Pembrokeshire coastal caves trips 11/08/2019 and 14/11/2020
Unless otherwise stated, camera, setups, lighting, edits and gallery effects by Tarquin. Modelling and lighting at various points will be Phil Knight, Josh Henry and Dickon Morris.
Manorbier Flood Sink is a shakehole in a field next to a caravan park. It was discovered by Dickon Morris in 2011, and dug for a few years afterwards. The entrance is capped completely to protect livestock, and normally cannot be seen. The entrance takes a very large stream in flood. It is 2 km from the nearest coastal resurgence, at an altitude of 45 metres, in steeply dipping beds. There is a chance a cave could be found here, but it will be steep, much like the caves on Mendip. It can be expected to hit the water table rapidly.
Modelling by Dickon and Phil
Dickon excavated and shored up a 4 metre deep shaft.
Modelling by Phil, lighting by Sol and Phil
The water has undercut one side, exposing an unstable cavity with a semi-solid ceiling.
The water outlet looks easily diggable, just needs time and muscle.
Pendine cliffs, and the Pendine coastal caves. The Bleeding Cave is on the left with Pendine Cave No. 5 beside it. Pendine Caves No. 4 are between there and the steps. Pendine Bone cave is the obvious yawning hole in the cliff face. Dolwen Point Caves are on the right. Pendine Bone Cave is our first target, and looks so easy from here. Just go up the steps and then head up a bit. Should be easy enough.
Modelling by Josh and Phil
The route up from the path starts almost vertical. The ground is barely strong enough to support your feet, and the gorse is not very friendly when searching for handholds. A fall from here would not be pretty.
Modelling by Josh
Forging a route through the undergrowth. This literally meant tunneling through the bushes, creating a hole big enough to fit through. At least it is safer this way, but it felt utterly ridicuous.
Modelling by Phil
At the cliff base, hug the cliffs, fighting with brambles and gorse, and slowly tack across with an increasingly silly drop down below. Randomly stop to tip the thorns out of your wellies. What a horrendous place.
Modelling by Phil
Someone seems very pleased with themselves.
Modelling by Phil
The entrance to Pendine Bone Cave has been reached. The entrance looks huge, but the real cave is just that bedding on the right.
Modelling by Phil
But what an impressive view.
Getting into the cave involves crouching over a huge pile of seabird guano. This place really smells like it too. Because it is used as a nesting site by sea birds, this cave should only be visited out of breeding season, such as November - no birds were using the cave at all during our visit.
Modelling by Phil, lighting by Tarquin, Phil and Sol
Alcoves with stal.
More alcoves. The ceiling also has several solutional avens.
Modelling by Phil, lighting by Tarquin, Josh and Phil
The most promising solutional tube, visible after a slippery scramble, serves as a bird's nest. The eggs are a couple of centimetres long and pure white, the same colour and size as pigeon eggs. They probably belong to a pigeon (they could also be a small petrel, except those are not known to nest here).
Modelling by Humpty and Dumpty
The funnel of guano in the floor is the only real way on.
Modelling by Phil, lighting by Tarquin and Phil
The hole spits you out under a rock bridge into a lower chamber, with your hands sinking into a mixture of sand and guano. I think we all wished we had worn proper caving gear. Or a hazmat suit.
Modelling by Josh, lighting by Tarquin and Josh
There is a possible digging site under the walls below the rock bridge. We could see into the alcoves there, but did not want to push through guano. Digging here would need a respirator, and - depending on what birds nest here - perhaps a licence too.
The lower chamber, a very small space just big enough for two people, complete with a calcite false floor.
The top of the false floor was once a gour pool.
Bird's egg in the lower chamber.
Bones and egg shells in the lower chamber. Again the eggs are white (but covered in sand - those are not speckles).
Bones in the lower chamber.
Pendine Cave No. 5, an obvious eyehole in the cliff near The Bleeding Cave.
Looking out through the double eyeholes.
Inside Pendine Cave No. 5, which is just an alcove.
A very rare thing to see; spider skins in a cave. Strangely, although all spiders shed their skin, it is very rare to see a Euopean cave spider leave a skin behind. Possibly because they do not shed after they return to the cave as an adult (they grow to adulthood outside the caves), or possibly because they eat it to save nutrients.
