It's Guess the Cave time! A prize for anyone who can guess which cave this is. Hint, it's within a 20 minute drive of Bristol, but not in the Mendips.The answer will be given in the next issue, along with any hilariously inept guesses.
Spring
is here and lockdown restrictions are starting to ease in various parts
of the country. We're looking forward to a return to local caving and so
more trip reports! We're pretty amazed that we've managed to keep the
newsletter going every month in Plague Times, so a big thank you to
everyone who has contributed articles, photos and other stuff. We even
have material in hand for the next issue, so many thanks to Lena
Ferriday, Steve Hobbs and Dickon Morris! Your contributions haven't been
overlooked, but your editors are about to collapse in a heap,
exhausted.
The number of people who Read to the End and email us with comments is really great, and your emails delight our little editorial hearts, so please keep them coming!
We get on average over 100 people opening the newsletter every month. The number of 'reads' will be higher than that, as the stats don't pick up anyone who reads on preview without fully opening. This is a massively high proportion of the membership ad makes the effort of putting this together every month all worthwhile.
As Mia will be studying abroad next academic year, please welcome Zac Woodford as a member of the editorial team! Anyone else who wants to get involved would also be most welcome.
The Tuesday evening quiz and pub nights have continued, and the weekly practice showed, as you'll see later. Keep an eye on Facebook for details but if you're not on there and would like to come along, let us know and we'll get the links for the Zoom calls sent over to you.
Everyone is going through difficult times and if any member - new or old - is struggling with anything and wants a listening ear, remember that UBSS is a supportive community that is always here to help. So drop us a line if you'd ever like to chat!
Back issues of the newsletter can be found here.
The number of people who Read to the End and email us with comments is really great, and your emails delight our little editorial hearts, so please keep them coming!
We get on average over 100 people opening the newsletter every month. The number of 'reads' will be higher than that, as the stats don't pick up anyone who reads on preview without fully opening. This is a massively high proportion of the membership ad makes the effort of putting this together every month all worthwhile.
As Mia will be studying abroad next academic year, please welcome Zac Woodford as a member of the editorial team! Anyone else who wants to get involved would also be most welcome.
The Tuesday evening quiz and pub nights have continued, and the weekly practice showed, as you'll see later. Keep an eye on Facebook for details but if you're not on there and would like to come along, let us know and we'll get the links for the Zoom calls sent over to you.
Everyone is going through difficult times and if any member - new or old - is struggling with anything and wants a listening ear, remember that UBSS is a supportive community that is always here to help. So drop us a line if you'd ever like to chat!
Back issues of the newsletter can be found here.
Linda and Mia
THE STUDENT PREZZ'S BIT
Student Prezz Henry Morgan posing in front of a sign demonstrating how to abseil off a perfectly sound belay.
As we move with great excitement towards the easing of lockdown and a resumption of underground activities, I have been asked as incoming student president to write a few words for the newsletter.
First of all, I would like to extend my thanks to the committee of last year for coping so admirably despite the disruption and lack of opportunity to organise the events which we all look forward to so much. The committee is largely similar this year, with the loss of Mia as a newsletter editor (to be replaced by Zac) as she moves to her year abroad. I hope that this means there will be opportunity to put in place the plans that were made last year for an active year of caving ahead.
I have a great deal of hope for the year ahead, that within the next few weeks and months we will be able to get back to exploring new caves, teaching new members about caving and, of course, enjoying a beer or two with friends we haven’t seen in a while. I am particularly looking forward to the trip to the Gouffre Berger (and wider Vercours area) in August/September (fingers crossed!) and a return of club weekends at the hut in Burrington Coombe. I’m sure that the hard work that goes into organising these events will make them worth the wait after such a disappointing year for underground activity.
I hope that many of you share the excitement that I have for a return to mixing with other cavers, and I hope to see plenty of you underground in the near future.
Student Prezz Henry Morgan posing in front of a sign demonstrating how to abseil off a perfectly sound belay.
As we move with great excitement towards the easing of lockdown and a resumption of underground activities, I have been asked as incoming student president to write a few words for the newsletter.
First of all, I would like to extend my thanks to the committee of last year for coping so admirably despite the disruption and lack of opportunity to organise the events which we all look forward to so much. The committee is largely similar this year, with the loss of Mia as a newsletter editor (to be replaced by Zac) as she moves to her year abroad. I hope that this means there will be opportunity to put in place the plans that were made last year for an active year of caving ahead.
I have a great deal of hope for the year ahead, that within the next few weeks and months we will be able to get back to exploring new caves, teaching new members about caving and, of course, enjoying a beer or two with friends we haven’t seen in a while. I am particularly looking forward to the trip to the Gouffre Berger (and wider Vercours area) in August/September (fingers crossed!) and a return of club weekends at the hut in Burrington Coombe. I’m sure that the hard work that goes into organising these events will make them worth the wait after such a disappointing year for underground activity.
I hope that many of you share the excitement that I have for a return to mixing with other cavers, and I hope to see plenty of you underground in the near future.
Henry Morgan
A CAUTIOUS RETURN TO CAVING
A cave that isn't in Bristol!! Nathan Cubitt posing with Whatley Mammoth and his young cousin, St. Front, in Shute Shelve Cavern, Mendip, with some of that pesky cryogenic stal muscling in on the shot on the bottom left corner.
With the phased return to a more 'normal' life, we've done our best to collate some information for you regarding what all the government guidance might mean for caving. As ever, there are a lot of grey areas, but we how the following with be of some help. Please note that the guidance referred to here only covers England. As yet, we don't have a clear picture for Scotland and Wales. If any members in those areas can supply details for the next newsletter, that would be very helpful.
An email from the Chair of the Council of Southern Caving Clubs.
Dear Southern Cavers,
It is with some relief that as from Monday 29th March that the national "stay at home" rule will end, and the long path to a return to something like normality can begin. This means that it is no longer illegal to leave home without a valid excuse, though the government asks that we all minimise the number of journeys we make. From Monday 29th it is also permitted for up to 6 people, or two households, to meet outdoors and for people to take part formally organised outdoor sports.
The government's COVID-19 Response document can be found here.
Given the above advice, it is likely that many cavers will be contemplating a welcome return to the underground. Whilst welcoming this long awaited event, CSCC would like to remind cavers that things are not yet back to normal and request that cavers carefully consider their actions when returning to caving areas in the South.
Firstly, please ensure that your actions are in line with the latest government advice, noting that the dates given may be subject to change depending upon how the infection statistics are responding. Secondly please plan your return trips carefully, remember you may be somewhat rusty after a year or so off so best to start your return gently (especially as rescue teams will still be hampered by having to adhere to measures to reduce t he chance of infection). Thirdly please be considerate to the local communities, the pandemic is not over yet. As such some landowners may not be happy with visits until lockdown is completely lifted (as was the case last summer). As such it is advisable to check with the landowner prior to visiting and not just assume it is OK. Please let CSCC know if you come across any such access issues (either email one of the officers via the webpage or the CSCC Facebook page) so that we can spread the news. Finally please try to avoid crowding popular caves and parking places in your eagerness to get back underground.
As yet overnight stays are not possible, and it is likely that most (if not all) of the caving huts will remain closed (this is a decision for individual member clubs).
CSCC will endevour to keep you up to speed with the situation as it evolves via the usual outlets.
All the best,
Ed Waters (CSCC Chair)
The British Caving Association has issued a Covid Roadmap Update.
You can read this in full here, and this also contains some useful links.
What does this mean for the use of the Hut?
Key dates are as follows:
12th April (Step 2). From this date, use of self-contained accommodation is allowed i.e. possibly club huts on a single household basis, plus the “rule of 6” outdoors but with the caveat still, to minimise travel. This seems to pave the way for the use of the Hut by a single household at a time (and in this context, a 'bubble' does appear to come within the definition of household).
17th May (Step 3). From this date, restrictions will allow up to two groups of six or two households to meet indoors and stay overnight potentially allowing more use of the Hut. Additionally, there appear to be no travel restrictions and with up to 30 people able to meet outdoors, this will hopefully allow a return to more “normal” caving activities and use of the hut.
Please note that the hut is only available for use by members accompanied by guests who fall within the above guidance. The hut is not open for booking by outside groups.
For all bookings, please contact the club's Covid Officer, Imogen Clement, and if you have any queries, Imogen will do her best to help.
A cave that isn't in Bristol!! Nathan Cubitt posing with Whatley Mammoth and his young cousin, St. Front, in Shute Shelve Cavern, Mendip, with some of that pesky cryogenic stal muscling in on the shot on the bottom left corner.
With the phased return to a more 'normal' life, we've done our best to collate some information for you regarding what all the government guidance might mean for caving. As ever, there are a lot of grey areas, but we how the following with be of some help. Please note that the guidance referred to here only covers England. As yet, we don't have a clear picture for Scotland and Wales. If any members in those areas can supply details for the next newsletter, that would be very helpful.
An email from the Chair of the Council of Southern Caving Clubs.
Dear Southern Cavers,
It is with some relief that as from Monday 29th March that the national "stay at home" rule will end, and the long path to a return to something like normality can begin. This means that it is no longer illegal to leave home without a valid excuse, though the government asks that we all minimise the number of journeys we make. From Monday 29th it is also permitted for up to 6 people, or two households, to meet outdoors and for people to take part formally organised outdoor sports.
The government's COVID-19 Response document can be found here.
Given the above advice, it is likely that many cavers will be contemplating a welcome return to the underground. Whilst welcoming this long awaited event, CSCC would like to remind cavers that things are not yet back to normal and request that cavers carefully consider their actions when returning to caving areas in the South.
Firstly, please ensure that your actions are in line with the latest government advice, noting that the dates given may be subject to change depending upon how the infection statistics are responding. Secondly please plan your return trips carefully, remember you may be somewhat rusty after a year or so off so best to start your return gently (especially as rescue teams will still be hampered by having to adhere to measures to reduce t he chance of infection). Thirdly please be considerate to the local communities, the pandemic is not over yet. As such some landowners may not be happy with visits until lockdown is completely lifted (as was the case last summer). As such it is advisable to check with the landowner prior to visiting and not just assume it is OK. Please let CSCC know if you come across any such access issues (either email one of the officers via the webpage or the CSCC Facebook page) so that we can spread the news. Finally please try to avoid crowding popular caves and parking places in your eagerness to get back underground.
As yet overnight stays are not possible, and it is likely that most (if not all) of the caving huts will remain closed (this is a decision for individual member clubs).
CSCC will endevour to keep you up to speed with the situation as it evolves via the usual outlets.
All the best,
Ed Waters (CSCC Chair)
The British Caving Association has issued a Covid Roadmap Update.
You can read this in full here, and this also contains some useful links.
What does this mean for the use of the Hut?
Key dates are as follows:
12th April (Step 2). From this date, use of self-contained accommodation is allowed i.e. possibly club huts on a single household basis, plus the “rule of 6” outdoors but with the caveat still, to minimise travel. This seems to pave the way for the use of the Hut by a single household at a time (and in this context, a 'bubble' does appear to come within the definition of household).
17th May (Step 3). From this date, restrictions will allow up to two groups of six or two households to meet indoors and stay overnight potentially allowing more use of the Hut. Additionally, there appear to be no travel restrictions and with up to 30 people able to meet outdoors, this will hopefully allow a return to more “normal” caving activities and use of the hut.
Please note that the hut is only available for use by members accompanied by guests who fall within the above guidance. The hut is not open for booking by outside groups.
For all bookings, please contact the club's Covid Officer, Imogen Clement, and if you have any queries, Imogen will do her best to help.
WARNING - MASSIVE ROCKFALL IN G.B. CAVERN
Boulder pile now covering the lower half of the Waterfall Climb in Main Chamber. Photo Linda Wilson.
The following warning has been issued by Linda Wilson in her capacity as CCC Ltd Conservation Officer. Please read and don't be tempted to cross the tapes to inspect this for yourself!
