The Wharfedale Naturalist

Review of the year 2001
Volume 56

Programme
May 2001 to March 2002

Microscope Meetings
Held on first Tuesdays of the month, 7.30pm at the Clarke-Foley Centre

Coffee Morning
The Annual Coffee Morning and Nature Gift Sale was held on Saturday 3 November 2001, 10am to 12 noon, at the Clarke-Foley Centre, raising funds for Conservation Projects.

Membership: Ordinary Members, 270; Life members, 6; Total 276. Numbers up by 24 on last year and the highest membership for 15 years

Foreword

2001 will long be remembered as a year of frustration and disappointment by all interested in wildlife and the countryside. The foot and mouth outbreak has meant that much of the country, including our ‘patch’ (Wharfedale, Littondale and the Washburn Valley) has been out of bounds for most of the year and even as I write, in January 2002, some areas are still closed.

This has meant that it has been impossible to observe the natural history events at anything like the number of sites as in a normal year. It is a credit to the skill and determination of our Recorders, and all the members who have given them reports, that we have the amount of information that we have in this review.

There have certainly been short-term effects on wildlife from this unusual year – birds and mammals will have taken advantage of the lack of human disturbance and flowers will have benefited from the lack of grazing where the livestock has been culled. With farms restocking and the walkers out on the hills again, it remains to be seen whether there will be any lasting effects, although it does seem possible there will be less over-grazing of the Dales in future. Our observations over the coming years will tell the story.

The restrictions meant that a number of our summer walks had to be changed or altered, sometimes at very short notice, but the list at the front shows that we did manage a reasonable number of events, including a summer outing. Many thanks to our Syllabus Secretary, Lesley, and others, for managing to organise so much in spite of the very difficult circumstances, which were sometimes changing by the hour! We are planning a bumper summer programme for 2002 to make up some of what we missed.

In the wider field we are now, at last, seeing the results of the 1991 Rio Summit filtering down to ground level. At that Summit the nations committed themselves to action to increase biodiversity and this is has meant that area authorities (of various types) are devising ‘BAPS’ (Biodiversity Action Plans) aimed at increasing both the quantity and the variety of species. Members of your Committee have been involved in the planning process of the Dales National Park programme called ‘Nature in the Dales’ which is identifying species and habitats most in need of help and devising suitable Action Plans. The Harrogate area and Bradford are starting to get organised but are not so advanced as The Dales.

This is a very welcome development and, most importantly, there seems to be money available to see at least some of these BAPS through to action in the field. We shall keep a keen eye on developments and help where we can.

We are pleased to see a new nature reserve being made at the Otley Gravel Pits following the cessation of extraction. A management committee has been set up, with Peter Riley, our Bird Recorder, as its Chairman but access is restricted until the site has been properly set up and arrangements agreed with the landowner. This should be a valuable asset in the future.

I must record my thanks for all the hard work put in by the Committee, particularly the Secretary, Mike Atkinson, who has been responsible for so much, and the Treasurer, Eric Hutchinson, who continues to look after our finances so efficiently.

Finally, we were all delighted to hear of award to Joan Duncan of the M.B.E. for services to wildlife. Joan has been active, within the Society and elsewhere, for most of the Society’s 56 year life and few can be more deserving of this honour. She was chosen as our first Honorary Life Vice President in 1999. Congratulations Joan, and very many thanks for all that you have done for the Society over the years.

Don Barrett

Editorial

Welcome to a new decade of our publication with the new title: The Wharfedale Naturalist. We hope you like it. The last change of name was in 1981 when it was altered from ‘WNS Transactions’ to ‘WNS Review’ as well as changing from the smaller quarto to the current A4 size. This year our President suggested the new name and his design and illustration give a new and promising image for a high tech future.

In this issue we are grateful for new drawings of moths and fungi from Rachel Clapham, flower drawings from Heather Burrow and some specially prepared bird drawings by John Giles to illustrate the bird report. Incidentally we congratulate our Bird Recorder, Peter Riley on the publication of his book, A Guide to the Birds of the Washburn Valley.

Note: correction to last year’s editorial. Ilkley Moor is part of the Special Protection Area of the South Pennines.

