Urgent advice needed for the stream in my garden

[Peatfish]

Hi everyone
I posted a while back about the stream in my garden which was totally full of silt/sludge.

I started out trying to remove the sludge manually but it literally would have taken months!

So, I hired a guy with a mini digger and he has removed all of the sludge from the stream. The bed is clay and he stopped once he got to that. We hadn't realised just how much sludge there was going to be. There is literally tons of the stuff! I'm now left with several problems which I'm keen to resolve ASAP so any advice would be much appreciated!!

1. I need to get rid of the sludge. I've attached a picture to give you some idea of the quantity but there's way more than it looks. The main pile would be accessible with a grabber and this is the only solution I can come up with. Does anybody else have any ideas?

2. I don't know what to do with the bed of the stream. I have attached a photo. Somebody has suggested getting some washed hardcore (aggregate) and covering the bed with about 6 inches. Does this sound reasonable or is there a better alternative? I had originally thought that I could pick up some yorkshire stone slabs as people often give them away on Facebook Marketplace - would this be suitable or do I need crushed stone or pebbles of some sort? I guess I don't want to do anything that will impact the flow of the stream?

3. A few of the large stones on the bank must have been held in place by the weight of the sludge/silt and have slipped down (see pictures). They are massive stones and stuck solid now and I'm confident they won't move any further. I'm wondering whether I need to do anything to stop the bank above collapsing. Somebody has suggested buying a few pieces of Yorkshire stone and packing it on top. Does this sound like a good idea?

4. I was hoping that it would be a reasonably straightforward job and that I could do most of it myself. I was worried about the safety aspect more than anything else, I didn't want a child falling in as the sludge was pretty deep. I'm a single dad and don't have much spare time and this seems to be turning into a bit of a nightmare! I'm wondering whether I need to bring in some professionals to finish it off? It would be great to hear what people think? Does anybody know of a company/individual in the Leeds area that they could recommend to help me?

Any help would be much appreciated!!

Cheers


Pete

 

[combatwombat]

Wow. That is truly a mountain of muck. How much property do you have? Could you spread it out? I bet the plants would love it.

 

[Peatfish]

Wow. That is truly a mountain of muck. How much property do you have? Could you spread it out? I bet the plants would love it.

Definitely not enough to get rid of all of that. It's literally tons!!

I think I will have to get a grabber unless somebody can come up with an alternative pretty quickly!!

 

[Tula]

Wow! If it were me I'd call in the professionals.....this looks to be a very big and dirty job.

 

[GBBUDD]

1. I need to get rid of the sludge

you got your self some of the richest soil for gardening play your cards right and get paid to get rid of it instead of paying to haul it away .

Does this sound reasonable or is there a better alternative? I had originally thought that I could pick up some yorkshire stone slabs as people often give them away on Facebook Marketplace - would this be suitable or do I need crushed stone or pebbles of some sort? I guess I don't want to do anything that will impact the flow of the stream?

Id go for flat rock that's RECESSED INTO THE CLAY lay them in so you have the look of the rock but it will look more like ledge than it does river rock though thats option number 2

is clay your areas native soils ? or was it brought in ?

A few of the large stones on the bank must have been held in place by the weight of the sludge/silt

i would have to say rebuild that area with stone just like the rest of the stream rocks laying against the bank with the hand split stones above held in with mortar