In early February, the following report was circulated on a rockfall in GB by the Waterfall Climb in Main Chamber:
“There has been a recent fall of mud, gravel and smallish boulders on the left (when viewed facing downstream) of the waterfall climb, near the bottom of Main Chamber. The wall above the last part of the climb (the big steps) appears as it did before, but should be considered loose due to the recent fall. The top part is calcited but might be subject to further falls, although it is equally possible that it might not change for a long time. However, as assessing such future possibilities is not an exact science, care should be taken here, and everyone should conduct their own risk assessments whenever they approach this area from any direction. There are still loose rocks almost covering the steps and when inspected it was not possible to pass the steps without using the unconsolidated debris. The floor below the climb is currently covered with unconsolidated debris and the boulders here will move underfoot when stepped on, so care should also be taken here.”
A further inspection trip was scheduled for 6 April, following the relaxation of covid restrictions. On 5th April, a report was received of a further fall. The inspection trip comprised myself, Dave King and Graham Price (plus two others). We found that a large area of the side of the passage above the big steps on the left hand side (when travelling into the cave, heading downstream) has come away, resulting in a massive, unstable talus cone of boulders, large rocks, smaller shattered rocks and mud that now completely covers the steps almost to the base of the ledge in the middle of the climb. Boulders and large rocks are spread over a wide area in the passage below the climb.
There is still a ridge of loosely calcited unstable rock high up on the wall above this area, so further falls cannot be ruled out. In addition, there has been some mud slumping on the right hand side of the passage when going downstream and this area might also be subject to some movement.
A thorough inspection was carried out. As a result, warning tape has been placed across the passage above and below the climb, stating: “WARNING, LOOSE BOULDERS, DO NOT USE WATERFALL CLIMB, USE WHITE PASSAGE/LOOP ROUTE INSTEAD, CCC Ltd 6.4.21” These signs are laminated and attached to the tape with cable ties. A sign was also placed at the Bridge and one has been hung from the bar in the entrance. Please DO NOT cross these tapes to look at the fall.
As there is an alternative route to reach the lower part of the cave and Bat Passage, it was not felt necessary to close the cave as the area around the Waterfall climb can be bypassed in entirety, and the taping below the climb was placed some distance outside the furthest extent of the boulder fall. It will need several years of winter water conditions to even start to stabilise this area, so this part of the cave will need to remain off limits for the foreseeable future. The situation will be monitored. An attempt was made at fixed point photography so we have a baseline for the monitoring. As an aside, one of our original fixed photography points at the base of the lower ‘big step’ for SSSI monitoring is now completely covered by the talus cone. This is certainly the most dramatic change to the cave in the time I have been conducting the monitoring! Previously to this, the only change in the photos was the door falling off one of the cars at the very top of the Gorge.
A further news report with photographs will be put together and published.
Would all club reps please circulate this warning as widely as possible in your clubs and ensure that key issuing procedures include this warning. Also please ask all parties to report any broken tape or missing warning signs so that we can replace them. For information there is one sign in the blockhouse, one at the Bridge and three hanging from each section of tape.
If anyone has any queries, please let me know.
Boulder pile now covering the lower half of the Waterfall Climb in Main Chamber. Photo Linda Wilson.
The following warning has been issued by Linda Wilson in her capacity as CCC Ltd Conservation Officer. Please read and don't be tempted to cross the tapes to inspect this for yourself!
In early February, the following report was circulated on a rockfall in GB by the Waterfall Climb in Main Chamber:
“There has been a recent fall of mud, gravel and smallish boulders on the left (when viewed facing downstream) of the waterfall climb, near the bottom of Main Chamber. The wall above the last part of the climb (the big steps) appears as it did before, but should be considered loose due to the recent fall. The top part is calcited but might be subject to further falls, although it is equally possible that it might not change for a long time. However, as assessing such future possibilities is not an exact science, care should be taken here, and everyone should conduct their own risk assessments whenever they approach this area from any direction. There are still loose rocks almost covering the steps and when inspected it was not possible to pass the steps without using the unconsolidated debris. The floor below the climb is currently covered with unconsolidated debris and the boulders here will move underfoot when stepped on, so care should also be taken here.”
A further inspection trip was scheduled for 6 April, following the relaxation of covid restrictions. On 5th April, a report was received of a further fall. The inspection trip comprised myself, Dave King and Graham Price (plus two others). We found that a large area of the side of the passage above the big steps on the left hand side (when travelling into the cave, heading downstream) has come away, resulting in a massive, unstable talus cone of boulders, large rocks, smaller shattered rocks and mud that now completely covers the steps almost to the base of the ledge in the middle of the climb. Boulders and large rocks are spread over a wide area in the passage below the climb.
There is still a ridge of loosely calcited unstable rock high up on the wall above this area, so further falls cannot be ruled out. In addition, there has been some mud slumping on the right hand side of the passage when going downstream and this area might also be subject to some movement.
A thorough inspection was carried out. As a result, warning tape has been placed across the passage above and below the climb, stating: “WARNING, LOOSE BOULDERS, DO NOT USE WATERFALL CLIMB, USE WHITE PASSAGE/LOOP ROUTE INSTEAD, CCC Ltd 6.4.21” These signs are laminated and attached to the tape with cable ties. A sign was also placed at the Bridge and one has been hung from the bar in the entrance. Please DO NOT cross these tapes to look at the fall.
As there is an alternative route to reach the lower part of the cave and Bat Passage, it was not felt necessary to close the cave as the area around the Waterfall climb can be bypassed in entirety, and the taping below the climb was placed some distance outside the furthest extent of the boulder fall. It will need several years of winter water conditions to even start to stabilise this area, so this part of the cave will need to remain off limits for the foreseeable future. The situation will be monitored. An attempt was made at fixed point photography so we have a baseline for the monitoring. As an aside, one of our original fixed photography points at the base of the lower ‘big step’ for SSSI monitoring is now completely covered by the talus cone. This is certainly the most dramatic change to the cave in the time I have been conducting the monitoring! Previously to this, the only change in the photos was the door falling off one of the cars at the very top of the Gorge.
A further news report with photographs will be put together and published.
Would all club reps please circulate this warning as widely as possible in your clubs and ensure that key issuing procedures include this warning. Also please ask all parties to report any broken tape or missing warning signs so that we can replace them. For information there is one sign in the blockhouse, one at the Bridge and three hanging from each section of tape.
If anyone has any queries, please let me know.
Linda Wilson
CCC Ltd Conservation Officer
CCC Ltd Conservation Officer
TRIP REPORT - GB
New boulder pile at the base of the Waterfall climb. Photo by Linda Wilson.
Linda reports on the inspection trip to check out the rockfalls in the vicinity of the Waterfall climb in GB.
On a bright, sunny Tuesday morning, myself, Clive Owen and Helen Rossington headed out to Mendip to meet CCC Ltd directors Graham Price and Dave King. This was our first opportunity following the easing of lockdown restrictions to check out the situation at the Waterfall climb. Based on a report received the previous day of a further fall, we'd gone armed with warning tape and signs (nicely printed and laminated by Richard Rossington during a garden lunch on Easter Monday). See, we can do planning and preparation when we get our act together!
More boulders!
We arrived at the Waterfall climb and stared in amazement at a huge talus cone of bounders in ever conceivable size and shape covering the bottom half of the Waterfall climb. As I stated in my formal report, above, we inspected this from above and below and approached as close as we dared, bearing in mind the risk of further collapse. We took photos and Dave attempted to set up a fixed photographic station for further monitoring. We then placed warming tape across the passage at both the top and bottom of the climb, fixing the bottom tape outside the drop zone. The bounders had bounced a hell of a long way down the slope!
The side of the passage high up on the left showing the line between what has fallen and what is still clinging to the 'wall'.
Getting decent photos was hard, and the ones here are just ones I was able to get on my phone camera. If Dave and Graham got better ones on their cameras, I'll include in next month's newsletter. Please don't be tempted to cross the tapes to take a closer look at the debris pile. There could well be further falls from the section of 'wall' on the left hand side of the passage (when going downstream).
Taping outside the dropzone below the climb.
This is certainly the most dramatic natural event to have occurred in the cave since the 1968 flood which spread mud from the top of the Gorge to the Ladder Dig and it will take time for winter water to in any way stabilise the area. We will be monitoring for further movement in the area. Please, please if you see that tapes and signs have been broken/removed, let me know so that these can be replaced. And, as ever, be aware that caves can change without warning and cave safe!
Helen and Clive very reluctantly posing for a photo!
We emerged nearly three hours later into a snowstorm! Yep, Mendip weather is that changeable!
Linda Wilson
New boulder pile at the base of the Waterfall climb. Photo by Linda Wilson.
Linda reports on the inspection trip to check out the rockfalls in the vicinity of the Waterfall climb in GB.
On a bright, sunny Tuesday morning, myself, Clive Owen and Helen Rossington headed out to Mendip to meet CCC Ltd directors Graham Price and Dave King. This was our first opportunity following the easing of lockdown restrictions to check out the situation at the Waterfall climb. Based on a report received the previous day of a further fall, we'd gone armed with warning tape and signs (nicely printed and laminated by Richard Rossington during a garden lunch on Easter Monday). See, we can do planning and preparation when we get our act together!
More boulders!
We arrived at the Waterfall climb and stared in amazement at a huge talus cone of bounders in ever conceivable size and shape covering the bottom half of the Waterfall climb. As I stated in my formal report, above, we inspected this from above and below and approached as close as we dared, bearing in mind the risk of further collapse. We took photos and Dave attempted to set up a fixed photographic station for further monitoring. We then placed warming tape across the passage at both the top and bottom of the climb, fixing the bottom tape outside the drop zone. The bounders had bounced a hell of a long way down the slope!
The side of the passage high up on the left showing the line between what has fallen and what is still clinging to the 'wall'.
Getting decent photos was hard, and the ones here are just ones I was able to get on my phone camera. If Dave and Graham got better ones on their cameras, I'll include in next month's newsletter. Please don't be tempted to cross the tapes to take a closer look at the debris pile. There could well be further falls from the section of 'wall' on the left hand side of the passage (when going downstream).
Taping outside the dropzone below the climb.
This is certainly the most dramatic natural event to have occurred in the cave since the 1968 flood which spread mud from the top of the Gorge to the Ladder Dig and it will take time for winter water to in any way stabilise the area. We will be monitoring for further movement in the area. Please, please if you see that tapes and signs have been broken/removed, let me know so that these can be replaced. And, as ever, be aware that caves can change without warning and cave safe!
Helen and Clive very reluctantly posing for a photo!
We emerged nearly three hours later into a snowstorm! Yep, Mendip weather is that changeable!
Linda Wilson
AGM REPORT
One Zoom screen chosen at random from many.
2021 became the first year in which the society held a wholly virtual AGM, talk and after-party. Much to our collective amazement, the evening went off without even our usual levels of faff, possibly due to some very un-UBSS levels of Planning and Preparation in the hope of Preventing Piss-Poor Performance. Not like us at all. Rest assured, normal service has now resumed and we are back to our Default Faff Setting.
A total of 53 (give or take a few) attended, comprising members, friends and some Very Special Guests. After the opening remarks from the Hon.Prezz, we were joined for five minutes by our first Special Guest. Ozymandias Cronkshank, who later narrowly escaped being co-opted to committee. His arrival was heralded by young Eddie Henry calling out, "GOAT!" and later, when Ozzy's friends and family appeared, Eddie demonstrated an enviable ability to count by then calling, "THREE GOATS!" Any rumours that Graham is now training him up for the Treasurer's role are most likely to be true.
Ozymandias Cronkshank, Kid of Kids. Photo courtesy of Sharon Wheeler.
After that, the first item of business was, under the new constitution, the election of 16 voting alumni for the year. Naturally, we'd given no thought to process and no one had put themselves forward, other than reserving voting positions for the Hon Prezz, Hon Moneybags and the two non-student members on committee, so people needed to be voluntold. Suggestions were promptly made, no one ran away yelling "NO!" and it became a case of 'get picked on, then it's your turn to pick' in best playground fashion, except for the lack of unseemly squabbling.
