Ogof Draenen Dollimore Series trip 15/03/2024
Unless otherwise stated, camera, setups, lighting, edits and gallery effects by Tarquin. Modelling and lighting at various points will be Steph Andrews.
Cairn Junction, with the Entrance Series in the first shadow on the right, Beyond A Choke ahead turning right, Beer Challenge and Wonderbra Bypass ahead and to the left, Upstream Passage behind the camera, and Strawberry Passage up in the ceiling via a bolt traverse.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
The cairn is home to a tiny Porrhomma rosenhaueri spider, an extremely rare species that has currently been recorded in only three places in Britain; Lesser Garth Cave, Ogof-y-Ci, and right here in Ogof Draenen. This photograph is not really good enough to be sure, but it appears to be female, judging from the size of the opisthosoma. The species is totally adapted to cave life, lives in fractured limestone, in complete darkness, and is blind. As a troglobite, it spends its entire life underground, and is the only British spider to do so; others spend at least part of their life cycle outside the cave, even if they are largely troglodytic. It is not known how they manage to spread to caves in such distant areas, or even different islands, but it is unlikely that they hitch rides on bats. Perhaps they are scattered throughout the shattered rock near the surface all over the countryside (known as mesovoid shallow substratum), assuming it can find the right environment there. It has no natural colouring, since colours are irrelevant in the dark, with the slight pink and peach tones coming from the proteins and chemicals that make up its skin, organs and haemolymph (blood). Exactly what it feeds on is not known, but it is likely to be springtails, which in turn feed on the fungus growing on detritus brought in by cavers, bats and rivers. So even though it might seem like a good idea to tape off the cairn to keep cavers away from it, the spider chose to live in a place that cavers frequent, and might actually depend on cavers to bring in its food.
Modelling by Coeswen
The spider itself is absolutely tiny, at a maximum of 2.3 mm long, with a maximum leg span of 5.7 mm. The webs are perhaps the only thing that will normally be seen, being quite scatty, like a cellar spider's (the skinny one that makes cobwebs all over your garage), and strung in the gaps between rocks. No doubt these are elsewhere in the cave, but so far this is the only place that they have been recorded. We were extremely lucky to have been able to find the spider itself.
Modelling by Coeswen
The end of Gone With The Wind, and the hole down into Midwinter Chambers. The next set of pictures show the minor chambers.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
First chamber of Midwinter Chambers.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
Liesegang rings in the first chamber.
The third chamber is the lowest, formed entirely by a collapse of the thin beds.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
Liesegang rings at the start of the fifth chamber. I have better pictures of these already, so this set of pictures was mainly to try to record what happens in each chamber.
Liesegang rings.
Liesegang rings.
The fifth chamber.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
Liesegang rings at the start of the sixth chamber.
The sixth chamber, which is officially the last chamber of Midwinter Chambers.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
The choke at the end of Going Somewhere, which Pauline Rigby had first passed by diving head first into it. The Liesegang rings above it show an interesting disjoint, where a section of the rings are missing. This may be a stylolite, but if so, the rest of it is not visible.
The passage leading to the gypsum decorated chamber of Going Somewhere.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
Liesegang rings in the chamber.
Lighting by Tarquin and Steph
The main junction in Going Somewhere, where the way to Snowball Passage is to the left, and Hexamine Highways is to the right.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
Liesegang rings near the junction.
Lighting by Tarquin and Steph
Liesegang rings near the junction.
Lighting by Tarquin and Steph
The Mayhem Of Pillars part of Exodus.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
Out Of The Blue in high water, but not flood conditions. In flood, the water can be chest deep. The whole cave had been in high water, and the Entrance Series was wet, but nothing was overflowing.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
Hall Of The One, seen from Nicola's Grotto Landing. The top of The One pinnacle is on the right.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
The right side of Nicola's Grotto.
Nicola's Grotto.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
The left side of Nicola's Grotto.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
Overshadowed, but lovely, bunch of helictites in the ceiling.
Lighting by Steph
Crawling through the shattered grotto, where great care is needed to avoid muddying the formations. We cleaned a few while we were there, removing the mud that others had got on the stal.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
The main bunch, which needs great care to avoid it, helping to keep each other's clothing away from it.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
The dead stal in the middle grotto.
Lighting by Steph
The stunning third grotto.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
The incredibly elaborate main columns of the grotto.
Lighting by Steph
Side wall of the grotto.
Lighting by Steph
Distant helictites at the back of the chamber.
Into The Black, in high water. In these conditions, the water can get much deeper by the end, and it was still raining, so we left it alone.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
Ochre stained rock at the start of the upstream MSAD Left.
Cairn used to climb into the gymsum covered crawl near the end of MSAD Left.
