Me and my dad, Alex had a long journey up to Matlock in the snow but luckily it was just like a normal drive. We met big Jim at the Woodside cafe along with some others: Jess, Old git Rick and his dog, Aunty Ann, Roy Rodgers and Kev n Nemo. We went in the cafe to talk the boring things over like the bat protection laws and what not. Big Jim gave us a nice pack that said about bats and that the fancy word for bat was Chiropteran.
After that we got our gear on and split into teams. I and my dad got to go in Big Jim's team along with Kev n Nemo. I have to say Jim was very into talking but in a good way. Anyhow we set off with high hopes of seeing a bat. It was quite a long walk especially with a small but steep hill in the way of the cave. Still we managed to get there and if you see the pictures of us on facebook you will see how much energy it took.
The first mine we went in did I mention was called Jacobs Dream. The entrance of the cave was infested with moths and spiders but I soon got used to it (luckily). The first bat we saw was nested in a nice little corner that I would of loved to squeezed into as it looked quite warm. Oh and did I remember to say the first bat was called a Brandts bat. Soon we discovered two more, the only downside to discovering these wonderful creatures was not being able to stay close to them for long.
We soon got on with our journey and found a Daubentons me and dad were chuffed. Unfortunately they were the only three bats we saw in that mine... But still we made our way to the next mine called Bonsall Leys. We didn't really see much in there as it was pretty small and very wet in fact I got my feet cold and wet but I didn't let that spoil my day. I trod on my way out of the second mine sort of falling over at the same time.
And so that was that and we made our way back to the car park at a heavy pace.
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