Sunday, September 03, 2006
Butterflies
I've been trying to get some good pictures of butterflies in the garden for a while, but to get a good close up picture requires getting close to the butterfly, which is not easy. But on a lovely sunny day these red admiral butterflies were feeding on nectar from a buddliea bush and not paying much attention to me at all.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
Return to Spain
After having such a great time in Spain at Easter, we planned a return trip in August. The main action on the expedition was the continued exploration of the new cave from Easter 'El Torno'. While on a trip into a new area of this cave to push and survey some passages which nobody had every been in (or so we thought!), another team from the expedition came across a human skull!
This is a climb up in the new area of passages which led to the passage where the skull was found. This section of cave had been named 'Granny's Slippers' after the first team to explore here found the mud built up on their boots like a big pair of Granny slippers.
The human skull, which became affectionately known as Granny. From what I understand from a purely amateur viewpoint is that it is likely to be very old because the teeth appear worn down but with no sign of decay (indicating this person dates from a time before sugar was part of the European diet). The surveying compass was included for scale. The skull will be excavated by an archeologist in due course.
We found some other bones nearby. These do not appear to be all human (but I'm no expert). Certainly an animal jawbone (small mammal) and a skull (dog sized) were also present (but not visible in this photograph). They are partly calcited into the cave formations, indicating they have been here a very long time.
The photo above shows where the bones in the previous picture were found. They are among the formations on the passage floor in front of the caver. Another set of formations hang over the top, so the bones can't have fallen in from above. Either they were moved here by an animal, or were washed in when water flowed in this ancient passage.
This cave features an amazing variety of passage styles in a relatively short amount of cave. This passage is near the entrance of the cave. The new passages were found beyond the chamber discovered on the Easter expedition.
Just in case you thought it was all hard work. Some of the caving was very relaxing!
This is a climb up in the new area of passages which led to the passage where the skull was found. This section of cave had been named 'Granny's Slippers' after the first team to explore here found the mud built up on their boots like a big pair of Granny slippers.
The human skull, which became affectionately known as Granny. From what I understand from a purely amateur viewpoint is that it is likely to be very old because the teeth appear worn down but with no sign of decay (indicating this person dates from a time before sugar was part of the European diet). The surveying compass was included for scale. The skull will be excavated by an archeologist in due course.
We found some other bones nearby. These do not appear to be all human (but I'm no expert). Certainly an animal jawbone (small mammal) and a skull (dog sized) were also present (but not visible in this photograph). They are partly calcited into the cave formations, indicating they have been here a very long time.
The photo above shows where the bones in the previous picture were found. They are among the formations on the passage floor in front of the caver. Another set of formations hang over the top, so the bones can't have fallen in from above. Either they were moved here by an animal, or were washed in when water flowed in this ancient passage.
This cave features an amazing variety of passage styles in a relatively short amount of cave. This passage is near the entrance of the cave. The new passages were found beyond the chamber discovered on the Easter expedition.
Just in case you thought it was all hard work. Some of the caving was very relaxing!
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Fly-Cave Weekend in the Felix Trombe
A trip which was nearly two years in the planning came together this month. A group of nine of us flew over to France for a long weekend to explore the further reaches of the Grotte de Pene Blanque. The plan was to spend 4 days (3 nights) underground, camping a good few hours into the cave so that we could make a trip to the far end of the system and have plenty of time to take photographs. This also solved any accommodation problems, and saved the weight of carrying tents. The trip was a great success, and we were amazed by the cave formations which we found. We had no idea the cave contained such stuff, so it was a real surprise. Here are a few highlights.
The great Blanc de Blanc column. This extends a further 60m or more down a shaft behind the column.
A large crystal pool in a room with a completely crystal floor.
The caver here is standing by the entrance to this amazing room
A wider view of the chamber with the crystal pool in the foreground
On the third day we went exploring in another part of the cave and found these hair raising cable traverses over gaping black chasms. The floor is about 60m down!
The great Blanc de Blanc column. This extends a further 60m or more down a shaft behind the column.
A large crystal pool in a room with a completely crystal floor.
The caver here is standing by the entrance to this amazing room
A wider view of the chamber with the crystal pool in the foreground
On the third day we went exploring in another part of the cave and found these hair raising cable traverses over gaping black chasms. The floor is about 60m down!
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Cave Exploration in Spain
Spent a week over Easter on a caving expedition in Cantabria, Northern Spain in the Matienzo valley. This is the first time I have tried to take all my cave photography gear abroad via budget airline, but it proved possible due to the unlimited weight hand luggage policy of Easyjet. We just about managed to fit our caving, camping and photographic gear into our baggage allowance and had a fantastic week hunting for new caves and searching for new passages in known caves.
The Matienzo expeditions have been running for well over 30 years, and details of the discoveries in the area can be found on the Matienzo Expedition Website.
I took a lot of record photographs of cave entrances and surface features, but also managed to get some nice landscape pictures and a few underground pictures of some of the new discoveries during the week. This was the first time I have tried my hand at panoramic pictures, both above and below ground. The views down on the valley lent themselves well to this format, as did one of the major cave discoveries. I took several frames of each of these scenes, and then used Adobe Photoshop to create the composite images from the best matching ones. Each of the images below is made up from three actual photographs.
Early morning cloud in the Matienzo valley
Cave chamber in the newly discovered Cueva del Torno
The Matienzo expeditions have been running for well over 30 years, and details of the discoveries in the area can be found on the Matienzo Expedition Website.
I took a lot of record photographs of cave entrances and surface features, but also managed to get some nice landscape pictures and a few underground pictures of some of the new discoveries during the week. This was the first time I have tried my hand at panoramic pictures, both above and below ground. The views down on the valley lent themselves well to this format, as did one of the major cave discoveries. I took several frames of each of these scenes, and then used Adobe Photoshop to create the composite images from the best matching ones. Each of the images below is made up from three actual photographs.
Early morning cloud in the Matienzo valley
Cave chamber in the newly discovered Cueva del Torno
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