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| *****SWAAG_ID***** | 800 |
| Date Entered | 11/04/2014 |
| Updated on | 11/04/2014 |
| Recorded by | Tim Laurie |
| Category | Geological Record |
| Record Type | Geomorphology |
| Site Access | Public Access Land |
| Record Date | 08/04/2014 |
| Location | Fremington Edge, lower slopes east of Cuckoo Hill |
| Civil Parish | Reeth |
| Brit. National Grid | NZ 041 001 |
| Altitude | 235m |
| Geology | Loessic soils at base of scarp slope over glacial, solifluction and colluvial deposits. |
| Record Name | Images of Fremington 2. Ant hills concentrated on steep slopes mark the presence of wind blown or reworked loessic soils. |
| Record Description | Numbers of highly stabilised and vegetated ant hills distributed across this hillslope denote the presence of wind blown (Aeolian) silt or loess. The inhabitants of these ancient ant cities were in flight and enjoying the warm afternoon sun when these photos were taken on 08 April. However there was no sign of a flying ant when SWAAG walked by during sunless dull conditions on 09 April. |
| Dimensions | See photgraphs |
| Additional Notes | Loess or wind blown silt was deposited against steep slopes and in gullies during the immediate post glacial period when violent dust storms caused by cold catabatic winds blowing off the frozen ice on the higher ground deposited quantities of rock flour, the product of glacial erosion. These loessic soils would originally have been much more widespread but were subsequently readily eroded and washed downstream as river born silt to form the high riverbanks of the Lower Swale in the lowlands. |
| Image 1 ID | 5363 Click image to enlarge |
| Image 1 Description | Ant hills on the lower slopes of Fremington Edge. |  |
| Image 2 ID | 5364 Click image to enlarge |
| Image 2 Description | The presence of numbers of ancient ant hills like these denotes the light wind blown loessic soils that ants demand. Ants will not colonise heavy glacial clay soils. |  |
| Image 3 ID | 5365 Click image to enlarge |
| Image 3 Description | These ant hills are immune to damage as this old rabbit hole indicates. |  |
| Image 4 ID | 5366 Click image to enlarge |
| Image 4 Description | The loessic soil is pale yellow in colour and stone free. |  |