Jenny Dixon and David Leather

Things are hotting up – official!
Part two

In our Annual Review 1999 I wrote about some research that was then being done about the world’s climate, and said that it had concluded that ‘the Earth’s atmosphere is warming up, and that means change’. Now, a couple of years on, the evidence continues to mount up. The ten hottest years since 1850 have all been since 1988. Some of the changes it may mean for us are becoming clearer. A lot of scientists, all over the world, are finding out, each in their own field, what this ‘global warming’ means. Seven of them came together this year at a conference in York to see if there is a ‘Yorkshire Perspective’ about global warming.

‘The biggest environmental issue confronting humanity’

The Earth is warming up because of the increase in the air in the amount of methane, dust and a few other so-called ‘greenhouse gases’. Carbon dioxide is the most important of all. It happens like this. Heat always moves from hotter places to colder ones. Sunlight is relatively hot so it travels to the relatively colder Earth. The heat in sunlight is ultraviolet, and it can penetrate down to Earth through the usual gases in the atmosphere without any difficulty. If that was all that happens the Earth would just be getting hotter and hotter. However, compared with the freezing temperatures of space around us, the Earth itself with its volcanic interior feels hot, so it is radiating heat back to space. This cools the Earth down, normally more or less at the same rate as the Sun is heating it up. But the problem is that the Earth’s heat is infrared and infrared heat cannot easily pass through the greenhouse gases. So increasing the amount of greenhouse gases in the air is like double-glazing, or even triple-glazing, the whole Earth. The Earth’s infrared heat cannot escape into space, while the Sun’s ultraviolet keeps shining in and overall the amount of heat on and round the Earth simply increases.

Records from places as far apart as Hawaii and the South Pole show a steady year-on-year increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In the period from 1957 to 1999 it has become nearly a fifth higher. This is the ‘triple-glazing effect’. Samples of ice from the last half a million years, bored from deep down in Antarctica, show that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the rain as it has been falling has always been only about half or even a third of what it is now. The recent leap is unprecedented both in its scale and in its rate.

Since 1860, records are available of the Earth’s average global surface temperature. During the years from 1860 to 1900 this average was steady. Beginning in 1900 temperature began to rise steadily and today it is 0.70C higher. It is showing no sign of slowing down. It looks as though in fifty years time we should expect a rise of 1.5 to 2.00C. That doesn’t sound a lot, but the temperature differences between those in ice ages and those in the warmer ‘inter-glacial’ periods in between have generally been only twice that amount, and spread over much longer periods. So in a mere couple of centuries, the time from our grandparents’ birth to that of our great-grandchildren, the gain in the Earth’s temperature is going to be half as much again as the gain since the last ice age until today. That’s serious heating! Comparing the way that since 1860 temperature has increased with the way the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere also has increased shows that the two increases have gone up in step. Very suspicious!

What a much higher global average temperature will actually mean for the UK and for Yorkshire and Wharfedale requires a crystal ball that shows a lot of detail. Our UK climate depends on wind and sea currents all round the globe. If the Gulf Stream slows down like El Niño has just done that will make a major difference to us. Geology shows that the Gulf Stream has reversed before, sometimes in as short a spell as fifty years. Even without anything as dramatic as that it looks as though we can expect a wetter Scotland and southern England and a drier northern England. North-west Europe as a whole will become colder. Yorkshire can expect temperature increases in the short term, and a colder long term.

Effects on wildlife

Wildlife will migrate as the climate changes – if it can. When we had our last ice age the ice killed every living thing in its path. Since then virtually all our British wildlife has come in from further south. For instance, in 10,000 BC there was no broad-leaved woodland in Europe north of Greece. For living things to move from there to here wasn’t at first physically difficult because then there was no English Channel and no North Sea to hold them up. But the move took place at average speeds of less than 2 kilometres a year. To keep pace with the changes now anticipated will mean that species could have to move ten times faster than that.

Can they do it? This depends partly on the actual pace of the warming but also on whether there are suitable habitats available to which, and through which, they could move. What they will need is bigger ‘reserves’, ready and waiting for them, with corridors joining these to their existing habitats. Not all species will cope. Silver-spotted Skipper butterfly can move successfully from one site to another only if the new site is at least a hectare in area and no more than 1 kilometre from the last one. This butterfly used to occur on the North Yorkshire wolds but has been lost from there. Most probably it won’t be able to get back, even if the conditions become more favourable. High Brown Fritillary and Speckled Wood find moving easier and are on the increase in Yorkshire. Poppies, Nettles and Mayweed might be able to move in the new conditions, but Bluebells and Wood Anemones almost certainly won’t. Nor is it just some species that are more adaptable. Within even the same species some strains are proving more adaptable than others.