Snowy Christmas Tree, the iconic formation near the end of MSAD Left. While this is lovely, the passage to reach it is all very loose and untravelled, and is quite tiring as a result.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
Cairn Junction, with the Entrance Series in the first shadow on the right, Beyond A Choke ahead turning right, Beer Challenge and Wonderbra Bypass ahead and to the left, Upstream Passage behind the camera, and Strawberry Passage up in the ceiling via a bolt traverse.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
The cairn is home to a tiny Porrhomma rosenhaueri spider, an extremely rare species that has currently been recorded in only three places in Britain; Lesser Garth Cave, Ogof-y-Ci, and right here in Ogof Draenen. This photograph is not really good enough to be sure, but it appears to be female, judging from the size of the opisthosoma. The species is totally adapted to cave life, lives in fractured limestone, in complete darkness, and is blind. As a troglobite, it spends its entire life underground, and is the only British spider to do so; others spend at least part of their life cycle outside the cave, even if they are largely troglodytic. It is not known how they manage to spread to caves in such distant areas, or even different islands, but it is unlikely that they hitch rides on bats. Perhaps they are scattered throughout the shattered rock near the surface all over the countryside (known as mesovoid shallow substratum), assuming it can find the right environment there. It has no natural colouring, since colours are irrelevant in the dark, with the slight pink and peach tones coming from the proteins and chemicals that make up its skin, organs and haemolymph (blood). Exactly what it feeds on is not known, but it is likely to be springtails, which in turn feed on the fungus growing on detritus brought in by cavers, bats and rivers. So even though it might seem like a good idea to tape off the cairn to keep cavers away from it, the spider chose to live in a place that cavers frequent, and might actually depend on cavers to bring in its food.
Modelling by Coeswen
The spider itself is absolutely tiny, at a maximum of 2.3 mm long, with a maximum leg span of 5.7 mm. The webs are perhaps the only thing that will normally be seen, being quite scatty, like a cellar spider's (the skinny one that makes cobwebs all over your garage), and strung in the gaps between rocks. No doubt these are elsewhere in the cave, but so far this is the only place that they have been recorded. We were extremely lucky to have been able to find the spider itself.
Modelling by Coeswen
The end of Gone With The Wind, and the hole down into Midwinter Chambers. The next set of pictures show the minor chambers.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
First chamber of Midwinter Chambers.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
Liesegang rings in the first chamber.
The third chamber is the lowest, formed entirely by a collapse of the thin beds.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
Liesegang rings at the start of the fifth chamber. I have better pictures of these already, so this set of pictures was mainly to try to record what happens in each chamber.
Liesegang rings.
Liesegang rings.
The fifth chamber.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
Liesegang rings at the start of the sixth chamber.
The sixth chamber, which is officially the last chamber of Midwinter Chambers.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
The choke at the end of Going Somewhere, which Pauline Rigby had first passed by diving head first into it. The Liesegang rings above it show an interesting disjoint, where a section of the rings are missing. This may be a stylolite, but if so, the rest of it is not visible.
The passage leading to the gypsum decorated chamber of Going Somewhere.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
Liesegang rings in the chamber.
Lighting by Tarquin and Steph
The main junction in Going Somewhere, where the way to Snowball Passage is to the left, and Hexamine Highways is to the right.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
Liesegang rings near the junction.
Lighting by Tarquin and Steph
Liesegang rings near the junction.
Lighting by Tarquin and Steph
The Mayhem Of Pillars part of Exodus.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
Out Of The Blue in high water, but not flood conditions. In flood, the water can be chest deep. The whole cave had been in high water, and the Entrance Series was wet, but nothing was overflowing.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
Hall Of The One, seen from Nicola's Grotto Landing. The top of The One pinnacle is on the right.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
The right side of Nicola's Grotto.
Nicola's Grotto.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
The left side of Nicola's Grotto.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
Overshadowed, but lovely, bunch of helictites in the ceiling.
Lighting by Steph
Crawling through the shattered grotto, where great care is needed to avoid muddying the formations. We cleaned a few while we were there, removing the mud that others had got on the stal.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
The main bunch, which needs great care to avoid it, helping to keep each other's clothing away from it.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
The dead stal in the middle grotto.
Lighting by Steph
The stunning third grotto.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
The incredibly elaborate main columns of the grotto.
Lighting by Steph
Side wall of the grotto.
Lighting by Steph
Distant helictites at the back of the chamber.
Into The Black, in high water. In these conditions, the water can get much deeper by the end, and it was still raining, so we left it alone.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph
Ochre stained rock at the start of the upstream MSAD Left.
Cairn used to climb into the gymsum covered crawl near the end of MSAD Left.
Snowy Christmas Tree, the iconic formation near the end of MSAD Left. While this is lovely, the passage to reach it is all very loose and untravelled, and is quite tiring as a result.
Modelling by Steph, lighting by Tarquin and Steph