Mid-stream in an alfresco laboratory

Horton-in-Ribblesdale, Yorkshire We used to collect white-clawed crayfish in jam jars to study, but now, like my old school, they are a species in need of protectionOut of once-familiar fear I glance up to check Doukghyll Beck. As a child playing outside the village school, I was once bowled over by this diminutive Severn-type bore, which can suddenly, but thankfully rarely, belch from the bowels of Doukghyll Cave. That day, the caves in the limestone rock were brimful after deluges on Penyghent