When our wildlife began its move north and west at the end of the last ice age suitable habitats were much more continuous than they are now. We humans have been breaking up the continuity of the habitat ever since we arrived, cutting the forests down and ploughing up the grassland and heath. Skipwith Common, near Selby, is today the most northerly example of the ‘south of England’ type of heath. If temperatures rise by 2060, as they almost undoubtedly will, the species which could migrate to fill the ‘new’ niche habitat at Skipwith live at present as far away as Brittany and northern Spain. How are they going to jump the gaps? It looks as though the patterns of species in the future will be very different, and probably less rich, than the ones we see now.

Birds stand a rather better chance. If Yorkshire warms up Puffin could leave Bempton for somewhere cooler and more to their liking. If we get colder, we could begin to see Ivory Gull. But in order to thrive birds need to synchronise their breeding cycles with available food supplies, with the dates when buds break and grubs hatch. These are already showing signs of becoming disrupted. There could be a similar dislocation of synchronisation between the flowering dates of insect-pollinated plants and the presence of their pollinators. Migrant birds depend on this ‘synchrony’ in both their winter and summer quarters and all along their migration routes. Again, if sea levels rise because the glaciers in Greenland melt, the reserves in the Humber will become flooded and Bewick’s Swan from northern Siberia will have to find somewhere else. The Yorkshire sea levels are now expected to rise by maybe 20 centimetres in the next 70 years, enough to have major effects on the Blacktoft and Lower Derwent reserves. Sea levels are rising, and five times faster than they used to.

What should we do about it?

Why should we do anything about it? The principal Object of our Society is ‘the study of all branches of natural history (by observation, research and record keeping) and thereby [adding] to the existing knowledge of these sciences in the world at large and in Wharfedale in particular’. We are observers and recorders. Anything that happens on our patch is of interest and climate change is first and foremost a matter for recording. If we look at the Earth’s fossil and historical record we see that species come and go. The dinosaurs have gone, as have the woolly Mammoth, the Sabre-toothed Tiger, the Dodo, the Great Auk and probably 95% of all the other species that have ever lived. If a consequence of present-day global warming is that other species become extinct, well that is just how history and evolution is. There have been a number of mass extinctions before, including five big ones. Each one has been followed by a spurt of new species and the rise of whole new life groups. If the dinosaurs had not gone there might have been few, or even no, mammals, and that means no you and me! So if we are at the beginning of a sixth big extinction, and one that may be down to things that we do, does it matter?

And would anything that we could do instead make any difference? We could hold back the sea from Holderness, but for how long and would we be prepared to pay the cost?

It depends a bit on who we are and what hats we choose to wear. As ordinary citizens we might have one answer, another as individuals each with our own preferences, and yet another as members of our Society which has recording as one of its two major Aims.

However, we have another major aim, ‘to help with the work of nature conservation’. Conservation is a difficult word. Do we want to see Wharfedale conserved exactly as it is now? That would seem to be what the words mean. Or would we prefer it as it was when we were children? Or as something different again? Do we want to see Wharfedale’s natural world frozen at any particular date in time, and if so, what date? Wharfedale as we see it now is not ‘natural’ in any real sense. People have been altering its ‘natural’ state for thousands of years. Why should we stop now?

Perhaps we should try to be more specific about what we mean by ‘conservation’. One way of putting it would be ‘to hand on to our grandchildren a world as varied and pleasant as the one we inherited’. That might not be just to try and perpetuate what we see today. It is for us to decide. Whatever we decide, change in the climate is already making alterations in the landscape and looks like doing so increasingly. If we don’t like what climate change is doing, perhaps we could influence it in a direction we would prefer.

The easiest angle on that would be to control our own human contribution to climate change, and the most important change would seem to be the increase in heat in our atmosphere caused by increasing amounts of the greenhouse gases. The increase in heat seems to be due to human activities. The dates suggest that. We are drawing very rapidly upon the ‘bank’ of fossil sunlight energy currently stored up in oil and coal and in what is left of the Earth’s old forest cover. Energy cannot be lost. What we take out of the forests, the coalfields and the oilfields ends up with the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. That means the hotter Earth and the species changes that we can already see.

So, we have choices. If we think the way we live now is ‘conservationist’, meaning ‘handing on to our grandchildren a world as varied and pleasant as the one we inherited’, we don’t need to do anything but just carry on as we are. If we don’t think that is how it is we have to ask ourselves the next question, ‘what, individually, as WNS members, or as citizens of the world, are we to do about it?’

