mess is made every time the digger has to re-align itself with the trench, so a dead straight trench line is best. If it is wet and on an angle then it can get very messy indeed and the digger can start wanting to slide into the trench. It can get wildly muddy and unstable.

The diggerman will know what he is doing. He might ask what you want done with a large rock. The usual solution is to put it over by a wall or recycle it in the nearest beck. He will also want a few ‘that’s good enough’ signals and some appreciative thumbs ups from time to time. Keep in touch with what he is doing, you are a team, you are not just watching him, you are trying to anticipate how you can help.

Backfilling is usually done with a larger width bucket, but for convenience the operator will often try to cope without changing buckets. The turf gets put on last and tamped down. The diggerman will try to show off how good he is at doing this neatly, but it speeds things up if volunteers can slide the turves across in place by hand. When backfilling the digger is less restricted to working along the trench, it can work at various angles, but the more a digger turns its tracks the more it cuts up the ground.

The digger will be making the trench as it goes backwards while the volunteers put the duct in the trench and put the good soil on top of it. When the trench is finished the digger will want to immediately work forwards backfilling, this means that the volunteers need to have kept up with him because the first bit he wants to backfill is the last bit he dug out.

As usual this means staying alert. Your primary objective is to help the digger keep moving, and you just got side-tracked there, slowly working down the trench getting further behind the digger. The digger is now waiting for you at the other end of the trench.

How deep you want the trench to be will be your decision. Since the majority of the total route is going to be at moleplough depth, that will be the general depth you are aiming for. If you can get to this depth and it appears to be nice soil then that’s as deep as you need go, otherwise go deeper. If the soil does not improve then use outer ducting.

It will look an impossible mess at some stages, but you will always be impressed how neat it is at the end. Grass always recovers well, but obviously fastest in summer.

It is always a good move to have been seen to help the farmer in some way. If you see any simple tasks the digger can do while it is on his land, just get them done. You may have spare soil to fill a hollow, you may be able to do a couple of scoops to improve a ditch, you may be able to move a rock, etc.

Using a digger in conjunction with a moleplough

The simplest moleplough operation is straight across a field from a wall to another wall. You can use a digger to make small starter trench a metre long and at the other wall the plough will end up a tractor length away from the wall, so you can dig an 8-metre trench at that point before or after the ploughing.

This can usually be simplified by digging the starter trench by hand. And if the tractor does not head straight for the far wall but does a right angle turn just before it reaches the wall then the finish trench may only need to be 3 metres (to be dug out after, otherwise the tractor drives over the trench). And this then becomes feasible to do by hand. (A specialist machine can sweep round and sometimes get to within a metre of the wall)

A digger might also be called upon to tidy up after moleploughing if some sections were rockier than expected. It is possible to do this without damaging the duct, by having the digger work carefully alongside the duct. (Volunteer sometimes guards the duct with a spade as a shield.)

All this relies on you having both a digger and a moleplough available, but they can be on different days. (You can’t leave an open trench when very young lambs are around as they can get stuck, otherwise sheep can cope, but cows might not be an asset) There is no reason a chamber would be left open for any length of time. A farmer will often choose to move stock out of the field before you get there anyway. If you specifically wanted stock moved, farmers usually do that fairly willingly.

Things often get complicated using machines when there are open trenches involved. It is sometimes difficult to avoid driving over your own trench. Some thought has to go into the exact order you do things, like do you do the spur or the main line first, and thinking exactly what line your tractor will prefer to take. And sometimes you have no choice but to mess up your own trench.

Digger Dos and Don’ts

a) It’s a bloody great machine with moving parts. Keep clear of it if you can and if you are near it then watch what it is doing. Standing alongside it may not be safe either as the cab part can be a different shape and can swing out as it rotates. Approach the machine from the front so the driver can see you, don’t creep up from the sides. If anyone else is around you have to watch that they are acting sensibly as well, this is the responsibility of each person present. (Accept that there will always be a degree of larking around, that’s why we specifically want to work in snow, but don’t let it get out of hand.)

b) Keep in contact with the driver. Point to odd rocks that you want tidied up. Signal that you want the trench deeper, wave him back when you are happy with that section. (Only do this you have already formed a working bond with him, don’t boss him around)

c) You need to forewarn any landowners if digging will be involved, they might be expecting a fine moleplough line across their field rather than a rutted swamp.

d) The drier the better for digging operations.

e) Beware of creating a drain. If you dig straight downhill in a small gully, then the next time it rains the water will happily use your newly created softer section and gradually wash your trench away. So either work down the side of the gully or cross it at a decent angle.