The Belfry Bulletin No 206 Monthly Journal Of The Bristol Exploration Club
Vol. XIX No.4
Climbing News…… Avon Gorge:
Now that the days are lengthening, climbing has restarted on Thursday evenings. Meet from about 5.30pm onwards by the tennis courts.
Mendip:
There has been a renewal of weekend climbs run from the Belfry. Arrangements for these are usually made on the previous Thursday evening.
Trips have been arrange for weekends away from the Bristol/Mendip area as follows: May 21/23. North Wales. June 4/7. Whitsun at the Dewarstone, Dartmoor. July 16/18. North Wales. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Caving News…. Weekends:
Changing Room:
The committee have requested that all leaders’ of parties should ensure that the Changing Room is left clean and tidy. All articles of clothing are to be removed and, if useless for further trips, should be placed in the well known pit near the Belfry.
The current list is as follows (Names underlined are active or live on Mendip.) K. Abbey, R. Bennett, M. Calvert, J. Cornwell, J. Eatough, M. Baker, B. Ellis, C. Flashaw, K. Franklin, P. Franklin, P.M. Giles, N. Hart, J. Hill, D. Irwin, Miss P. Irwin, R. King, P. Kingston, B. Lane, Dr. O.C. Lloyd, A. MacGregor, A. Meadon, M. Palmer, N. Petty, B. Prewer, B. Reynolds, R. Roberts, A. Sandall, R. Stenner, M. Thompson, S. Tuck, P. Townsend, R. West, M. Wheadon, D, Palmer. Prospective leaders: A., Coase, J. Dryden, C. Harvey, R. White. _______________________________________________________________________________________ Cuthbert’s Leaders:
We continue our ‘Bat and Ball’ epic. Sorry – our article on Bats, written by R.E. Ball. Part two follows: -
BATS ……………Continued from last month’s B.B. The Verspertilionide family contains all other British bats. These range from the fast flying Noctule, slightly larger than the Greater Horseshoe, down to the familiar Pipistrelle, slightly smaller than the Lesser Horseshoe. The Noctule may be seen before dark flying high with a very powerful action. It sometimes flies in company with swifts and swallows and lacks nothing of these birds’ skills. The Pipistrelle is probably the most commonly seen small bat and it is a familiar sight on summer evenings, as it flies about with jerky movements up and down a regular ‘beat’. It must not be assumed that every small bat seen is a Pipistrelle, as identification of species in flight is very difficult, especially in poor light. All bats of this family have a simple nose and are characterised by a lobe of skin called the tragus which projects upwards from the base of the ear. The shape and size of the tragus is one of the means of identifying these bats. The only members of this family encountered in local caves are three of the genus Mystis, these being the Whiskered Bat, Natterer’s Bat and Dauberton’s Bat. There is also a single member of the genus Plecotus – the Long Eared Bat. All of these use caves for hibernation and are to be found in the Mendip area. They are difficult to find, as they creep into small cervices and a diligent search is required to discover them. However, they can occur almost anywhere and we found a Long Eared in the entrance to Goatchurch two years ago, so it’s worth a search. This bat is unmistakable. It is a little larger than the Lesser Horseshoe and has enormous ears – about one and a half inches long!