The end result was that the following now have the vote for a year: Andrew Atkinson, Ruth Briggs, Rosie Daniels, Andy Farrant, Ashley Gregg, Sioned Haughton, John Hauser, Adam Henry, Steve Hobbs, Dickon Morris, Gina Moseley, Graham Mullan, Elaine Oliver, Clive Owen, Steve Trudgill, Linda Wilson. However, armed with this new found power, no one got the chance to abuse it, as apart from the election of the committee, no votes were held. But if an EGM is needed for any reason, these are now the voting alumni reps for the year. For the avoidance of doubt, all student members automatically have a vote.
The committee for the year consists of: Elaine Oliver (Hon President) Henry Morgan (Student President), Andrew Atkinson, Cat Henry, Clive Owen, Linda Wilson (Vice-Presidents), Merryn Matthews (Hon Secretary), Graham Mullan (Hon Treasurer), Imogen Clement (Student Treasurer), Sam Bowers, Megan Malpas, Zac Woodford, Nathan Cubitt, Sioned Haughton, Ashley Gregg.
After the usual reports (which will appear in Proceedings), two new members were elected: Nick Simons and Jan Walker. The Hon Moneybags promptly demanded money with menaces and they both equally promptly paid up.
After the formal business closed, everyone dispersed into a series of Zoom breakout rooms for virtual cocktails and chat. At 8.15pm we were joined by our second Special Guest, Rick Stanton, hero of the Thai cave rescue, who was in quarantine in a hotel in Australia, there to work on the film, 13 Lives, currently being made about the rescue. This stars Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings) as Rick and Colin Farrell as John Volanthen.
Rick's title slide, used with his kind permission.
For nearly 50 minutes, Rick took us on a whistle-stop tour of his amazing caving and cave-diving career, culminating in the behind-the-scenes story of the rescue that had the entire world on the edge of its seat, that of the Wild Boars football team and their young coach from the Tham Luang Caves in Thailand. For those who missed Rick's talk, you'll soon be able to read the full story in Rick's upcoming autobiography, Aquanaut, being published this summer by Michael Joseph (a division of Penguin Random House).
After the talk, there was a lively Q&A with Rick, which went on as long as the talk, with everyone who wanted to getting an opportunity to ask a question. As recompense for giving up two hours of his time at sparrowfart on a Sunday morning, Rick was promised a couple of UBSS buffs, a keyring torch and a UBSS pen. Looking suitably gratified, he was heard to remark that the goat got paid more than he did. True fact. It's also a true fact that Eddie Henry didn't yell: "RICK STANTON!" when our hero appeared in the screen. However, we've now been informed that Ozymandias Cronkshank has been offered a part in the hotly awaited Broadway musical of the rescue, playing Rick, in a shameless attempt to appeal to the younger audience. His agent says that Ozzy is willing to shave his hair off for the part, just as Mr Mortensen has done. The trio are said to be getting along famously.
Mia practising Goat Yoga. Unfortunately, it was well past Ozzy's bedtime, so Henry had to take his place.
When Rick was finally allowed to get his much delayed breakfast, everyone scattered into breakout rooms again for the rest of the evening, gradually all coalescing into a party in which, in the time-honoured manner, there was table traversing, pole dancing and general piss-taking.
Dickon, looking for a goat.
The party finally broke up around 2am. Many thanks to Rick for accepting our invitation to talk at the AGM and for helping make our first Zoom AGM a huge success. Just don't expect anyone quite so famous next year!
One Zoom screen chosen at random from many.
2021 became the first year in which the society held a wholly virtual AGM, talk and after-party. Much to our collective amazement, the evening went off without even our usual levels of faff, possibly due to some very un-UBSS levels of Planning and Preparation in the hope of Preventing Piss-Poor Performance. Not like us at all. Rest assured, normal service has now resumed and we are back to our Default Faff Setting.
A total of 53 (give or take a few) attended, comprising members, friends and some Very Special Guests. After the opening remarks from the Hon.Prezz, we were joined for five minutes by our first Special Guest. Ozymandias Cronkshank, who later narrowly escaped being co-opted to committee. His arrival was heralded by young Eddie Henry calling out, "GOAT!" and later, when Ozzy's friends and family appeared, Eddie demonstrated an enviable ability to count by then calling, "THREE GOATS!" Any rumours that Graham is now training him up for the Treasurer's role are most likely to be true.
Ozymandias Cronkshank, Kid of Kids. Photo courtesy of Sharon Wheeler.
After that, the first item of business was, under the new constitution, the election of 16 voting alumni for the year. Naturally, we'd given no thought to process and no one had put themselves forward, other than reserving voting positions for the Hon Prezz, Hon Moneybags and the two non-student members on committee, so people needed to be voluntold. Suggestions were promptly made, no one ran away yelling "NO!" and it became a case of 'get picked on, then it's your turn to pick' in best playground fashion, except for the lack of unseemly squabbling.
The end result was that the following now have the vote for a year: Andrew Atkinson, Ruth Briggs, Rosie Daniels, Andy Farrant, Ashley Gregg, Sioned Haughton, John Hauser, Adam Henry, Steve Hobbs, Dickon Morris, Gina Moseley, Graham Mullan, Elaine Oliver, Clive Owen, Steve Trudgill, Linda Wilson. However, armed with this new found power, no one got the chance to abuse it, as apart from the election of the committee, no votes were held. But if an EGM is needed for any reason, these are now the voting alumni reps for the year. For the avoidance of doubt, all student members automatically have a vote.
The committee for the year consists of: Elaine Oliver (Hon President) Henry Morgan (Student President), Andrew Atkinson, Cat Henry, Clive Owen, Linda Wilson (Vice-Presidents), Merryn Matthews (Hon Secretary), Graham Mullan (Hon Treasurer), Imogen Clement (Student Treasurer), Sam Bowers, Megan Malpas, Zac Woodford, Nathan Cubitt, Sioned Haughton, Ashley Gregg.
After the usual reports (which will appear in Proceedings), two new members were elected: Nick Simons and Jan Walker. The Hon Moneybags promptly demanded money with menaces and they both equally promptly paid up.
After the formal business closed, everyone dispersed into a series of Zoom breakout rooms for virtual cocktails and chat. At 8.15pm we were joined by our second Special Guest, Rick Stanton, hero of the Thai cave rescue, who was in quarantine in a hotel in Australia, there to work on the film, 13 Lives, currently being made about the rescue. This stars Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings) as Rick and Colin Farrell as John Volanthen.
Rick's title slide, used with his kind permission.
For nearly 50 minutes, Rick took us on a whistle-stop tour of his amazing caving and cave-diving career, culminating in the behind-the-scenes story of the rescue that had the entire world on the edge of its seat, that of the Wild Boars football team and their young coach from the Tham Luang Caves in Thailand. For those who missed Rick's talk, you'll soon be able to read the full story in Rick's upcoming autobiography, Aquanaut, being published this summer by Michael Joseph (a division of Penguin Random House).
After the talk, there was a lively Q&A with Rick, which went on as long as the talk, with everyone who wanted to getting an opportunity to ask a question. As recompense for giving up two hours of his time at sparrowfart on a Sunday morning, Rick was promised a couple of UBSS buffs, a keyring torch and a UBSS pen. Looking suitably gratified, he was heard to remark that the goat got paid more than he did. True fact. It's also a true fact that Eddie Henry didn't yell: "RICK STANTON!" when our hero appeared in the screen. However, we've now been informed that Ozymandias Cronkshank has been offered a part in the hotly awaited Broadway musical of the rescue, playing Rick, in a shameless attempt to appeal to the younger audience. His agent says that Ozzy is willing to shave his hair off for the part, just as Mr Mortensen has done. The trio are said to be getting along famously.
Mia practising Goat Yoga. Unfortunately, it was well past Ozzy's bedtime, so Henry had to take his place.
When Rick was finally allowed to get his much delayed breakfast, everyone scattered into breakout rooms again for the rest of the evening, gradually all coalescing into a party in which, in the time-honoured manner, there was table traversing, pole dancing and general piss-taking.
Dickon, looking for a goat.
The party finally broke up around 2am. Many thanks to Rick for accepting our invitation to talk at the AGM and for helping make our first Zoom AGM a huge success. Just don't expect anyone quite so famous next year!
A NOTE FROM THE HON. MONEYBAGS
This has been a very strange year for the Society as a whole, not just for its finances. They, as can be imagined, have behaved quite unusually. There has been little productive speleology, but we have had significant and unusual expense in a couple of areas, notably to do with the Hut and with the Museum and Library.
However, two things have conspired to keep us on the straight and narrow, financially. The first is the continued support of our membership. We have maintained our income from subscriptions and the additional tax rebate that they bring in as well. For this we remain grateful. The second is that, thanks to the Society paying business rates on the Hut, we were in receipt of a significant government grant at the beginning of the financial year. This came with no strings attached. The committee resolved to use this in ways to allieviate the additional financial burden that covid has placed on us. This has enabled us to cover expenses on our infrastructure (eg paying a local caver to work on the chimney at a time when it was difficult for us to undertake work there) and much remains in hand to support student activities in various ways once these can recommence (eg increased travel or accommodation costs).
So the accounts for the year pretty much consist of unusual expenditure in some categories and me shovelling grant money at them to keep them on an even keel.
In other news, The Caves of Mid-West Ireland has almost broken even. It would probably have done so by the end of the year, had not the Zombie Apocalypse got in the way. Bear in mind, however, that this is in net terms and is only the case owing to the significant grant funding that book received from Ireland. The companion volume on Southern Ireland is progressing steadily, but again, necessary fieldwork has been somewhat disrupted.
This has been a very strange year for the Society as a whole, not just for its finances. They, as can be imagined, have behaved quite unusually. There has been little productive speleology, but we have had significant and unusual expense in a couple of areas, notably to do with the Hut and with the Museum and Library.
However, two things have conspired to keep us on the straight and narrow, financially. The first is the continued support of our membership. We have maintained our income from subscriptions and the additional tax rebate that they bring in as well. For this we remain grateful. The second is that, thanks to the Society paying business rates on the Hut, we were in receipt of a significant government grant at the beginning of the financial year. This came with no strings attached. The committee resolved to use this in ways to allieviate the additional financial burden that covid has placed on us. This has enabled us to cover expenses on our infrastructure (eg paying a local caver to work on the chimney at a time when it was difficult for us to undertake work there) and much remains in hand to support student activities in various ways once these can recommence (eg increased travel or accommodation costs).
So the accounts for the year pretty much consist of unusual expenditure in some categories and me shovelling grant money at them to keep them on an even keel.
In other news, The Caves of Mid-West Ireland has almost broken even. It would probably have done so by the end of the year, had not the Zombie Apocalypse got in the way. Bear in mind, however, that this is in net terms and is only the case owing to the significant grant funding that book received from Ireland. The companion volume on Southern Ireland is progressing steadily, but again, necessary fieldwork has been somewhat disrupted.
Graham Mullan
UBSS IN UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE!
As part of the Alumni Network Spring Showcase event, a University Challenge style quiz attracted a lot of interest, and after a year of zoom quizzes, this wasn't an opportunity to be missed.
Sam Bowers put out together a team made up of himself, Elaine Oliver, Imogen Clement and Zac Woodford. In the first heat, they stomped to a very convincing victory over a team of students from Wills Hall (the Churchill Hall team were a no show on the day) to reach the semi finals. Zac's knowledge of Star Wars came in very handy with everyone making a very strong showing with an impressive array of eclectic and very random knowledge, including correctly identifying photos of several of the world's leading museums.
In the semi finals, they were unlucky to run up against a strong (but very annoying) team from Cambridge, the Cambridge Anglians, who got all the questions the UBSS team should have got, including one on wine regions of France, which would have provided a clean sweep of correct answers. Sadly, the Cambridge team emerged the victors, but UBSS had their revenge when the Anglians faced another Cambridge team, the Cambridge Blues, which included UBSS member, Steve Trudgill. The Blues streaked to a convincing win, despite our former geographer at one point declaring loudly: "I don't do real geography!" which he promptly proved by knowing absolutely nothing about the geography of the United States.