Mike Atkinson

Postscript The proceedings of the York conference will probably be published. In the meantime I can provide a copy of my notes, fuller than the above, to anyone who would like one.

An early record for breeding Canada Geese

The earliest known reference for breeding Canada geese in our area is given in the WNS Review, Volume 54. The date was 5th June 1958 when a family with seven goslings, and another with three goslings were seen at March Ghyll Reservoir.

I have an earlier record. In 1946, when petrol was still scarce, I stayed with my parents at the Hopper Lane Hotel near Fewston, from 29 April to 3 May. I was fifteen at the time and had been a birdwatcher for as long as I could remember. My birdwatching excursions had been somewhat limited during the was, so that first night I remember lying awake listening to calling tawny owls and anticipating eagerly the day to come. I was off down through the woods straight after breakfast. According to my diary I recorded tree pipit, cuckoo and common sandpiper, and found a pair of Canada geese at the marshy west end of Fewston Reservoir. I was sure they had a nest but it was not until the last day of the holiday that I found it. I waded across to the island and was somewhat nervous as a large angry goose rose and flew very low over my head and joined its mate on the water close by, to set up a raucous honking that I felt could be heard for miles. After about five minutes I located the nest in the rushes. The six eggs were stained brown and covered with leaves on a flat mat of reeds. It was well hidden and I could easily have missed it but for a large white shiny new laid egg on top of the nest. My joy was unconfined!

Today this occurrence would not rate a mention but to me, all those years ago, it was very exciting. The date was 3rd May 1946.

D L Robinson

A batty project

This piece is a brief background to my PhD project entitled: ‘Spatial and Sexual Segregation in Daubenton’s bats in Wharfedale’. Hopefully it will all seem a little bit clearer by the end of the article. I have recently started my second year of three, based at both Leeds and Sheffield Universities. I will briefly outline the ecology of a Daubenton’s bat and a year in its life cycle, before discussing where my project fits into this ecology.

Daubenton’s bats (Myotis daubentonii) are small (on average 8g, which is approximately the weight of a £2 coin), insectivorous bats, which feed mainly on dipterans in the 1m airspace above the water surface, or gaff insects from the water surface using their large back feet and tail membranes. From April to mid-August they roost in stone bridges or trees close to their river foraging sites and the females will give birth to a single, relatively large, youngster in early July. The female will then suckle her offspring for approximately three weeks, before it is weaned and can forage independently. At this stage the females and offspring join the males in a pre-hibernation feeding frenzy to ensure that they have sufficient fat reserves to survive the long winter. In mid-August Daubenton’s bat activity on the river becomes less predictable as they start moving to swarming sites. These are cave entrances, of which there are no shortages in Wharfedale and surrounding dales, where large groups of males of several bat species gather. We think this behaviour may be associated with mating, effectively the equivalent of a bat nightclub, where the males wait for the females to arrive prior to hibernation. Hibernation starts mid-October when insect densities drop dramatically. The bats will become fully torpid and will only arouse occasionally probably to replenish water supplies. The bats emerge from hibernation from April onwards and return to their summer roosting and foraging sites.

My supervisor John Altringham and other members of the Leeds University bat group has been studying the Daubenton’s bats in Wharfedale for over 5 years now. They have used a number of survey techniques including roost capture, radio tracking, echolocation and night-vision studies to learn more about the behaviour of this species of bat. I will not go into the results of most of these studies in this article, but one interesting observation from this work was that the roosts in the upper dale, around Kettlewell, comprised entirely of male Daubenton’s bats, whereas lower down the river near Grassington, the colonies were predominantly female with only a few males.

The aim of my PhD project is to try to determine the reason for this sexual segregation, which is not seen in lowland populations of Daubenton’s bats, but has been noted in several species of bats in upland environments. One explanation may be that the downstream males are the dominant ones and that they exclude the upstream males from access to the females and the prime feeding sites. If this is the case then we would expect the year’s offspring to be fathered solely by downstream males. However, this theory would not account for mating opportunities for males at both swarming and hibernation sites. Alternatively, it has been suggested that the energetic demands of pregnancy and lactation may restrict the females to lower altitude feeding sites where air temperatures are often higher and therefore insects densities are more stable and guaranteed. The males, on the other hand, can use torpor over a number of days to save energy if food supply is low. Torpor delays foetal and offspring development and so females must restrict its use to a minimum. The temperature difference between Kettlewell and Grassington can be up to 4oC, so the upstream male bats may be in optimal conditions and we would expect them to secure as many if not more matings than the downstream males.

