Please ignore that noise, that’s my TBR screaming in the background… I have made it my mission to get great books into the hands of the readers who will love them. The mine is drained by a sough (drainage tunnel) which emerges over a mile away on the south side of the River Wye (at Grid Ref SK180698) about 1½ miles west of Ashford-in-the-Water, just upriver from the Bobbin Mill and its bridge over the River Wye. Seriously, this book has enough happening for at least two books and somehow none of it hit the mark the way I assume it was intended.

The Peak District orefield was one of the largest and richest in Britain, and copperwas being mined at Ecton using tools made of bone as far back as the Bronze Age (2000 to 1500BC). We did apologise for leaving One For Sorrow on the ultimate cliff hanger, so now that you can find out what happens next I can’t wait to hear what you think! The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused. The earliest recorded workings at Magpie Mine in the Peak District date from 1740, and the mine was only one of several such ventures working different lead veins in the same area. Right from the start, the miners had difficulty in keeping the workings free from water, but by 1824, a Newcomen type pumping engine had been erected on the Main Shaft.

Terry Pratchett and Jacqueline Simpson, The Folklore of Discworld (London: Random House, 2010), ISBN 1407034243, p. Those who antagonise a magpie—for example by swinging at them with an umbrella—will be perceived as threats and will be treated as such. Co-authored with Amy McCulloch, the book details events at a boarding school from the points of view of two girls – Ivy, written by Zoe, and Audrey, written by Amy. Magpie Mine is located near the village of Sheldon in the Peak District, about 5km west of Bakewell.

Note that magpies are not the only swooping species: masked lapwings and noisy miners also defend nests/territories by mobbing. However, as nesting season progresses, magpies may swoop more frequently and are more likely to make contact with an intruder. I know these are all the questions that I have and over all I am looking forward to the next instalment, fingers crossed for the end of this year. Other stories say that magpies refused to go into the ark with Noah and instead just sat on top, swearing whilst the world went underwater. The first recorded version of the nursery rhyme dates all the way back to 1780, where there was a note in Observations on Popular Antiquities by John Brand.The theme tune was composed and played by the Spencer Davis Group under the alias The Murgatroyd Band, just after Steve Winwood had left to join the supergroup Blind Faith with Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, and Ric Grech. This led to the production of 800 tons of lead in 1827 – a record that remained unbroken until 1871. Urban populations are increasing as drought forces birds from the inland to the coast, but overall this iconic species is in decline.