One of the smaller quarry pools near the disused railwayay at Stockton

We had seen a Brimstone butterfly on a few occasions, but this was the first time we had seen three together.

(2005) “Stockton's existence is largely due to the deposits of blue lias chalk that virtually surround the village. Now owned by RMC, the cement works and associated quarries are no longer in use, but act as a wildlife reserve and drainage system for the surrounding land.

The cement works and quarries were closed in 1949, when the whole was dynamited and large quantitles of machinery thrown into the larger holes, which have since filled with water. The lakes are stocked with a variety of fish and well used by fishermen, but are extremely dangerous as rotting towers and broken machinery can cause (and have caused) injury. The main quarry site has been fenced since an accident there in the late 1990s.

Spoil heaps and the remains of one of the loading towers. A light railway ran from the top of this tower to transport the lias rock.

The water here is filled with broken up machinery and the remains of the railway.”