Page 2 The Myotis bats are difficult to identify into actual species as it is necessary to weigh and measure the bat before identification is certain. All these are a little bigger than the Lesser Horseshoe, but smaller than the Long Eared. Order Vespertilionidae bats hibernate in hollow trees and buildings, so they are not likely to be met by cavers. The remaining species of this family are Serotine, Beckstein’s, Leisler’s and Barvastelle, none of which are known to be of common occurrence locally. In fact, the distribution in Britain of many of our bats is largely unknown. There are very few people actively engaged in bat study and the numbers of authentic records of distribution of the various species are not very high. In an effort to improve our knowledge, the Mammal Society has just launched a scheme for reporting bat sightings. It is hoped from this to produce a more accurate picture of the status of the various bats throughout Great Britain. One widely used method for obtaining information about the movements of bats is that of ringing or ‘banding’ as it is known on America. This has been carried out for many years in several countries and much valuable information has been obtained. The ring used is an open ‘C’ shaped aluminium clip which is gently closed around the forearm near the wrist. It is free to move up and down and, if properly applied, causes no injury to the wing. The bats seem to accept the presence of the ring without annoyance and; although one or two chew the ring, bats have lived for fifteen years with no damage to the ring or injury to the wing. The ring is stamped with a code number and letters for subsequent identification. Each time a ringed bat is recovered, it is weighed and a note taken of its ringed number and date and place of finding. Unlike birds, the bats form an almost static population and a very high recovery rate is obtained of ringed bats. Whereas a bird ringer almost never catches the bird he has ringed, we can expect to find the same bat many times in its lifetime. Hence we can follow one bat throughout its life and if is done for enough bats, we can hope that we shall begin to understand something about the life of our local bat population. A good average of all Mendip caves and mine workings is in operation at the moment, and the local ringers cooperate by working on agreed dates, thus ensuring that on each bat weekend, all the locations are investigated. Throughout the hibernation period these ringing weekends occur about once a month and it is felt that more frequent visits, while giving more information, would cause undue disturbance and upset the validity of the findings. The areas covered are Burrington, Cheddar, Wookey, Banwell, Harptree and several other small caves and mines. All findings are circulated so that each ringer has access to the records for the whole area. It is thought that we now have an almost complete coverage of the Greater Horseshoe bats and it is rare to find one that has not been ringed by the end of the winter. To end with, I would like to repeat the pleas with which I ended the first part of this article – to take great care in all matters regarding out bats. While there is no legal protection for wild animals – other than birds – their future lies in our hands. Man has the power to destroy wild life and unfortunately, this power – coupled with ignorance – has led in the past to the disappearance of many species of birds and animals. Lets us act in a more enlightened manner and realise that the protection of wild life is our responsibility. As cavers, we should take care to protect the life in our caves with the same respect that we show for our stal. formations. Towards this end I hope that this article has done something generate an interest and understanding towards our furry caving brethren. R.E. Ball. Editor’s Note: Elsewhere in this B.B., readers will find a letter lamenting the poor standard of informative articles in the B.B. This article, and the recent one by Derek Ford on the formation of Cuthbert’s should, we feel, be excepted from such criticism. We try to provide something for all club members form time to time and, although we usually have to split a long article such as this one, such material is always most welcome. What about other specialists having a go at educating, informing and entertaining us? P.S. Although the point about the care of bats and formations is well put and taken, we are afraid that if bats are treated the way some formations are, parties would have to go down at regular intervals to clean them!