I am using paternity tests to determine the relative mating success of the two male groups. I can explain this in greater detail to anyone who would like to know more about the techniques we are using. We are also continuing the fieldwork to look at aspects of feeding behaviour, territoriality and to identify further roost sites.

I can regularly be found standing in the river in the middle of the night, during the summer months, in waders four sizes too large for me. So if anyone who would like a laugh at my expense or would fancy seeing wild bats at close range, let me have your contact details and I can keep you posted about the nights we will be ‘batting’. As well as using the data for my thesis, we plan to use the results to ensure that Daubenton’s bats are adequately covered and protected in the Biodiversity Action Plan currently being prepared for the Yorkshire Dales National Park and we will update the existing Species Action Plan to take into account the possible conservation consequences of this observed sexual segregation.

I hope this gives a taster of what I am doing and I’m sure you will hear more about it as I progress and hopefully start generating more answers than questions.

Paula Senior

A question of newts

It was the end of October and, very unusually for me, I was actually cutting back the summer foliage of a large clump of hardy geraniums in the top border of the garden. I’d reached the last few cuts when two orange and black coloured objects rolled out of the crown of the plant past my boots. My first reaction was - two orange slugs, so I finished cutting down the plant before taking a closer look. To my surprise I realised they were newts, neither moving. I put them on the palm of my hand and, as they looked somehow ‘different’, placed them in a container.

Out with the Book of British Wildlife - no - not Smooth Newts, no - not Palmate, so that leaves Great Crested. I’d not had this species before, but the description didn’t fit. ‘They must be different during hibernation,’ I think. To have it confirmed, I decide to call at Mrs Drapers. Into a large pot with suitable foliage go the newts.

“What have you got there?”

“ Two Great Crested Newts.”

“ Let’s have a look. Oh no they’re not. Where did you get them?”

No wonder they weren’t in my book. They were Alpine Newts, not native to this country. So, where had they come from? There have been stories of them occurring in other areas of the country but they are rare so I return to my garden and quickly photograph them with a digital camera. The results are not very good and I have no film to take 35mm slides. The newts will have to spend a night in their container in the unfinished garage with its half concrete half clay floor.

The next day, armed with white card, camera and tripod, I return to the garage for the newts. Gone! They’ve escaped into the garage and there’s not a sign of them. I’m not amused but can hear them laughing. Still, they have been identified. I shall wait and look with more interest at the newts in the pond this spring. Meantime, the garage floor remains half concrete half clay - until the spring.

Alan Wilson

Brief encounter

More years ago than I care to count we were holidaying at Invergarry in the north of Scotland and my imagination had been caught by the legend of the ancient kings of Scotland walking in majesty along the Parallel Roads of Glen Roy.

Leaving the car at the foot of the glen we followed a winding track to either side of which were mountains and there indeed were the Parallel Roads. My imagination had now gone into overdrive picturing crowned and cloaked supermen leading their followers across the wastelands. Had we at that time been members of the Wharfedale Naturalists Society even I should have recognised the signs of glacial erosion - but perhaps I still prefer the more romantic explanation.

Meeting not a soul we strode out as the map indicated a small community at the head of the glen. Then suddenly we halted as in the distance appeared a young hind heading towards us. Expecting that at any minute it would dart away, I slowly brought my camera up to my eye, but still the creature advanced and, to our amazement, started nuzzling round Eric’s anorak. Three children then seemed to appear from nowhere, and I began to wonder if we had stumbled into ‘Brigadoon’. We learnt that the young deer - named Bambi of course - had lost its mother at birth and been reared by the villagers. Chatting to the friendly children about their pet, Eric handed round the bag of sweets and we shall never forget, as he started to put the sweets back in his pocket, the utter reproach in the eldest boy’s voice as he murmured, “Bambi likes sweeties too.” Now we know why Bambi had been so interested in Eric’s anorak.

I believe Bambi became something of a celebrity as we were later to read of her in a national newspaper. As she grew older, following her instincts, she left the village but would still return occasionally to show her human foster parents her own latest Bambi.

