Table 3: Results of examination of the block sample (alternate samples from the sequence): notes on preservation and nature of sediment.

Zone	Sample	Notes on sediment and preservation
Zone 1	2	Rather granular slightly woody peat, brown in colour, the wood very decayed; Populus bud-scales mostly reduced to scale without combs; some fine woody roots, and some small clasts of darker ?reworked desiccated humic soil; Menyanthes seeds rather decayed.
	4	Some very decayed wood and some undisaggregated peat; plenty of worn Populus bud-scales; rare clasts of darker brown, slightly sandy material that are presumably inwash.
	6	Rather twiggy woody debris and some undisaggregated peat – quite dark en masse, but much more brown under microscope; wood rather decayed; Populus bud-scales usually without 'combs'; some reworked darker slightly sandy somewhat indurated peat clasts.
	8	Very little decayed wood; rather brown and humified peat fragments; bud-scales mostly rather thinned; perhaps even some evidence of drying and rewetting from a couple of floating seeds.
Zone 2	10	Rather granular woody detritus and a lot of undisaggregated peat – quite dark en masse but rather more brown under microscope; wood rather decayed; Populus bud-scales usually sans combs; charred culm fragments of some sort, but fragments not larger than 5mm.
	12	Rather granular woody detritus and a lot of undisaggregated peat – quite dark en masse but rather more brown under microscope; wood rather decayed; Populus bud-scales usually sans combs; charred culm of some sort, but fragments not larger than 5mm.
	14	Rather granular woody detritus – most of it undisaggregated peat; wood rather degraded; Populus bud-scales mostly sans combs; trace of charred culm, probably reed, but also some charred ?bark; propagules mostly somewhat degraded – though some much better preserved than others.
Zone 3	16	Rather granular woody detritus and a lot of undisaggregated peat – quite dark en masse and peat rather greyer and darker under microscope than above 14; wood moderately well preserved (compared with levels above); Populus bud-scales usually sans combs; charred culm (including ?reed), but fragments never larger than 5mm.
	18	Peat with a few rather large fragments of wood; Populus bud-scales usually somewhat eroded; two unusually large (to 10mm) fragments of charcoal both with characteristic Y-shape and pointed ends; one fragment of ribbed charred leaf which may well be Cladium; some small clasts of somewhat paler and browner or greyer more or less – but only just – cohering very humified peat which look almost like material that has been disaggregated then reformed and mixed back into sample (reworked or an artefact of preparation?); at least one Rumex with a very large tubercle on the perianth as in R. hydrolapathum, though not a very well-preserved specimen otherwise.
	20	Woody peat, wood a little soft and eroded; Populus bud-scales very variable, from whole buds to thin single scales without combs; trace of charcoal and charred herbaceous detritus; quite a lot of well-preserved but mostly fragmentary beetles.
	22	Granular undisaggregated peat and some wood; some darker (firmer) and lighter (looser) clasts of peat – in fact, peat very varicoloured in 2-5mm size clasts – on the whole rather degraded/mixed; and rather a poor flora; Populus bud-scales vary from thinned scales to whole buds; traces of what appear to be pyritised organic concretions.
	24	Twiggy woody peat – very woody, but also plenty of undisaggregated rather firm brown detritus peat; at least one fragment of charcoal almost like worked chip; one unidentified 'large' woody seed (closest to Cratageus monogyna but almost certainly not this); fragments of densely imbricated catkin scales clearly Populus tremula; some very well-preserved whole Populus buds; charred Cladium fruits, as well as uncharred ones; some darker, more indurated peat fragments, perhaps slightly sandy.
	26	Slightly woody detritus peat – dark colour, though wood quite pale when examined closely; preservation generally good, Populus bud-scales often very good (even a whole fresh-looking bud), though sometimes worn; some quite coarse charcoal – all very fresh-looking; some well-preserved beetle fragments.
	28	Woody detritus peat including some quite large fragments of small branches to about 25mm in diameter; preservation appears good, though wood rather pale and soft; some pale grey, brittle, ?pyritised concreted organic material looks as though it formed around plant debris that have then rotted (fragments to 5mm).
Zone 4	30	Very woody detritus peat; some clasts of dark, indurated humic peat/soil with a ?slight mineral component, and some soft peat clasts with grey silty detritus evident; perhaps a little degraded throughout with traces of pyrites on some specimens; Populus bud-scales very variable in preservation.
	32	Woody peat, dark and quite well preserved, wood perhaps a little eroded; Populus bud-scales very variable – some whole buds, some scales thinned and minus combs; rather a lot of <2mm fraction with few identifiable remains in it; traces of pyritised ?organic material.
Zone 5	34	Somewhat woody detritus peat, dark in bag, brown under microscope; some clasts with silty content and with grey colour, some darker and indurated; wood rather soft and sometimes a little worn; overall small content of identifiable remains.
	36	Slightly woody detritus peat: rather grey and slightly silty; traces of concreted grey ?pyritised material; not very rich in identifiable remains and unusually sparse in bud-scales.
	38	Very woody detritus peat – dark in colour, the wood generally well preserved; rather a lot of undisaggregated peat; preservation of propagules generally quite good; most of wood is probably larger twig than trunk/branch 'wood'.
	40	Woody detritus peat – peat rather grey and slightly silty; wood mostly quite firm, well preserved, almost all 'twiggy'.
	42	(Considerable orange staining of bag and orange seepage (which was found to be acidic) from inner bag.) Somewhat granular twiggy woody rather silty (more than other levels?) detritus peat, dark and well preserved, though wood fragments often very soft; the only sample in this sequence to contain (traces of very decayed) tree leaf skeletons; more herbaceous detritus (?mostly reed) than other samples; seeds rather variable in preservation (inwash?).
	44	Twiggy detritus peat – dark and well-preserved; some Potamogeton fruits well preserved, though lacking 'coats'; Populus bud-scales mostly fair to good; quite a lot of well-preserved beetles, though very fragmentary.
	46	(Considerable orange staining of bag and orange seepage from inner bag.) Somewhat flaky-granular twiggy, slightly silty detritus peat, dark and well-preserved, seeds and fruits usually in a good condition, though birch fruits often worn.
	48	(Strong orange staining of bag.) Slightly sandy, very woody peat, dark (although pale with a silty cast when seen under microscope) and with a lot of coarse twigs (some irregular, might be roots?); plenty of well-preserved Potamogeton fruits (2-3 spp.) – indeed, most taxa well-preserved but some worn Menyanthes and Populus bud-scales.
Zone 6	50	(Orange staining of bag.) Twiggy, slightly sandy detritus peat – dark, mostly well preserved, wood and twigs firm, some Populus bud-scales a little eroded; fragments of charred ?reed culm present; examples of Menyanthes from pristine to what looks like chemically corroded; some well-preserved beetle fragments.
	52	(Orange staining of bag.) Twiggy, slightly sandy detritus peat – dark and well preserved; a little sand and flint gravel; wood quite pale but mostly reasonably firm; some mostly well-preserved bud-scales and propagules (though some scales, by contrast, 'holed' and degraded); beetles look well preserved but perhaps rather fragmented; a little pyritised amorphous ?organic material.