All the contests were recorded, so if you would like to watch and see how well you would have done, drop us a line and we'll provide the link to the recording. It was all great fun, done with buzzers, the theme music and a scoreboard. Robert Vilain made an excellent quizmaster, with a flawless combination of Bamber Grassgroin and Jeremy Maxo all rolled into one very erudite whole.
The showcase team are intending to hold the event again, and another uni challenge quiz is on the cards, so UBSS will have the change to field several teams and exact our revenge.
As part of the Alumni Network Spring Showcase event, a University Challenge style quiz attracted a lot of interest, and after a year of zoom quizzes, this wasn't an opportunity to be missed.
Sam Bowers put out together a team made up of himself, Elaine Oliver, Imogen Clement and Zac Woodford. In the first heat, they stomped to a very convincing victory over a team of students from Wills Hall (the Churchill Hall team were a no show on the day) to reach the semi finals. Zac's knowledge of Star Wars came in very handy with everyone making a very strong showing with an impressive array of eclectic and very random knowledge, including correctly identifying photos of several of the world's leading museums.
In the semi finals, they were unlucky to run up against a strong (but very annoying) team from Cambridge, the Cambridge Anglians, who got all the questions the UBSS team should have got, including one on wine regions of France, which would have provided a clean sweep of correct answers. Sadly, the Cambridge team emerged the victors, but UBSS had their revenge when the Anglians faced another Cambridge team, the Cambridge Blues, which included UBSS member, Steve Trudgill. The Blues streaked to a convincing win, despite our former geographer at one point declaring loudly: "I don't do real geography!" which he promptly proved by knowing absolutely nothing about the geography of the United States.
All the contests were recorded, so if you would like to watch and see how well you would have done, drop us a line and we'll provide the link to the recording. It was all great fun, done with buzzers, the theme music and a scoreboard. Robert Vilain made an excellent quizmaster, with a flawless combination of Bamber Grassgroin and Jeremy Maxo all rolled into one very erudite whole.
The showcase team are intending to hold the event again, and another uni challenge quiz is on the cards, so UBSS will have the change to field several teams and exact our revenge.
FROLICS IN THE FOREST
A (younger) Dick Willis looking lost in the middle of the Thai forest. All photos are from Dick's slide collection and were scanned by him for this. They have been cropped where needed and resized for this article.
As part of our campaign to encourage members to commit as many caving memories to print as possible, Dick Willis has kindly obliged again, and talks here about an expedition to Thailand.
The phone went, Dave Checkley, “Fancy a trip to Thailand?” A stupid question, of course I did. “When?” “March.” “Who’s going?” “Me, Phil [Chapman], H [Howard Jones], Sheila [Hurd]; all great people and good company. “To do what?” “There’s some forest in the north east with good potential, nothing deep but there should be lots of caves. A French team went there last year but got chased out by elephants, one of their porters died of heat stroke.”
Forest, caves, elephants and the French had failed. It sounded perfect. “Yes, please.”
Bangkok. An uneventful flight via Pakistan, apart from the Karachi police confiscating all batteries. We found a cheap hotel and headed downtown in the bustle, pollution, people, hookers, street sellers and excellent food. The next day, Phil and DC went to the museum, Phil wanted to know if they would like him to collect specimens of any cave fauna that we found. The two came back grinning like schoolkids. “We told our contact where we were going, and he told us it was the Phu Khieo wildlife sanctuary which was set up at the overlap of three national parks. together they cover 320,000ha. It has elephants, tigers and was the last place where rhino were recorded; it sounds wonderful. The bad news is that it’s closed, you need special permission to enter it and the army patrols the perimeter. But he said that he thought the Deputy Warden was in the building, he found him and introduced us. We told him what we wanted to do, he thought it was a great idea and wrote a note about it to the Warden.” DC grinned and waved a letter which was in Thai script and could have said ‘arrest them on sight’, but it was enough, and we were off.
In most Asian countries, bureaucracy rules supreme but our letter was like a magician’s wand. We presented it and were welcomed. The warden could not have been more helpful and arranged for us to have an English-speaking liaison officer, a translator, two armed guards and a porter. We were told that the guards were there to protect us from elephants and tigers, but it quickly became apparent that the main reason was to protect us from armed poachers. Indeed, one of our guards, an older man called Khampun, was a reformed poacher himself. There definitely were big animals in the forest around us but, to be honest, the main wildlife threats came from leeches, mosquitoes, and ticks.
We spent a couple of days sorting out gear, teaching our companions the rudiments of SRT and getting supplies. Then we left for the forest. For a biologist, even one as useless as me, the place was wonderful, ruins were covered in tangled tree roots, birds were calling constantly and the first muddy area we crossed had the prints of elephant and tiger. Walking across one clearing, we could smell the elephant and I had no doubt that they were hiding in the bush watching us, although I have never worked out how an animal that big could be so inconspicuous.
A typical entrance
What we didn’t notice was a bees’ nest in the riverbank behind us, or maybe they weren’t there when we arrived, but over the next few days they became a greater and greater problem. You’d wake up in the morning to find your mosquito net crawling with bees and we developed a procrastination game which involved flicking a bee from underneath so that it went up, bounced off the fly sheet and landed angrily on someone else’s net. Getting up involved a mad dash to get into the fire smoke, where there was some respite from them and had a chance of getting into your gear without it filling with the insects. Although on one occasion I was stung on a very tender part of my anatomy, much to my colleagues’ great entertainment.
Fortunately, no tigers appeared although one night several members of the team heard what sounded like a large animal breathing heavily nearby. While we were there, every move was watched by a family of gibbons in the bamboos across the stream and we were woken by their calls each morning, an astonishingly haunting sound that still reduces me to tears.
Streamside campThe
camp was beautiful (although it would have been better without the
bees), and we spent several days locating entrances and surveying,
including finishing off the cave that had been started by the French
before they we forced out of the area. None of the caves were huge and
the caving was more like the UK than the vast caves of China to which we
had got accustomed in recent years. After a week we returned to HQ for a
break and to get some more supplies before heading back out to a
different part of the reserve.
There were high points in the reserve from which we could get a view of our surroundings but getting up them was a struggle, steep pathless ascents up through bamboo groves. And finding anything that we had seen became a huge challenge once we were back down on the plain.
Swallow Cave passage
Porcupines look nothing like ducks, and I found this hysterically funny. I was laughing so much that I had to put my arm out and lean on the wall, but mirth turned to horror when I felt something run up my arm. It might have been a harmless cricket, but it could well have been a Scolopendra centipede, nasty beasts which are renowned for their toxic bite. If so, I knew that a bite was unlikely to kill me, but it would certainly have spoilt my day, probably several days, and it was now sitting on the inside edge of my bicep. I was surprised it didn’t just drop off because I was sweating so much with fear.
“Take off your boiler suit,” Sheila advised (after having a good laugh at my plight) but to do that would have disturbed my guest and almost certainly resulted in a bite. After a couple of minutes of panic, I grabbed the beast, fabric and all, and scrunched it hard, working on the assumption that I could kill it before it worked out what was happening. I cleaned off the resulting mess without ever knowing what it had been.
Khampun; the gun went caving
Getting back to camp in the evening was a relief, we found Khampun cooking an evening stew, well stocked with meat – local frogs – flavoured with a lot of chilli. There was a stream flowing down the defile and a short distance away was a pool where we could have a good wash. But that wasn’t a relaxing experience. The sides of the defile were about 2m high and the bush above us provided perfect cover for a hungry tiger out after dark and looking for an easy meal. We knew that they were in the area, not only had we seen their prints but both DC and Phil had been convinced that they had seen tigers moving away from them in thick undergrowth. And in places there were scratch marks on tree trunks about 3m above ground…
Fortunately, washes were never interrupted by big cats, but our nights were often disturbed by gunshots – there was a real problem with poachers. They infiltrated the park looking for elephant and tiger – the latter’s body parts being worth a small fortune in the trade for Chinese medicine – or deer for food. Their technique was to set up a series of small, crude bamboo ‘traps’ along a trail and then sit at the foot of one of the huge trees whose buttress roots provided perfect cover. The traps didn’t catch anything, they just made a discernible click when triggered. The poacher would sit for hours in the dark with their gun pointed at the last trap – any large animal approaching would trigger the traps; the poacher would count and fire when the last one went click. The target could have been anything, including a tired caver coming back late at night.
H and I followed the example of all good war movies and threw ourselves onto the floor as our guards knelt, guns ready, scanning the forest. I was suddenly aware that I was wearing an orange boiler suit, a perfect target. Pradeet said something to Khampun who carefully lifted a washbag out of his sac and threw it over. “Pradeet must be hurt,” I thought as he fiddled around. But instead of a plaster, he took out the biggest pistol I had ever seen.
We never really had a chance to check out the north end, although I dare say that it has been looked at by now. There are a lot of ex-pat British cavers in Thailand, not to mention Thai cavers themselves. There was one more attempt by DC and Sheila who found a stream sink with the water going down through boulders. Sheila waited on the surface while Dave squirmed down following the water. Eventually he gave up and turned back, but what had been an easy route down, following the stream, was now a complex of rivulets and the way back was anything but clear. Eventually, by following Sheila’s shouts, he found a way out, but he was clearly shaken and swore he’d never make the same mistake again.
At the end of the trip, we had a couple of days to spare and made the decision to go to a beach for a spell of R&R. As good, clean living young cavers we had no advance knowledge of Thailand’s good-time reputation and boarded a bus to Pattaya, the nearest beach. We were all a bit perplexed by the passenger demographics, the bus was full of young people, about 75% of whom were women. We arrived after dark, lugged our sacs to the nearest decent looking hotel, checked in and crashed out. In the morning, I opened the curtains and looked out across the lawn to a strip of palm trees, a beach, blue ocean and… the US 7th Fleet. It was in for a few days rest and recreation.
Thus began two days of the most fabulous mayhem I have ever encountered as we shared Pattaya with 7,000 marines and 15,000 hookers, drenched everywhere we went and plastered with chalk paste. Absolutely fantastic.
A (younger) Dick Willis looking lost in the middle of the Thai forest. All photos are from Dick's slide collection and were scanned by him for this. They have been cropped where needed and resized for this article.
As part of our campaign to encourage members to commit as many caving memories to print as possible, Dick Willis has kindly obliged again, and talks here about an expedition to Thailand.
The phone went, Dave Checkley, “Fancy a trip to Thailand?” A stupid question, of course I did. “When?” “March.” “Who’s going?” “Me, Phil [Chapman], H [Howard Jones], Sheila [Hurd]; all great people and good company. “To do what?” “There’s some forest in the north east with good potential, nothing deep but there should be lots of caves. A French team went there last year but got chased out by elephants, one of their porters died of heat stroke.”
Forest, caves, elephants and the French had failed. It sounded perfect. “Yes, please.”
Bangkok. An uneventful flight via Pakistan, apart from the Karachi police confiscating all batteries. We found a cheap hotel and headed downtown in the bustle, pollution, people, hookers, street sellers and excellent food. The next day, Phil and DC went to the museum, Phil wanted to know if they would like him to collect specimens of any cave fauna that we found. The two came back grinning like schoolkids. “We told our contact where we were going, and he told us it was the Phu Khieo wildlife sanctuary which was set up at the overlap of three national parks. together they cover 320,000ha. It has elephants, tigers and was the last place where rhino were recorded; it sounds wonderful. The bad news is that it’s closed, you need special permission to enter it and the army patrols the perimeter. But he said that he thought the Deputy Warden was in the building, he found him and introduced us. We told him what we wanted to do, he thought it was a great idea and wrote a note about it to the Warden.” DC grinned and waved a letter which was in Thai script and could have said ‘arrest them on sight’, but it was enough, and we were off.
