About walls
The dry stone walls at Blackbrook are built almost exclusively of local Rivelin gritstone. A stone which is lighter and softer than the limestones of the White Peak , more regular in shape and generally easier to cut.
Drystone walls support a vast array of wildlife. Many species of lichens and mosses make their homes on walls, some of these create tilth which supports other plants including: pennywort, stonecrop, cranesbill and ivy.
Slowworms and invertibrates live within the nooks and crannies of the walls as do spiders, woodlice, springtails, millipedes, bees and wasps.
Birds such as coal tits, wrens, wheatears, robins, redstarts and little
owls make their nests within the cavities of walls, as do toads, lizards,
voles, fieldmice, shrews, hedgehogs and bats.
Drystone walls help to create microclimates that support species that live nearby. The uncultivated strips of land running alongside dry stone walls act as corridors for wildlife.