Mines #44 - Too Orangey For Crows

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tocsin_bang said:
That little fella was quite resourceful, he had three grown men fooled that he was dead so I'm sure he could bang off a text message :lol:

Winch....post up a picture of him please :)
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Whatt??......... there were three grown men down there with you? :mrgreen:

Nice mine guys, although Winch will probably get grounded by his mum for going home with wet socks. That'll be the cheap Lidl waders then, time to trade up to a wetsuit mate. :p:mrgreen:
 
Munchh said:
Winch will probably get grounded by his mum for going home with wet socks. That'll be the cheap Lidl waders then, time to trade up to a wetsuit mate. :p:mrgreen:
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Winch managed to stay dry all day, it was me who got soaked, not due to wader failure, more of a balance issue ;)

Alas neither my drysuit or wetsuit fit me any more these days due to a 'waistband interface' malfunction...
 
tocsin_bang said:
Winch managed to stay dry all day, it was me who got soaked, not due to wader failure, more of a balance issue ;)

Alas neither my drysuit or wetsuit fit me any more these days due to a 'waistband interface' malfunction...
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:lol::lol: middle age spread

better not get caught in any tightspots then. :mrgreen:
 
I'm with Smiler on this one !!! I hate your bloody reports cos whenever i'm feeling warm n cosy with my explores to date you post an absolute stonker of a report which puts me back as a little farty !!!:mrgreen: Seriously good stuff again you pair of B'stards !!!!:p
 
He's a newt - but not as p****d as one

Super photos.
Thanks especially for adding the one of this little chap. He looks like a common newt (Triturus vulgaris for the zoologists out there). They are native amphibians well suited to cold, dark, damp places. It's amazing what life can be found in such an unpromising environment. There is clearly enough light for the plants to be green and though the deep water looks unpleasant, that seeping down the walls is probably quite pure. I'd guess there are enough insects or other creepy-crawlies for him to feed on.
He's paler than normal, so could well have been down there all his life. If you revisit, look out for more! They are shy, but often come in sizeable colonies.
There are many newt/salamander species world-wide that are adapted to living in caves - often they are colourless and blind.
Whatever we do to our planet, some form of life fights back!
 
chalcides said:
Super photos.
Thanks especially for adding the one of this little chap. He looks like a common newt (Triturus vulgaris for the zoologists out there). They are native amphibians well suited to cold, dark, damp places. It's amazing what life can be found in such an unpromising environment. There is clearly enough light for the plants to be green and though the deep water looks unpleasant, that seeping down the walls is probably quite pure. I'd guess there are enough insects or other creepy-crawlies for him to feed on.
He's paler than normal, so could well have been down there all his life. If you revisit, look out for more! They are shy, but often come in sizeable colonies.
There are many newt/salamander species world-wide that are adapted to living in caves - often they are colourless and blind.
Whatever we do to our planet, some form of life fights back!
Click to expand...


This is excellent info.....could he have gotten in by walking down a 125 foot airshaft? I ask because getting in by another method would be almost impossible. We regularly come across countless dead animals that have wandered in and been unable to find the way out and he was sitting half a mile in at the end of a maze of possible routes. There were bugs in there too....some quite big beetles and I could hear what sounded like wasps.
 
The wandering newt

tocsin_bang said:
This is excellent info.....could he have gotten in by walking down a 125 foot airshaft? I ask because getting in by another method would be almost impossible. We regularly come across countless dead animals that have wandered in and been unable to find the way out and he was sitting half a mile in at the end of a maze of possible routes. There were bugs in there too....some quite big beetles and I could hear what sounded like wasps.
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I guess you're right - getting in the way you did seems very unlikely and, whilst being lightweight he could survive a longer drop than we could, 125 feet is a bit far. They do climb well over stones; we dismantled a bit of dry-stone wall this spring and found a colony of a dozen or so hibernating in the gaps. So I would bet he did climb down the airshaft (after half way, he probably found it easier to keep going than to climb back up!)
Like all amphibians, they return to ponds in the spring to breed - laying eggs which hatch into tadpoles which morph into newts. The rest of the year they are largely ground-dwelling, but stay where they can remain damp (they breathe mainly through the skin, so mustn't dry out).
My son, who is the herpetologist in the family, can't find any references to newts in deep UK mines etc. He would be fascinated to know of any more - here or elsewhere - and evidence of a breeding group in such an environment would be amazing.
Keep looking!
John
 
chalcides said:
My son, who is the herpetologist in the family, can't find any references to newts in deep UK mines etc. He would be fascinated to know of any more - here or elsewhere - and evidence of a breeding group in such an environment would be amazing.
Keep looking!
John
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Fascinating info again chalcides :)
Don't hold your breath though....apart from the odd bat and once a very lost pheasant all we ever see are skeletons of various sorts.
 

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