The Kings Tower
Two days later we were on a
bus to Pang Mung and as we approached the town a limestone scarp was
visible in the distance. We found a taxi driver to take us to the
sanctuary HQ. He was desperately keen to get in because his family had
been turfed off their land when the sanctuary had been created and he
had never been back. At the army checkpoint, we waved our letter at the
squaddie on duty and were waved through. We bumped down a long dirt
track to what had been the village and was now the HQ and research
centre. Off to one side was a helicopter pad, villa and observation
tower all reserved for the King on his visits.In most Asian countries, bureaucracy rules supreme but our letter was like a magician’s wand. We presented it and were welcomed. The warden could not have been more helpful and arranged for us to have an English-speaking liaison officer, a translator, two armed guards and a porter. We were told that the guards were there to protect us from elephants and tigers, but it quickly became apparent that the main reason was to protect us from armed poachers. Indeed, one of our guards, an older man called Khampun, was a reformed poacher himself. There definitely were big animals in the forest around us but, to be honest, the main wildlife threats came from leeches, mosquitoes, and ticks.
We spent a couple of days sorting out gear, teaching our companions the rudiments of SRT and getting supplies. Then we left for the forest. For a biologist, even one as useless as me, the place was wonderful, ruins were covered in tangled tree roots, birds were calling constantly and the first muddy area we crossed had the prints of elephant and tiger. Walking across one clearing, we could smell the elephant and I had no doubt that they were hiding in the bush watching us, although I have never worked out how an animal that big could be so inconspicuous.
Cave hunting
We made camp in a gorgeous
area of open forest, on an area of flat ground alongside a stream. At
one end of our pitch was a bamboo grove with an obvious tiger-sized hole
in it. So we insisted that H set up his bivvy tent at that end while
the rest of us rigged a big camp-sheet and put our karrimats and
mosquito nets underneath it. If I tiger came out, it would get him
first.A typical entrance
What we didn’t notice was a bees’ nest in the riverbank behind us, or maybe they weren’t there when we arrived, but over the next few days they became a greater and greater problem. You’d wake up in the morning to find your mosquito net crawling with bees and we developed a procrastination game which involved flicking a bee from underneath so that it went up, bounced off the fly sheet and landed angrily on someone else’s net. Getting up involved a mad dash to get into the fire smoke, where there was some respite from them and had a chance of getting into your gear without it filling with the insects. Although on one occasion I was stung on a very tender part of my anatomy, much to my colleagues’ great entertainment.
Fortunately, no tigers appeared although one night several members of the team heard what sounded like a large animal breathing heavily nearby. While we were there, every move was watched by a family of gibbons in the bamboos across the stream and we were woken by their calls each morning, an astonishingly haunting sound that still reduces me to tears.
Streamside campThere were high points in the reserve from which we could get a view of our surroundings but getting up them was a struggle, steep pathless ascents up through bamboo groves. And finding anything that we had seen became a huge challenge once we were back down on the plain.
Phil Chapman looking tired.
Our new campsite was in a
defile which led down to a clearing with a cliff-face at the far end.
This clearing had once been a banana plantation and the evidence of
elephant was everywhere – footprints, trampled trees, and huge balls of
fresh, fragrant shit. Our camp was right on their path in and we hoped
that we wouldn’t get a visit. At the foot of the cliff was a sink
entrance that looked inviting and over the next couple of days Sheila
and I concentrated on pushing it as far as we could go while the others
looked into systems elsewhere. Our cave, Swallow Cave, Tham Nok Nang Hu,
was heaving with wildlife – the walls were covered in crickets and
centipedes, snakes slid away from us and on one occasion, Sheila turned a
corner and leapt backwards shouting “a duck, a duck”. As we were quite a
long way from the entrance, in a dry passage and at least 30m below
ground level, this seemed unlikely (my 3 years at Bristol studying
zoology hadn’t been entirely wasted) so I peered around the corner.
Ahead of me was a rock shelf and, sitting on it looking distinctly
grumpy, was a porcupine.Swallow Cave passage
Porcupines look nothing like ducks, and I found this hysterically funny. I was laughing so much that I had to put my arm out and lean on the wall, but mirth turned to horror when I felt something run up my arm. It might have been a harmless cricket, but it could well have been a Scolopendra centipede, nasty beasts which are renowned for their toxic bite. If so, I knew that a bite was unlikely to kill me, but it would certainly have spoilt my day, probably several days, and it was now sitting on the inside edge of my bicep. I was surprised it didn’t just drop off because I was sweating so much with fear.
“Take off your boiler suit,” Sheila advised (after having a good laugh at my plight) but to do that would have disturbed my guest and almost certainly resulted in a bite. After a couple of minutes of panic, I grabbed the beast, fabric and all, and scrunched it hard, working on the assumption that I could kill it before it worked out what was happening. I cleaned off the resulting mess without ever knowing what it had been.
Khampun; the gun went caving
Getting back to camp in the evening was a relief, we found Khampun cooking an evening stew, well stocked with meat – local frogs – flavoured with a lot of chilli. There was a stream flowing down the defile and a short distance away was a pool where we could have a good wash. But that wasn’t a relaxing experience. The sides of the defile were about 2m high and the bush above us provided perfect cover for a hungry tiger out after dark and looking for an easy meal. We knew that they were in the area, not only had we seen their prints but both DC and Phil had been convinced that they had seen tigers moving away from them in thick undergrowth. And in places there were scratch marks on tree trunks about 3m above ground…
Fortunately, washes were never interrupted by big cats, but our nights were often disturbed by gunshots – there was a real problem with poachers. They infiltrated the park looking for elephant and tiger – the latter’s body parts being worth a small fortune in the trade for Chinese medicine – or deer for food. Their technique was to set up a series of small, crude bamboo ‘traps’ along a trail and then sit at the foot of one of the huge trees whose buttress roots provided perfect cover. The traps didn’t catch anything, they just made a discernible click when triggered. The poacher would sit for hours in the dark with their gun pointed at the last trap – any large animal approaching would trigger the traps; the poacher would count and fire when the last one went click. The target could have been anything, including a tired caver coming back late at night.
Howard and Pradeet, hiding
On one occasion, H and I
set off to go to the northern end of the reserve for a recce. We had our
interpreter, Pradeet, with us and two armed guards; Khampun was at the
front. Our path took us through a fabulous area of forest, huge trees
covered with dried mud where elephant had scratched against them. I
became aware of Khampun getting slower and slower. “Why are we slowing
down?” I asked Pradeet. “Because there are poachers ahead of us,” came
the reply. The path turned and we found a large tree trunk lying across
it, from behind came a wisp of smoke. Khampun, studied the fire and
carried on even more slowly, holding his rifle at the ready. Suddenly he
shouted and fired off two shots into the bush and we could see two men
running away, both carrying guns.H and I followed the example of all good war movies and threw ourselves onto the floor as our guards knelt, guns ready, scanning the forest. I was suddenly aware that I was wearing an orange boiler suit, a perfect target. Pradeet said something to Khampun who carefully lifted a washbag out of his sac and threw it over. “Pradeet must be hurt,” I thought as he fiddled around. But instead of a plaster, he took out the biggest pistol I had ever seen.
We never really had a chance to check out the north end, although I dare say that it has been looked at by now. There are a lot of ex-pat British cavers in Thailand, not to mention Thai cavers themselves. There was one more attempt by DC and Sheila who found a stream sink with the water going down through boulders. Sheila waited on the surface while Dave squirmed down following the water. Eventually he gave up and turned back, but what had been an easy route down, following the stream, was now a complex of rivulets and the way back was anything but clear. Eventually, by following Sheila’s shouts, he found a way out, but he was clearly shaken and swore he’d never make the same mistake again.
At the end of the trip, we had a couple of days to spare and made the decision to go to a beach for a spell of R&R. As good, clean living young cavers we had no advance knowledge of Thailand’s good-time reputation and boarded a bus to Pattaya, the nearest beach. We were all a bit perplexed by the passenger demographics, the bus was full of young people, about 75% of whom were women. We arrived after dark, lugged our sacs to the nearest decent looking hotel, checked in and crashed out. In the morning, I opened the curtains and looked out across the lawn to a strip of palm trees, a beach, blue ocean and… the US 7th Fleet. It was in for a few days rest and recreation.
Howard entering into the spirit of Songkran
Unbeknown to us, the
Pattaya Council had delayed the annual Songkran festival to coincide
with the Fleet’s visit and the town had prepared accordingly. We went
out, found a café and sat in a line at a long peninsula unit, opposite
three huge American guys in shades. One of them looked at me and asked,
“are you guys limeys?” I nodded my response and watched him reach down
to his sides. As the theme tune of ‘For a Few Dollars More’ played in my
head, he pulled up two guns, pointed them at me and pulled the
triggers. I was immediately drenched and from behind me, one of the bar
girls tipped a bucket of ice water over my head.Thus began two days of the most fabulous mayhem I have ever encountered as we shared Pattaya with 7,000 marines and 15,000 hookers, drenched everywhere we went and plastered with chalk paste. Absolutely fantastic.
Dick Willis
SAMPLING IN ST VINCENT'S SPRING
Nope, it's not the result of a Jamboard art session, nor is the thing on the right what you think it is! Minds out of the gutter, folks, this is SCIENCE! See below. Photo by David Richards.
Work in St Vincent's Spring on the Portway continues, as David Richards explains. On any visit to the site please a) take HUGE care when approaching the cave across the road b) please do not disturb any of the monitoring equipment c) don't fall down the well. If the latter happens, the piss-taking will last well beyond the end of your natural life.
Over the course of the past 14 months, various UBSS members have periodically visited St. Vincents (New Hotwell) Spring to collect temperature and water level data from the mildly thermal (21 ± 1 °C) waters. Former UoB lecturer in biochemistry, Dr. Paul Wood, has pulled together much of the industrial archaeology associated with this site and prompted the current hydrological ongoing investigation. Data loggers have been installed to monitor temperature and water levels every 10 minutes since November 2020 (thanks to British Geological Survey, Cardiff, for loan of the water level loggers). Late February was the latest venture to check that the loggers remained in place and to download three months of data.
Zac Woodford above the well shaft of St. Vincent's spring. Photo by David Richards.
The temperature of the water is likely to be a function of input from recent heavy rainfall (short residence times), tidal waters (semi diurnal), shallow groundwater (longer residence time), and the geothermal component (up to thousands of years). In time, we hope to be able to deconvolve the signal having now monitored water levels also. It would appear that heavy rainfall can reduce temperatures during the winter by 1 °C, yet we also see a longer-term increase in the temperature of the well during the winter (with inverse response for cave air temperatures). When we next collect data in early summer, we will also be able to see the (?lagged) impact of the highest Spring tides on the water.
The colourful header photo shows temperatures based on infra-red signal using FLIR ONE for iOS Personal Thermal Imager. A max temperature of 21 °C is shown in the above image. Pipes (now broken) originally supplied water to holding tank above pump on the Portway.
With thanks to Linda Wilson, Graham Mullan, Jan Walker, Tony Boycott, Andrew Atkinson, Sioned Haughton and Zac Woodford for their help with this research.
Nope, it's not the result of a Jamboard art session, nor is the thing on the right what you think it is! Minds out of the gutter, folks, this is SCIENCE! See below. Photo by David Richards.
Work in St Vincent's Spring on the Portway continues, as David Richards explains. On any visit to the site please a) take HUGE care when approaching the cave across the road b) please do not disturb any of the monitoring equipment c) don't fall down the well. If the latter happens, the piss-taking will last well beyond the end of your natural life.
Over the course of the past 14 months, various UBSS members have periodically visited St. Vincents (New Hotwell) Spring to collect temperature and water level data from the mildly thermal (21 ± 1 °C) waters. Former UoB lecturer in biochemistry, Dr. Paul Wood, has pulled together much of the industrial archaeology associated with this site and prompted the current hydrological ongoing investigation. Data loggers have been installed to monitor temperature and water levels every 10 minutes since November 2020 (thanks to British Geological Survey, Cardiff, for loan of the water level loggers). Late February was the latest venture to check that the loggers remained in place and to download three months of data.
