A lesser known fact about the Cloister is that it is home to several thousand pipistrelle bats! Numbers vary according to the time of the year but peak in the autumn and are usually best seen after sun set.
Estimates of numbers of bats visiting the cloister are speculative, but observations of numbers of grounded bats and of peak numbers of bats flying simultaneously during the swarming period are consistent with an estimate as high as 12000 for swarming and 2600 hibernating. If accurate, such figures indicate that the Cathedral provides a resource for up to 0.5% of the UK population of common pipistrelle, distributed over an area with a 13.8km radius, and may be the largest recorded concentration of the species in the UK!!
The Cloister at Durham Cathedral comprises an outer wall which is square in plan with sides approximately 44m long, comprising the sandstone block walls of the buildings surrounding the cloister, which vary between 8 and 20m in height. An inner wall with empty stone tracery windows surrounds a central lawned garth approximately 34m square. Between the two walls are flag-stoned walkways or ranges, approximately 4m wide and 4m high, and with 15th century wooden beamed ceilings. Above the ceilings are enclosed roof-spaces approximately 0.5m in height where the mono-pitched roof abuts the outer wall. When bats are present they are frequently seen entering and exiting gaps between the ceiling timbers and the stone walling either side, and are assumed to roost and hibernate either within the gaps or in the enclosed roof space.
OK! down to business, to log this cache please email me answers to 1, 2 & 3
1.The coordinates take you to a plaque on the south walkway with the words MONTROSS,DUNDEE and PRESTON on. What is at the bottom of the plaque in between the 2 batwings?
2.Walk around the 4 sides of the square and count the total number of decorative shields on the wooden ceiling -how many are there? Look out for the bats as you walk around!
3.Look at the image in the gallery of the famous pagan Green Man carving - which walkway ceiling is it located (north, east ,south or west?)
4.Please upload any pictures you get of the bats and of yourselves or GPS without revealing answers to the above
Virtual Reward - 2017/2018
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between August 24, 2017 and August 24, 2018. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards on the Geocaching Blog.