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A New Discovery in South Wales ……by Jill Tuck. A hill in the neighbourhood of Newport was mined extensively for lead, chiefly during the midnineteenth century, and many pits and shafts can still be seen there. One of the mines consists of about a thousand feet of passage and is known to local cavers, so Norman and I accompanied by Laurie Williams and Tony Davies of B.N.S. Caving Club, set out for a few weeks ago and have a look at it. While searching for the entrance, however, we came across another small hole; stones dropped in fell a guesstimated distance of fifty feet plus and a strong draught was felt, so our original intention was abandoned in favour of the unknown. After some gardening, it was possible to drop a ladder and, after feeding in about eighty feet, we climbed in cautiously to find ourselves on a steep earthen slope, sliding down the side of a rift chamber. From all appearances then and later, it was obvious that the site had not been entered since it was abandoned. Beautiful white, cream, coffee coloured and red stal. was abundant. Straws, thicker stalactites, stal. flows helictites, miniature gours, pool coral and curtains at an early stage of development could be seen throughout the cave. Many were coated with ‘snow’ type of deposition once common in Upper Swildons, and the appearance of most of the passages compared favourably with any of the ‘pretty’ caves on Mendip, except perhaps Balch’s Hole. I did not see any stalagmites longer than about four inches. In one place the rock wall resembled the Beehive in Lamb Leer, being streaked with stal. and mineral deposits. There were also frequent examples of a type of stal. quite new to me and a separate description will follow if the editor can stand more screed (yes please Jill – Ed.) In general, the mine consisted of three or four parallel rifts, mostly over fifty feet high and ten feet wide, lying at an angle of about 70o. Piles of loose boulders hade been dumped in many places by the miners and digging would reveal more workings. The rifts were connected by short cross passages, while there were many other ways leading off the main rifts. As a rough estimate, there is well over a thousand feet of passage so far and the total depth exceeds a hundred and fifty feet. We examined the mine closely with a view to deciding its probable age and origin, and came to the conclusion that much of it could be natural cave and that a hole through which we entered was probably not the original entrance, but a later subsidence of part of the roof. We could not find any shot holes, there was only one beam of wood (lying loose against the wall) and the presence of charcoal scattered about the floor suggested that the mine might have been worked by the old method of heating the rock by fire to shatter it. On the other hand, this ‘charcoal’ may turn out to be decomposed wood. As we tramped through the first rift, we came across a few bones and an almost complete animal skull, but is was not until some four hours later that we made a major discovery. At the end of one passage blocked by a pile of miners’ infill, Laurie spotted a large piece of pottery and, searching amongst the rocks, we found pieces of comb carved out of bone. The comb was of unusual construction, the teeth being carved in sets of from four to six teeth, which were then set between two other pieces of bone which formed the handle. Each set of teeth had a plug protruding out from each side. This plug was carved integrally with the set of teeth and was not an insertion, and these plugs fitted into a row of matching holes in each handle piece. A rough sketch, drawn from memory and not to scale is Sketch of Comb and Teeth inserts shown on the right.
Page 4 Bones were abundant here, and I collected several of them. These bones, with the comb were sent for expert identification and Bristol Museum Authorities have now dated them as being of the last half of the First Century A.D. There is a possibility that our discovery is a genuine Roman lead mine. Cardiff Museum are sending representatives to inspect the mine and, because of the possible importance of the find, I am sorry that it is not possible to publish the location of the mine until it has been expertly examined. Editor’s Note: Jill has promised us more information about this find as soon as it becomes available, and we are sure that the club members would like to know more, and if possible, visit the place later when all is clear from the archaeological point of view. Jill, being an ex-Pen Park Hole type, has clearly been putting into practice the old motto ‘The B.E.C. get everywhere!’ Only one thing puzzles me. What did the Roman miners carry combs down the pit with them for? _______________________________________________________________________________________
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R S 111a, Winner St., Paignton, S. Devon. 23rd April, 1965.
Dear Editor, Once upon a B.E.C. time, there used to appear in the B.B. some very good articles of general interest on archaeology, local Mendip History and a lot more details of people’s own caving exploits. But now, with all due respect to the authors, we don’t seem to advance beyond cave photography occasionally and surveying fairly frequently. One particular whim of mine at the moment is to learn something about the geological history of the Mendips, with some particular regard to the formation of its caves. Could it not be possible for some one (Dr. Ford excepted) to produce a series of articles on this matter? I am sure that some of the young members might appreciate some understanding of the caves they explore. Besides this subject, there must be others not yet touched upon that might be of general interest. I will make no suggestions of possible topics, but will appeal to other members to make use of the B.B. in a similar manner by making their own suggestions known. Maybe we shall all benefit by the results. Michael A. Palmer. As Mike says, it is all a question of what is sent in. Do YOU feel there is a lack of suitable reading matter? Even if you can’t contribute, you can write in and say what you want! _______________________________________________________________________________________
Personal Congratulations to ‘Sett’ and Jan on the birth of their son. If my spy system is working, he was born on April 7th, weighed six and a half pounds and is to be called Julian Guy.