Zac Woodford above the well shaft of St. Vincent's spring. Photo by David Richards.
The temperature of the water is likely to be a function of input from recent heavy rainfall (short residence times), tidal waters (semi diurnal), shallow groundwater (longer residence time), and the geothermal component (up to thousands of years). In time, we hope to be able to deconvolve the signal having now monitored water levels also. It would appear that heavy rainfall can reduce temperatures during the winter by 1 °C, yet we also see a longer-term increase in the temperature of the well during the winter (with inverse response for cave air temperatures). When we next collect data in early summer, we will also be able to see the (?lagged) impact of the highest Spring tides on the water.
The colourful header photo shows temperatures based on infra-red signal using FLIR ONE for iOS Personal Thermal Imager. A max temperature of 21 °C is shown in the above image. Pipes (now broken) originally supplied water to holding tank above pump on the Portway.
With thanks to Linda Wilson, Graham Mullan, Jan Walker, Tony Boycott, Andrew Atkinson, Sioned Haughton and Zac Woodford for their help with this research.
David Richards
WHY IS THE WATER BLUE? A MEMORY OF SINGING RIVER MINE
Singing River Mine. Photo copyright Mark Burkey, used with his kind permission. Er, the water looks green here...
Readers with good memories might recall an exchange in the I Read to the End comments a couple of months ago between Ian Wheeler and Andy Farrant over whether Andy did any dye-tracing many years ago in Mendip's Singing River Mine, a popular UBSS haunt over the years. Ian has done some memory checking, and takes up the tale again ....
This month’s newsletter with its gushing over Doctor Farrant reminded me that he had cast aspersions over the veracity over my story about Singing River Mine in a previous issue, so I will elaborate.
I remember my first trip down Singing River at the end of my first year (the local pub was great – it served pickled eggs in a shot glass, you could play blow darts and it did a really nice pint of Butcombe. I once wrote a throwaway line about the village of Butcombe into a play I wrote and my director told me it was yet another piece of juvenile filth that she wanted to cut and I had to show her it on a map to keep the line. It was, of course, inessential juvenile filth, but it’s the small things you have to fight for… I digress.) [Editors: we'd like to see an extract from this play for a future issue. Our readership is drawn to juvenile filth!]
In the big chamber in Singing River, we were all very taken by the colour of the water, which was a lovely blue colour. For weeks, we would pester Andy in the pub. “Why is water blue, oh wise Dr Farrant?” we would ask plaintively. (Was he a Doctor by then? Probably not… poetic licence.) In the end he got very cross and told us that the water in Singing River was blue because water was blue and that was an end to the matter.
Singing River Mine. Photo copyright Kay Wills, used with her kind permission. Er, doesn't look blue here, either...
This didn’t seem true, even to an idiot English student, so we made him come with us on a trip down the mine so we could ask him again (and again…. And again) why the water took such a blue hue.
Infuriated by our asinine questioning, he had already planned his revenge and dumped fluorescein in the streamway to enchant and confound us in equal measure.
I have checked this memory with Rupert Hay-Campbell and he is happy to confirm the tale and also reckons it was green rather than the red that was sometimes to be found in the tackle store in those days. As he has an MBE, his memory is obviously beyond reproach and I hope this goes some way to setting everyone’s mind at rest.
[Editorial PS: We are most happy to grant the said Dr Farrant the right of reply, as that'll give us more material for the next issue, along with the extract from Ian's play referred to above.]
Singing River Mine. Photo copyright Mark Burkey, used with his kind permission. Er, the water looks green here...
Readers with good memories might recall an exchange in the I Read to the End comments a couple of months ago between Ian Wheeler and Andy Farrant over whether Andy did any dye-tracing many years ago in Mendip's Singing River Mine, a popular UBSS haunt over the years. Ian has done some memory checking, and takes up the tale again ....
This month’s newsletter with its gushing over Doctor Farrant reminded me that he had cast aspersions over the veracity over my story about Singing River Mine in a previous issue, so I will elaborate.
I remember my first trip down Singing River at the end of my first year (the local pub was great – it served pickled eggs in a shot glass, you could play blow darts and it did a really nice pint of Butcombe. I once wrote a throwaway line about the village of Butcombe into a play I wrote and my director told me it was yet another piece of juvenile filth that she wanted to cut and I had to show her it on a map to keep the line. It was, of course, inessential juvenile filth, but it’s the small things you have to fight for… I digress.) [Editors: we'd like to see an extract from this play for a future issue. Our readership is drawn to juvenile filth!]
In the big chamber in Singing River, we were all very taken by the colour of the water, which was a lovely blue colour. For weeks, we would pester Andy in the pub. “Why is water blue, oh wise Dr Farrant?” we would ask plaintively. (Was he a Doctor by then? Probably not… poetic licence.) In the end he got very cross and told us that the water in Singing River was blue because water was blue and that was an end to the matter.
Singing River Mine. Photo copyright Kay Wills, used with her kind permission. Er, doesn't look blue here, either...
This didn’t seem true, even to an idiot English student, so we made him come with us on a trip down the mine so we could ask him again (and again…. And again) why the water took such a blue hue.
Infuriated by our asinine questioning, he had already planned his revenge and dumped fluorescein in the streamway to enchant and confound us in equal measure.
I have checked this memory with Rupert Hay-Campbell and he is happy to confirm the tale and also reckons it was green rather than the red that was sometimes to be found in the tackle store in those days. As he has an MBE, his memory is obviously beyond reproach and I hope this goes some way to setting everyone’s mind at rest.
Ian Wheeler
[Editorial PS: We are most happy to grant the said Dr Farrant the right of reply, as that'll give us more material for the next issue, along with the extract from Ian's play referred to above.]
ANAGRAM COMPETITION!
Mia and Henry recently put together a fiendishly difficult quiz with a round on caving anagrams, so for those who didn't make it to the quiz, here's the anagram round, with a prize for the fast set of correct entries. For those who were there, we know who you are!
1. RIPEER SPOT
2. LITTLED COW ASS
3. ROWMAN FART SMELL
4. SPOD TOR
5. COOCHIE LAGER CAVVR
6. LANED DEW LAG
7. PROG THOR FOY
So get your thinking helmets on and email Mia with your answers!
Mia and Henry recently put together a fiendishly difficult quiz with a round on caving anagrams, so for those who didn't make it to the quiz, here's the anagram round, with a prize for the fast set of correct entries. For those who were there, we know who you are!
1. RIPEER SPOT
2. LITTLED COW ASS
3. ROWMAN FART SMELL
4. SPOD TOR
5. COOCHIE LAGER CAVVR
6. LANED DEW LAG
7. PROG THOR FOY
So get your thinking helmets on and email Mia with your answers!
THE WET SINK (SLAUGHTER STREAM CAVE) SCIENCE PROJECT STATUS
The main stream near Cross-Stream Junction, Slaughter Stream Cave
Mark Tringham has been working for some time in Slaughter Stream Cave, and in this article, he gives an overview of scientific work in the cave.
Introduction
Historically in British caving the Forest of Dean (FOD for short) was mostly seen as a region without much cave potential and generally not worth the detour on the way to other more interesting regions like South Wales or Derbyshire, unless you were interested in disused iron or coal mines. However, with tenacious digging and water tracing work significant discoveries were made. Firstly at Otter Hole near Chepstow around 1974 (~3.5km), arguably the UK’s most beautiful cave and with an enigmatic and hazardous tidal sump close to the very muddy River Wye. Then another break-through occurred in 1990 at Wet Sink, not far from the beauty spot of Symond’s Yat, again close to the River Wye, but a long way upstream from Chepstow. This allowed access for the first time into the Slaughter Stream Cave system, which today totals around 13km. More of national significance is likely yet to come from digging and water-tracing in another FOD area, the Tidenham Chase Syncline, where Miss Grace’s Lane Swallet (4.5km) and other sinks feed down several km to a resurgence at Ban-y-gor, a few kilometres upstream and on the opposite bank of the River Wye from Otters Hole.
The Slaughter Stream Cave
The Slaughter Stream Cave (SSC) forms a 13km long system with several active and relict passages with streams that flow generally westwards from several surface sinks down to the Slaughter rising on the banks of the River Wye. Despite numerous digs spread around the cave catchment area the cave presently has only the one entrance at Wet Sink. Here the passages quickly descend to ~55m depth, spiralling down several short pitches and joining a gently sloping main streamway. This then generally follows the gentle stratal dip for several km to a maximum depth of ~ 110m at Sump 4. However, there is extra complexity because in many places relict dry passages occur at different levels at up to ~35m higher than the active streamways. These relict passages commonly have significant quantities of sandy sediment fill and boulder break-down, attesting to a long and complex speleogenesis likely spanning several periglacial and inter-glacial periods. Cryogenic calcite deposits have already been noted in some relict areas of the cave and these must have formed during glacial or periglacial periods with permafrost extending 50m or more below the surface.
Since the cave was discovered attempts at significant scientific research failed to materialise despite the best efforts by Paul Taylor (GSS) and others to stimulate academic interest. Around the year 2000 for example two PhD students were lined up and had support from the DJ Lowe at the Geological Survey and local academic Nick Chidlaw, but then the potential students backed out, perhaps because they realised the complexity and logistical challenges in front of them. This left little understanding of the cave morphology, hydrology, geology and speleogenesis for several decades. However, in 2018 a new phase of GSS sponsored scientific work started, initially with a water tracing study, but then expanded to include resurveying, speleogenesis and geological work as described below.
Dryslade Passage (left). Chunnel West (right)
Furthest parts of the cave take ~ 5 hours to reach, with some fairly strenuous scambling and crawling. Therefore during the present phase of surveying and scientific study some underground bivouac camping is planned so that 10 to 15 hour trips can be split between more than one day.
Hydrology
The existence of a Slaughter Cave system was postulated as early as the 1960’s prior to it’s discovery by digging at Wet Sink. The Cave Projects Group performed water tracing projects in the 1960’s and 70’s, the results from which were published by Solari R.A. (1974) & Lowe D.J. (1989). These showed a surface and underground catchment area of approximately 6km^2 and nearly 150m relief, with many surface sinks feeding water to the Slaughter rising on the banks of the river Wye and to two other more minor springs. Despite the SSC system discovery and exploration there was then a major gap in water-tracing efforts until early 2018 when a new project was started and this is still underway. The intent is to try and solve questions about stream flows seen both within the SSC and other nearby caves and again from the various surface sinks. The history of investigation, methodology and preliminary results have been reported by Taylor P.W. (2020) and in recent GSS Newsletters and in the Descent magazine. Further water traces remain to be done, with for example a bigger fluorescene load dropped into Hoarthorns Wood Swallet (the furthest known upstream sink in the system) to try and get a positive trace to somewhere inside the cave and perhaps confirm a postulated link to the downstream end of Sump 1 in the Drake Series which divers had entered but not successfully passed.
Previous Surveying
The present scientific projects need to be based on adequate digital cave morphology with not only plan views but also passage cross-sections and elevations. Also, 2D and 3D displays are needed to integrate with surface topography and mapped geology. The initial cave discoveries (~11km) were well surveyed mostly around 1991 to 1993 with a lot of hard work put in by GSS and RFDCC using best techniques available at that time with Suunto compass/clino and fibron measuring tape. This was transcribed by Paul Taylor into a comprehensive Compass software database and in 1995 a 2D plan was drawn up in ink at 1:500 using the survey skeleton coordinates.
Then a further ~1.9 km of passages were discovered and surveyed during the period 1997 to 2000 in the Remelt and Heat Exchanger Series, see above. These were added to the Compass database and shown as a survey line drawing on issued maps, but the passages not yet drawn up, even though good quality drawings were acquired.
