The tower where Britain's oldest Greater Horseshoe Bat was found

Browne's Folly, also known as Brown's Folly, is a Grade II listed folly tower built in 1848. It sits within a 39.9 hectare biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) near the village of Bathford in Somerset. The site is managed as a nature reserve by the Avon Wildlife Trust and is known as the Farleigh Down Stone Quarry. The tower is situated on steep west-facing slopes overlooking the River Avon, where calcareous soils have developed on Lower Lias clays, fuller's earth, and oolitic limestone strata of Jurassic age.

The quarry workings originally provided stone for the façade of Buckingham Palace and now provide a rich variety of wildlife habitats. Downland flora has covered the spoilheaps, where you can find wild thyme, harebell, and nine species of orchid, including the rare Fly Orchid. Yellow Bird's-nest also occurs here. The damp cliff faces support a variety of ferns, fungi, and spiders, while pockets of ancient woodland on the lower slopes are home to woodpeckers and Bath asparagus.

The underground workings are of great speleological and historical interest, featuring many delicate stalactites and examples of gull formation. These disused underground quarries are used for roosting by the Greater Horseshoe Bat, among five other bat species present at the site. In January 2000, Boris, the oldest Greater Horseshoe Bat ever recorded in Britain, was discovered at Browne's Folly.

In 2000, access to the mine was unilaterally withdrawn by the Avon Wildlife Trust pending the results of a mine inspector's report on safety. This report was required due to the Health and Safety at Work Act affecting employees and volunteers who might enter the mine to count the bats. Prior to 2000, access to the mine was controlled by the Council of Southern Caving Clubs, where cavers coexisted with the bat population with voluntary restrictions during the roosting season.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons