Boho Caves facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Boho Caves |
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Quarry entrance in flood; resurgence is further downstream in drier conditions
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| Location | Irish Grid: H1268 4431 Boho, Co. Fermanagh |
| Length | 2.5 km (1.6 mi) |
| Geology | Limestone |
| Entrances | 7+ |
| List of entrances |
Main Sink, Quarry, Field Shakeholes |
| Hazards | High flood risk: extremely active in wet weather |
| Access | Owned by Fermanagh District Council |
The Boho Caves (pronounced boh) are a cool group of caves found near the village of Boho in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. They are on the northern side of Belmore Mountain. This cave system includes the main Boho Cave, plus smaller ones like Waterfall Cave and the Upper and Lower Ravine Caves. Boho Cave is the sixth-longest cave system in Northern Ireland. It's also a special place for nature, called an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI #144). It's unique because its shape is controlled by cracks in the rock.
Contents
How the Caves Formed and Where the Water Goes
The rocks at Boho Caves are super old, about 325 million years old! They formed during a time called the Carboniferous period. The caves are mostly made from a type of rock called Limestone. You can also find other rocks like shale and chert here.
Inside the main cave, you can see amazing natural formations. These include pointy icicle-like shapes hanging from the ceiling called stalactites. There are also shapes growing up from the floor called stalagmites. You might also spot wavy rock formations known as cave curtains and flowstone.
The water that flows through Boho Caves comes from the Aghanaglack River. When the weather is dry, the river disappears underground before it even reaches the caves. It then comes out again much further downstream. But when it rains a lot, the water rushes into the cave system. It enters through places like the Main Sink entrance. This can cause the cave to fill up and even overflow into nearby holes in the ground called shakeholes.
The water then leaves the cave through its usual exits downstream. It also flows out through the Upper and Lower Ravine caves. During very big floods, water can even come out of the Quarry entrance, as you can see in the picture.
A Look Back at Cave Exploration
People in the local area have known about the Boho Caves for hundreds of years. They were even marked on old maps of Ireland made between 1829 and 1841. By the 1870s, it was common for visitors to hire a local guide to show them around the caves. A guide book from that time, written by William Wakeman, even mentioned this.
Famous cave explorers like Édouard-Alfred Martel and Lyster Jameson visited the Boho area in 1895. They explored some of the caves. It's not totally clear if Martel explored Boho Caves specifically, but Jameson definitely did. He even found different animals living in the caves!
The Boho quarry, which has several cave entrances, was used until the mid-1950s. Many local people explored short parts of the cave during this time. A group called the Yorkshire Ramblers explored Boho Caves in 1907. But it wasn't until the mid-1960s that cavers from Dublin tried to map this complex system. The caves were mapped again in the 1980s by the Reyfad Group.
Staying Safe in the Caves
Boho Caves are often used by school groups and visitors who want to learn about nature. But exploring them should always be taken seriously. When the weather is wet, the narrow passages can fill with water very quickly. At these times, the cave becomes extremely dangerous and you should stay away.
It's known that the cave can flood completely in less than an hour after heavy rain. Even up to 24 hours after a big rain, strong floods can still rush through the cave.
Also, it's really important not to visit the Upper Ravine area downstream of the Boho quarry. This is because bats live and sleep there, and they need to be left undisturbed.
Animals in the Caves
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One of the most interesting animals in the Boho area is a group of about 50 Daubenton's bats, also called Water Bats. These bats sleep in the Upper Ravine Cave. They were first recorded way back in 1895 by Lyster Jameson. He even sent some bats to the Science and Art Museum in Dublin! On that visit, Jameson and his guide also found two types of large spiders and three other small creatures. These were likely washed into the cave by floods.
Scientists have also found a tiny creature called a Springtail in Boho Caves. It's a special type that lives only in caves. A small fish called a stickleback has also been found here. The Field Shake Holes and Southern Series parts of the cave have many spiders. These spiders might be eating other small creatures that get blown into the cave by strong air currents.
An interesting discovery was a water beetle called Agabus biguttatus. When the caves were made a special protected area in 1985, this beetle was important. This is because there hadn't been any other recent sightings of this cave-dwelling beetle in Ireland until then.