The survey plan drawings acquired up to 2000 were therefore fine for cavers to find their way around and relate passages to each other and give a reasonable estimate of proximity to the numerous sinks and other shorter caves in the same catchment area. However, elevation plots were not made and not many passage cross-sections recorded. Another quandary was that survey inclination data gave unrealistically deep values (>20m too deep) for the deepest point in the cave relative to the Slaughter resurgence. Also, some streamways did not have realistic slopes, in a few extreme cases resulting in passages apparently sloping the wrong way. As far as left, right, up and down data (LRUD) is concerned around 60% of survey stations had LR recordings, but only about 20% had UDs and therefore elevation views and height relationship between sinks, springs in the cave, sumps and geological layers could not be well established unless new data was acquired.
New Survey Work
Some examples of ‘raw’ re-survey displays.
The purpose of the current survey work is to upgrade the 1991-2000 data and add in new data where required. The workflow so far has comprised a thorough check and clean-up of the 27 year old Compass database using original survey notes and drawings. Quite a lot of the LRUD data acquired was not previously written to the Compass database, so this was added in.
All old loop closures were untied so that original and new data acquisition could be compared ‘like for like’ without closure distortions. With Paul Taylor’s help nearly all the original survey sketches, data tables and cave drawings were found and they have been checked off against the digital Compass data. In general, only minor acquisition or transcription errors were found. These were corrected and did not affect the cave plan very much.
No elevation displays were drawn up before and these will be made from both the original and new survey data. However, it appears that minor systematic clinometer instrument errors of ~1 degree were present in quite a lot of the original data recorded. This doesn’t sound much but, when dealing with such long continuous passages over distances of 1km or more, 10s of metres height difference do result. It seems that it was mostly this which led to the anomalous estimate of final (air-filled) cave depth ~20m lower than the resurgence at the Slaughter Rising about 1.5km WNW of Sump 4. However with the benefit these days of better GPS and published OS map elevations it can be deduced that another contributing factor to the disparity was an over-estimate of the resurgence elevation by ~15m. Use of the modern Compass software has also allowed a more accurate estimation of magnetic declination to be applied to the entire previous dataset which spanned years 1991 to 2000 during which the earth's declination changed by ~ 5 degrees here.
New test acquisition was started in late 2018 using modern DistoX laser techniques and PDA recording/drawing. This, together with consideration of the evolving scientific objectives, showed that around half of the cave would benefit from new survey acquisition, particularly along key through routes and also where passage inclinations are steep, such as in the Entrance Series and around Zuree Aven. This task was underway by mid-2019, but workflow was severely interrupted by covid restrictions. Nevertheless 12 survey trips have been made to date, totalling ~4km and about ~2 ½ km more are intended.
Minor passage survey additions have been made which were missing before, yielding an extra ~300m to the surveyed cave length so far. All the new data recorded has LRUD information plus plenty of extra splays to help passage drawings both in plan and elevation views and plenty of passage cross-sections to help with speleogenesis and water tracing work.
The forward plan on surveying is to complete the new acquisition and integrate it with the retained vintage data then draw it all up in Therion software so that in the end a digital survey drawing can be made, fit for such a fine and interesting cave. This can then form a reliable 3D framework in which to fit the water tracing, geology and speleogenesis observations. The intention is make the survey results ‘open access’ available for the caving community as a whole.
Geology
Note: vertical exaggeration x9
The cave appears to be largely formed in the Lower Dolomite Formation (Fig. 5) and although entirely natural and not mined it contains interesting iron and manganese (?) deposits, shelly fossil layers and archaeological remains such as 'Norman' the dog skeleton and bones and teeth from hippopotamus and mammoth. Disused coal mines in the Coleford High Delf seam overlie some western parts of the cave but these are separated from the carbonate sequence by at least 100m of shales and sandstones of the Trenchard Group which almost certainly form an aquiclude.
Dog's Grave Passage
One scientific objective is to quantify and understand the proportion of dolomite versus limestone and find out if the cave passages are preferentially developed at certain more soluble stratigraphical horizons within the Lower Dolomite or if the passage positions are determined instead by former and present water table depths during down-cutting of the River Wye. Caves formed in dolomite are much less common than in limestone because of its lesser solubility and to have a 13km system largely in dolomite is exceptional. However, a few parts of the cave, for example the lower part of Coal Seam Passage (a misnomer) and parts of the Remelt Series appear to have formed in limestone. Hence another objective is to find out if the cave crosses faults into surrounding limestone formations or if a lateral facies change to Limestone occurs in the Lower Dolomite Formation. Around ~50 rock samples have been collected from within the cave and are at the University of Manchester Earth & Environmental Science department awaiting future mineralogical and petrographic analysis. Unfortunately delays due to covid have held up this element of the work for at least a year already, but some results are expected later in 2021.
Remelt Series crease limestone(?)( left). Dog's Grave Passage breccia with haematite (right)
Red haematite iron ore veins and iron-stained layers have been noticed in some parts of the cave and these offer an amazing opportunity to see and study ‘virgin’ unmined deposits which elsewhere in FOD have nearly all been mined away and less useful for study. Also, black mineral deposits have been noticed in some other parts of the cave which coat the walls and replace fossil shell layers. Although work on these has not yet started, it seems likely from their appearance that they are formed of manganese and biomediated in origin. It is hoped that we can interest academic experts at the University of Bristol’s Geology Department to help investigate these.
Speleogenesis
The cave is characterised both by active a relict stream passages that show evidence for both phreatic and vadose origin. It is intended that the cave resurvey and scientific observations on features such as passage profiles, wall scallops, sediment deposits and preserved ripple marks will permit a synthesis on the phases and possible timing of cave genesis. It will be interesting also to determine if any relict parts of the cave might have a hypogenic origin perhaps related to mineralisation phases, rather than being epigenic from sinking surface waters, as is occurring at present.
Conclusions
Much interesting work is in progress in the FOD and in particular the Slaughter Stream Cave with various strands of work likely to lead to a much-improved knowledge of the cave morphology, geology and origin. These will likely provide a prime example for a long cave system formed largely in dolomite, unlike any other known in the UK. The work in progress requires a strong team effort with surveying, photography and scientific observations required. Willing helpers or specialist research workers please make your interest and availability known to the author ready for resumption of work with day trips and a few overnight underground bivouacs planned later in 2021.
References
Lowe D.J. (1989) Limestones and caves of the Forest of Dean. pp. 106–116. In Ford, T D (Ed.), Limestones and Caves of Wales [Cambridge University Press].
Solari R.A. (1974) Hydrology of the Slaughter Rising. Cave Projects Group Newsletter, No.5, 54–6
Taylor P.W. (2020) Forest of Dean Dye Tracing Project (Slaughter and Ban-y-gor catchment areas) history and interim results. Cave and Karst Science, Vol.47, No.1, (2020) pp. 19–22.
The main stream near Cross-Stream Junction, Slaughter Stream Cave
Mark Tringham has been working for some time in Slaughter Stream Cave, and in this article, he gives an overview of scientific work in the cave.
Introduction
Historically in British caving the Forest of Dean (FOD for short) was mostly seen as a region without much cave potential and generally not worth the detour on the way to other more interesting regions like South Wales or Derbyshire, unless you were interested in disused iron or coal mines. However, with tenacious digging and water tracing work significant discoveries were made. Firstly at Otter Hole near Chepstow around 1974 (~3.5km), arguably the UK’s most beautiful cave and with an enigmatic and hazardous tidal sump close to the very muddy River Wye. Then another break-through occurred in 1990 at Wet Sink, not far from the beauty spot of Symond’s Yat, again close to the River Wye, but a long way upstream from Chepstow. This allowed access for the first time into the Slaughter Stream Cave system, which today totals around 13km. More of national significance is likely yet to come from digging and water-tracing in another FOD area, the Tidenham Chase Syncline, where Miss Grace’s Lane Swallet (4.5km) and other sinks feed down several km to a resurgence at Ban-y-gor, a few kilometres upstream and on the opposite bank of the River Wye from Otters Hole.
The Slaughter Stream Cave
The Slaughter Stream Cave (SSC) forms a 13km long system with several active and relict passages with streams that flow generally westwards from several surface sinks down to the Slaughter rising on the banks of the River Wye. Despite numerous digs spread around the cave catchment area the cave presently has only the one entrance at Wet Sink. Here the passages quickly descend to ~55m depth, spiralling down several short pitches and joining a gently sloping main streamway. This then generally follows the gentle stratal dip for several km to a maximum depth of ~ 110m at Sump 4. However, there is extra complexity because in many places relict dry passages occur at different levels at up to ~35m higher than the active streamways. These relict passages commonly have significant quantities of sandy sediment fill and boulder break-down, attesting to a long and complex speleogenesis likely spanning several periglacial and inter-glacial periods. Cryogenic calcite deposits have already been noted in some relict areas of the cave and these must have formed during glacial or periglacial periods with permafrost extending 50m or more below the surface.
Since the cave was discovered attempts at significant scientific research failed to materialise despite the best efforts by Paul Taylor (GSS) and others to stimulate academic interest. Around the year 2000 for example two PhD students were lined up and had support from the DJ Lowe at the Geological Survey and local academic Nick Chidlaw, but then the potential students backed out, perhaps because they realised the complexity and logistical challenges in front of them. This left little understanding of the cave morphology, hydrology, geology and speleogenesis for several decades. However, in 2018 a new phase of GSS sponsored scientific work started, initially with a water tracing study, but then expanded to include resurveying, speleogenesis and geological work as described below.
Dryslade Passage (left). Chunnel West (right)
Furthest parts of the cave take ~ 5 hours to reach, with some fairly strenuous scambling and crawling. Therefore during the present phase of surveying and scientific study some underground bivouac camping is planned so that 10 to 15 hour trips can be split between more than one day.
Hydrology
The existence of a Slaughter Cave system was postulated as early as the 1960’s prior to it’s discovery by digging at Wet Sink. The Cave Projects Group performed water tracing projects in the 1960’s and 70’s, the results from which were published by Solari R.A. (1974) & Lowe D.J. (1989). These showed a surface and underground catchment area of approximately 6km^2 and nearly 150m relief, with many surface sinks feeding water to the Slaughter rising on the banks of the river Wye and to two other more minor springs. Despite the SSC system discovery and exploration there was then a major gap in water-tracing efforts until early 2018 when a new project was started and this is still underway. The intent is to try and solve questions about stream flows seen both within the SSC and other nearby caves and again from the various surface sinks. The history of investigation, methodology and preliminary results have been reported by Taylor P.W. (2020) and in recent GSS Newsletters and in the Descent magazine. Further water traces remain to be done, with for example a bigger fluorescene load dropped into Hoarthorns Wood Swallet (the furthest known upstream sink in the system) to try and get a positive trace to somewhere inside the cave and perhaps confirm a postulated link to the downstream end of Sump 1 in the Drake Series which divers had entered but not successfully passed.
Previous Surveying
The present scientific projects need to be based on adequate digital cave morphology with not only plan views but also passage cross-sections and elevations. Also, 2D and 3D displays are needed to integrate with surface topography and mapped geology. The initial cave discoveries (~11km) were well surveyed mostly around 1991 to 1993 with a lot of hard work put in by GSS and RFDCC using best techniques available at that time with Suunto compass/clino and fibron measuring tape. This was transcribed by Paul Taylor into a comprehensive Compass software database and in 1995 a 2D plan was drawn up in ink at 1:500 using the survey skeleton coordinates.
Then a further ~1.9 km of passages were discovered and surveyed during the period 1997 to 2000 in the Remelt and Heat Exchanger Series, see above. These were added to the Compass database and shown as a survey line drawing on issued maps, but the passages not yet drawn up, even though good quality drawings were acquired.