Lace webbed spider (Amaurobius fenestralis) in the sea cave. These are more normally found living in trees. Presumably that is why there are spider skins.
Manorbier Flood Sink is a shakehole in a field next to a caravan park. It was discovered by Dickon Morris in 2011, and dug for a few years afterwards. The entrance is capped completely to protect livestock, and normally cannot be seen. The entrance takes a very large stream in flood. It is 2 km from the nearest coastal resurgence, at an altitude of 45 metres, in steeply dipping beds. There is a chance a cave could be found here, but it will be steep, much like the caves on Mendip. It can be expected to hit the water table rapidly.
Modelling by Dickon and Phil
Dickon excavated and shored up a 4 metre deep shaft.
Modelling by Phil, lighting by Sol and Phil
The water has undercut one side, exposing an unstable cavity with a semi-solid ceiling.
The water outlet looks easily diggable, just needs time and muscle.
Pendine cliffs, and the Pendine coastal caves. The Bleeding Cave is on the left with Pendine Cave No. 5 beside it. Pendine Caves No. 4 are between there and the steps. Pendine Bone cave is the obvious yawning hole in the cliff face. Dolwen Point Caves are on the right. Pendine Bone Cave is our first target, and looks so easy from here. Just go up the steps and then head up a bit. Should be easy enough.
Modelling by Josh and Phil
The route up from the path starts almost vertical. The ground is barely strong enough to support your feet, and the gorse is not very friendly when searching for handholds. A fall from here would not be pretty.
Modelling by Josh
Forging a route through the undergrowth. This literally meant tunneling through the bushes, creating a hole big enough to fit through. At least it is safer this way, but it felt utterly ridicuous.
Modelling by Phil
At the cliff base, hug the cliffs, fighting with brambles and gorse, and slowly tack across with an increasingly silly drop down below. Randomly stop to tip the thorns out of your wellies. What a horrendous place.
Modelling by Phil
Someone seems very pleased with themselves.
Modelling by Phil
The entrance to Pendine Bone Cave has been reached. The entrance looks huge, but the real cave is just that bedding on the right.
Modelling by Phil
But what an impressive view.
Getting into the cave involves crouching over a huge pile of seabird guano. This place really smells like it too. Because it is used as a nesting site by sea birds, this cave should only be visited out of breeding season, such as November - no birds were using the cave at all during our visit.
Modelling by Phil, lighting by Tarquin, Phil and Sol
Alcoves with stal.
More alcoves. The ceiling also has several solutional avens.
Modelling by Phil, lighting by Tarquin, Josh and Phil
The most promising solutional tube, visible after a slippery scramble, serves as a bird's nest. The eggs are a couple of centimetres long and pure white, the same colour and size as pigeon eggs. They probably belong to a pigeon (they could also be a small petrel, except those are not known to nest here).
Modelling by Humpty and Dumpty
The funnel of guano in the floor is the only real way on.
Modelling by Phil, lighting by Tarquin and Phil
The hole spits you out under a rock bridge into a lower chamber, with your hands sinking into a mixture of sand and guano. I think we all wished we had worn proper caving gear. Or a hazmat suit.
Modelling by Josh, lighting by Tarquin and Josh
There is a possible digging site under the walls below the rock bridge. We could see into the alcoves there, but did not want to push through guano. Digging here would need a respirator, and - depending on what birds nest here - perhaps a licence too.
The lower chamber, a very small space just big enough for two people, complete with a calcite false floor.
The top of the false floor was once a gour pool.
Bird's egg in the lower chamber.
Bones and egg shells in the lower chamber. Again the eggs are white (but covered in sand - those are not speckles).
Bones in the lower chamber.
Pendine Cave No. 5, an obvious eyehole in the cliff near The Bleeding Cave.
Looking out through the double eyeholes.
Inside Pendine Cave No. 5, which is just an alcove.
A very rare thing to see; spider skins in a cave. Strangely, although all spiders shed their skin, it is very rare to see a Euopean cave spider leave a skin behind. Possibly because they do not shed after they return to the cave as an adult (they grow to adulthood outside the caves), or possibly because they eat it to save nutrients.
Lace webbed spider (Amaurobius fenestralis) in the sea cave. These are more normally found living in trees. Presumably that is why there are spider skins.