Event details

Margaret Crittenden from the British Bryological Society will be hosting a talk and guided walk at Creswell Crags, an enclosed Southern Magnesium Limestone gorge on the border between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. The cliffs in the ravine contain several caves that were occupied during the last ice age, between around 43,000 and 10,000 years ago. Its caves contain the northernmost cave art in Europe. The evidence of occupation found in the rich series of sediments that accumulated over many thousands of years is regarded as internationally unique in demonstrating how prehistoric people managed to live at the extreme northernmost limits of their territory during the Late Pleistocene period. As a result of its unique features, Creswell Crags has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. For instance, Creswell Crags is one of the three richest sites in Britain for fossil mammals. Both the sediments in the caves and in the valley slopes below the caves have yielded prolific mammal remains, including spotted hyaena, woolly rhino, reindeer and mammoth. In addition, Creswell Crags provides an unparalleled record of fossil fish and bird faunas. It has also been put forward as a potential World Heritage Site. The Gorge has many interesting bryophytes which do not occur anywhere else in Nottinghamshire. In addition, the rare ­Conardia compacta occurs in one of the caves and we should have an opportunity to see this undistinguished moss.

Please book a place through Creswell Crags: https://www.creswell-crags.org.uk/events-listings/national-moss-day