Gibraltar Caving Group

The group of skilled cavers and climbers has multiple roles, engaging in cave exploration and research, avian rescue, and rare plant discovery.

While exploring tunnels in the southern portion of the Rock of Gibraltar, they found the entrance to Operation Tracer, also known colloquially as Stay Behind Cave.

Rumours of a covert World War II observation post had circulated in Gibraltar for decades.

[10][11][12] The group that made the discovery comprised Richard Durrell, Jean Paul Latin, Mark Ainsworth, and Ian Bramble.

The group had analysed the possible locations and realised that in order for the World War II observation post to monitor both the Mediterranean Sea and the Bay of Gibraltar, the chamber would have to be positioned very high up in the Upper Rock.

Carefully breaking down a portion of the corrugated galvanised iron wall, they discovered the doorway to a passage, which led to a chamber.

[10][12][13] Examining the interior of the room and its associated passages, they found that the west side observation post over the bay was a slit that was concealed with a concrete wedge.

[4] In 2004, members of the caving group collaborated with the Royal Holloway University of London's Department of Earth Sciences on a project to determine the reaction of speleothems to weather and seasons.