Geograph - photograph every grid square

About 120 years ago, this would have been a bad place in which to stand. There was then a rifle range in this area, and the targets, which were at its north-eastern end, were located here; the disturbed patch in the foreground may be a survival from that period.

In this connection, it occurred to me that heavy metals or other toxins from spent ammunition, especially if occurring in high concentrations, as they would here, might inhibit growth of some plant species for a long time, and that this might account for the bare appearance of the soil here. That does indeed appear to be the case; in fact, the target areas of old rifle ranges have at times been made the subject of ecological studies for that very reason.

It seems that the main contaminant in such areas is lead. For example, the title of one paper devoted to the subject is "The ecology of an old rifle range target area with lead poisoned soil" (Hugh A. McAllister, 1965) [The Biol. J. (Zoology Department, St. Andrews University), 5: 10-11].

Compare NS3678 : Former site of rifle range's targets, a view in the opposite direction over the same dark, bare patch; the accompanying description comments further on why, topographically, this was a good location for the targets.

The present picture is a view along the length of the rifle range, looking in the direction from which firing would have come. The second-edition map marks shooting positions 200, 500, and 600 yards from these targets. I have not depicted the first of these, since it is in a particularly damp area where traces are not sufficiently well preserved to be worth showing; however, for the other two shooting positions, see NS3678 : Traces of 500-yard shooting position and NS3678 : Traces of 600-yard shooting position.

Incidentally, at the far (south-western) end of the range, a few yards from the 600-yard shooting position, was another structure, marked but not labelled on the second-edition OS map. The ground at its likely location has a similar bare appearance, as shown at NS3678 : View along former rifle range, though there are several possible explanations (for example, some spent shell-cases might have been brought back there from the target area; or the toxins might have leached, instead, from live ammunition at that end of the range; or related activities beside the firing position there might have produced lead dust; there are many possibilities).

Click on the end-note title for related pictures.