The survey plan drawings acquired up to 2000 were therefore fine for cavers to find their way around and relate passages to each other and give a reasonable estimate of proximity to the numerous sinks and other shorter caves in the same catchment area. However, elevation plots were not made and not many passage cross-sections recorded. Another quandary was that survey inclination data gave unrealistically deep values (>20m too deep) for the deepest point in the cave relative to the Slaughter resurgence. Also, some streamways did not have realistic slopes, in a few extreme cases resulting in passages apparently sloping the wrong way. As far as left, right, up and down data (LRUD) is concerned around 60% of survey stations had LR recordings, but only about 20% had UDs and therefore elevation views and height relationship between sinks, springs in the cave, sumps and geological layers could not be well established unless new data was acquired.
New Survey Work
Some examples of ‘raw’ re-survey displays.
The purpose of the current survey work is to upgrade the 1991-2000 data and add in new data where required. The workflow so far has comprised a thorough check and clean-up of the 27 year old Compass database using original survey notes and drawings. Quite a lot of the LRUD data acquired was not previously written to the Compass database, so this was added in.
All old loop closures were untied so that original and new data acquisition could be compared ‘like for like’ without closure distortions. With Paul Taylor’s help nearly all the original survey sketches, data tables and cave drawings were found and they have been checked off against the digital Compass data. In general, only minor acquisition or transcription errors were found. These were corrected and did not affect the cave plan very much.
No elevation displays were drawn up before and these will be made from both the original and new survey data. However, it appears that minor systematic clinometer instrument errors of ~1 degree were present in quite a lot of the original data recorded. This doesn’t sound much but, when dealing with such long continuous passages over distances of 1km or more, 10s of metres height difference do result. It seems that it was mostly this which led to the anomalous estimate of final (air-filled) cave depth ~20m lower than the resurgence at the Slaughter Rising about 1.5km WNW of Sump 4. However with the benefit these days of better GPS and published OS map elevations it can be deduced that another contributing factor to the disparity was an over-estimate of the resurgence elevation by ~15m. Use of the modern Compass software has also allowed a more accurate estimation of magnetic declination to be applied to the entire previous dataset which spanned years 1991 to 2000 during which the earth's declination changed by ~ 5 degrees here.
New test acquisition was started in late 2018 using modern DistoX laser techniques and PDA recording/drawing. This, together with consideration of the evolving scientific objectives, showed that around half of the cave would benefit from new survey acquisition, particularly along key through routes and also where passage inclinations are steep, such as in the Entrance Series and around Zuree Aven. This task was underway by mid-2019, but workflow was severely interrupted by covid restrictions. Nevertheless 12 survey trips have been made to date, totalling ~4km and about ~2 ½ km more are intended.
Minor passage survey additions have been made which were missing before, yielding an extra ~300m to the surveyed cave length so far. All the new data recorded has LRUD information plus plenty of extra splays to help passage drawings both in plan and elevation views and plenty of passage cross-sections to help with speleogenesis and water tracing work.
The forward plan on surveying is to complete the new acquisition and integrate it with the retained vintage data then draw it all up in Therion software so that in the end a digital survey drawing can be made, fit for such a fine and interesting cave. This can then form a reliable 3D framework in which to fit the water tracing, geology and speleogenesis observations. The intention is make the survey results ‘open access’ available for the caving community as a whole.
Geology
Note: vertical exaggeration x9
The cave appears to be largely formed in the Lower Dolomite Formation (Fig. 5) and although entirely natural and not mined it contains interesting iron and manganese (?) deposits, shelly fossil layers and archaeological remains such as 'Norman' the dog skeleton and bones and teeth from hippopotamus and mammoth. Disused coal mines in the Coleford High Delf seam overlie some western parts of the cave but these are separated from the carbonate sequence by at least 100m of shales and sandstones of the Trenchard Group which almost certainly form an aquiclude.
Dog's Grave Passage
One scientific objective is to quantify and understand the proportion of dolomite versus limestone and find out if the cave passages are preferentially developed at certain more soluble stratigraphical horizons within the Lower Dolomite or if the passage positions are determined instead by former and present water table depths during down-cutting of the River Wye. Caves formed in dolomite are much less common than in limestone because of its lesser solubility and to have a 13km system largely in dolomite is exceptional. However, a few parts of the cave, for example the lower part of Coal Seam Passage (a misnomer) and parts of the Remelt Series appear to have formed in limestone. Hence another objective is to find out if the cave crosses faults into surrounding limestone formations or if a lateral facies change to Limestone occurs in the Lower Dolomite Formation. Around ~50 rock samples have been collected from within the cave and are at the University of Manchester Earth & Environmental Science department awaiting future mineralogical and petrographic analysis. Unfortunately delays due to covid have held up this element of the work for at least a year already, but some results are expected later in 2021.
Remelt Series crease limestone(?)( left). Dog's Grave Passage breccia with haematite (right)
Red haematite iron ore veins and iron-stained layers have been noticed in some parts of the cave and these offer an amazing opportunity to see and study ‘virgin’ unmined deposits which elsewhere in FOD have nearly all been mined away and less useful for study. Also, black mineral deposits have been noticed in some other parts of the cave which coat the walls and replace fossil shell layers. Although work on these has not yet started, it seems likely from their appearance that they are formed of manganese and biomediated in origin. It is hoped that we can interest academic experts at the University of Bristol’s Geology Department to help investigate these.
Speleogenesis
The cave is characterised both by active a relict stream passages that show evidence for both phreatic and vadose origin. It is intended that the cave resurvey and scientific observations on features such as passage profiles, wall scallops, sediment deposits and preserved ripple marks will permit a synthesis on the phases and possible timing of cave genesis. It will be interesting also to determine if any relict parts of the cave might have a hypogenic origin perhaps related to mineralisation phases, rather than being epigenic from sinking surface waters, as is occurring at present.
Conclusions
Much interesting work is in progress in the FOD and in particular the Slaughter Stream Cave with various strands of work likely to lead to a much-improved knowledge of the cave morphology, geology and origin. These will likely provide a prime example for a long cave system formed largely in dolomite, unlike any other known in the UK. The work in progress requires a strong team effort with surveying, photography and scientific observations required. Willing helpers or specialist research workers please make your interest and availability known to the author ready for resumption of work with day trips and a few overnight underground bivouacs planned later in 2021.
References
Lowe D.J. (1989) Limestones and caves of the Forest of Dean. pp. 106–116. In Ford, T D (Ed.), Limestones and Caves of Wales [Cambridge University Press].
Solari R.A. (1974) Hydrology of the Slaughter Rising. Cave Projects Group Newsletter, No.5, 54–6
Taylor P.W. (2020) Forest of Dean Dye Tracing Project (Slaughter and Ban-y-gor catchment areas) history and interim results. Cave and Karst Science, Vol.47, No.1, (2020) pp. 19–22.
Mark Tringham
A QUESTION FROM COUNTY CLARE
Graham Mullan poses a question for our older members and anyone with an interest in the history of exploration in the Burren, so read on, and cast you mind back to days of old, when cavers were bold...
Following the continuing survey work in the Coolagh River Cave by Ash Gregg and his merry band, I have spent quite a lot of time staring at the sites in the Lower Coolagh Valley, from the bottom of the cave down to Ballynalackan.
It is strikingly obvious, both from the maps and the written accounts that the site which should be key to unlocking this area is School House Sink (B10d). What seems strange is that I can find no account of us – or indeed anyone else – attempting to open the sink up. We have dug at all sorts of obscure places, here and in other parts of the Burren, but seemingly not at this most obvious and promising of sites.
So, my question is this. Can anyone remember any attempts to dig here? Did they fail? Were they refused permission? Or has nobody actually had a go?
I know someone locally who has been quietly negotiating with the current landowner to dig here, when circumstances permit, so the question of its potential might well be answered in the near future. Hopefully, it’ll prove as promising as it looks. If you know anything about the site, please get in contact.
Graham Mullan poses a question for our older members and anyone with an interest in the history of exploration in the Burren, so read on, and cast you mind back to days of old, when cavers were bold...
Following the continuing survey work in the Coolagh River Cave by Ash Gregg and his merry band, I have spent quite a lot of time staring at the sites in the Lower Coolagh Valley, from the bottom of the cave down to Ballynalackan.
It is strikingly obvious, both from the maps and the written accounts that the site which should be key to unlocking this area is School House Sink (B10d). What seems strange is that I can find no account of us – or indeed anyone else – attempting to open the sink up. We have dug at all sorts of obscure places, here and in other parts of the Burren, but seemingly not at this most obvious and promising of sites.
So, my question is this. Can anyone remember any attempts to dig here? Did they fail? Were they refused permission? Or has nobody actually had a go?
I know someone locally who has been quietly negotiating with the current landowner to dig here, when circumstances permit, so the question of its potential might well be answered in the near future. Hopefully, it’ll prove as promising as it looks. If you know anything about the site, please get in contact.
Graham Mullan
I READ TO THE END, HONESTLY!!
Image from freepiks.com
The winner of last month's competition was Andy Farrant, busy procrastinating at work, waiting for his next appearance in a national newsletter! And it's not true that he won just because he says nice things about us, but it does help.
Keep those emails coming! It's a real bonus for your editorial team, slaving over a hot computer, to know there's a readership out there! Plus it gives us a steady stream of victims for articles, but don't let that put you off!
- Awesome read as ever! (Andy Farrant)
- Good newsletter! (Zac Woodford)
- Again slow ... but fascinated by the Fishmonger’s story. Start the joke series with knowing which plaice the cave is at. (Chris Howes)
- OK, got there. The End (Dick Willis) (Eds: In the interests of accuracy, this was actually a response to the previous issue, so Dick wins a prize for being the latest entrant to that one!)
- Just for you (Graham Mullan)
- I did read to the end, albeit quite slowly. I’ve already won a prize, so let’s not get greedy (and it resulted in me having to write an article, so I’m slower off the mark these days). (Ian Wheeler)
- Have not got to the end yet (typically takes me a month or more) (Steve 'Professor/Dr/Mr) Hobbs) (Steve also kindly pointed out the incorrect date for the AGM in the last newsletter, so at least someone was awake!)
- Trust me, I r a gernalist and I read to the end. Shame it was probably a week later than anyone else, but you can blame shovelling work shit at high speed. Spiffing work, everyone - another good newsletter. (Sharon and the blessed FT Bear)
- Got there eventually! Am I a newsletter behind yet? (Cat (see, i do still exist, just busy :) Henry)
Now, who read to the end this time? Late entries accepted! For those new to the game, there will be a splendid prize for the first person to read to the end and tell us that you did!
THE END
Image from freepiks.com
The winner of last month's competition was Andy Farrant, busy procrastinating at work, waiting for his next appearance in a national newsletter! And it's not true that he won just because he says nice things about us, but it does help.
Keep those emails coming! It's a real bonus for your editorial team, slaving over a hot computer, to know there's a readership out there! Plus it gives us a steady stream of victims for articles, but don't let that put you off!
- Awesome read as ever! (Andy Farrant)
- Good newsletter! (Zac Woodford)
- Again slow ... but fascinated by the Fishmonger’s story. Start the joke series with knowing which plaice the cave is at. (Chris Howes)
- OK, got there. The End (Dick Willis) (Eds: In the interests of accuracy, this was actually a response to the previous issue, so Dick wins a prize for being the latest entrant to that one!)
- Just for you (Graham Mullan)
- I did read to the end, albeit quite slowly. I’ve already won a prize, so let’s not get greedy (and it resulted in me having to write an article, so I’m slower off the mark these days). (Ian Wheeler)
- Have not got to the end yet (typically takes me a month or more) (Steve 'Professor/Dr/Mr) Hobbs) (Steve also kindly pointed out the incorrect date for the AGM in the last newsletter, so at least someone was awake!)
- Trust me, I r a gernalist and I read to the end. Shame it was probably a week later than anyone else, but you can blame shovelling work shit at high speed. Spiffing work, everyone - another good newsletter. (Sharon and the blessed FT Bear)
- Got there eventually! Am I a newsletter behind yet? (Cat (see, i do still exist, just busy :) Henry)
Now, who read to the end this time? Late entries accepted! For those new to the game, there will be a splendid prize for the first person to read to the end and tell us that you did!
THE END