Margaret Hutchinson

Escape to the Moray Firth

With its shore part rocky and part huge sand dunes backed by the trees of the Culbin Forest, for a naturalist it is a magical place. It is home to the roe deer, red squirrel, crested tit and crossbill, with badger, pine marten and wildcat, but it is for over five hundred species of flowering plants and one hundred and thirty species of lichen that the area is especially famous. Facing due north and lashed by sea and wind, it is very wild in winter, but all was blue sky and sunshine when we went with a party from Bradford Botany Group last July.

It is a long journey north so we stayed the night at Killin and the following morning was spent on Ben Lawyers. We hadn’t the time or the ability to get to the summit, so we contented ourselves by following the “Nature Trail” from the information centre at about 1500ft. The trail goes round a mile long stretch up the Edramucky Burn which had been fenced off about ten years ago. The resultant difference between the enclosed area and the surrounding open mountainside was remarkable in such a short period. Outside all is over-grazed poor grassland, inside the fence is like a rock garden. In July the predominant colours were yellow from Alpine Lady’s-mantle, Yellow Saxifrage. Bog Asphodel, Golden-rod and Slender St John’s-wort, and pink from a brilliant form of Bell-heather, Cross-leaved Heath and Wild Thyme. Interspersed with these were Alpine Bistort, Butterwort and many ferns - Hard and Lemon-scented.

We continued to Elgin, changed for dinner and what we thought would be a relaxing evening, only to be told it was our only opportunity to see Twin Flower, one of the beautiful rarities of the area, with its two little pink bells hanging from a single stem. It was at the end of the plant’s flowering period and very few flowers were left. Eight miles further on, at nearly 9pm and unsuitably shod, we tramped along muddy woodland rides, cameras at the ready to find and record it. There were indeed masses of leaves and seed-heads, but only one spike still in flower and, regrettably, a slug had got there first, leaving only one pink bell for us to see.

Next day was spent in Culbin Forest (National Nature Reserve) and on the neighbouring shore. The forest, mainly Scots and Corsican Pine, was planted early last century in an attempt to stabilise the dunes which were being blown eastward by the fierce winds and threatening land and homes. In this it has succeeded, and now, as you wander through the forest, apart from the few main tracks, it is a constant struggle up and down very steep dunes many of them grass or moss covered, but with the anticipation of what will be found in the next hollow. One-flowered Wintergreen, which is the symbol of the Reserve, was found in some of the darker hollows, its glistening and nodding white heads showing up clearly. In similar dark places but much more difficult to see were two scarce plants, Coralroot Orchid and Lesser Twayblade. Creeping Lady’s-tresses was everywhere and fortunately was in full flower as were groups of Heath Spotted-orchid. On some of the more open tracks we found Common Wintergreen and a long stretch of Serrated Wintergreen was very eye-catching even though mainly in fruit. (It is supposed to grow in Swaledale but I have yet to find it there.) Nearby were outstanding examples of Stag’s-horn Clubmoss and also the smaller Marsh Clubmoss.

It was most strange to wander out of the forest straight onto the shore, which here comprised salt marsh. On the border between the two were numerous plants of Scots Lovage, only about two feet tall. On the shore the most striking plant was a lovely chestnut-coloured flat-sedge (Saltmarsh Flat-sedge) which was in profusion. Also there were Seaside Centaury, Sea Campion, Sea Aster, Sea Arrowgrass (a close relative of Marsh Arrowgrass which we have in Wharfedale) and Frog Rush, which looks like a perfect miniature Toad Rush but only one inch high. Finally we got our feet wet looking at the various types of Eelgrass.

The following day we visited parts of the coast mainly clear of the forest. In an area of open sand dunes (reminiscent of Ainsdale) there were Purple Milk-vetch, Heath Groundsel (an unusual plant with reflexed petals), Common Restharrow, Spring Vetch, brilliant pink but so small it was less than the 1p coin photographed alongside it, and the sub-species of Autumn Gentian called “septentionales” which we get in Wharfedale. The difference between the Yorkshire plants and those here in Scotland was unbelievable. In Wharfedale they are very small, rarely more than two inches high, and often single-flowered, in Scotland they were robust, six to seven inches tall, branched and with many heads. In a nearby coppice the trees and ground were covered with a beautiful carpet of lichens varying remarkably in size and colour.

A stroll along a low cliff followed and then through a sheltered cutting with Kidney Vetch and dozens of the dark purple spikes of Northern Marsh-orchid. On coming out we were on a very rough grassy bank above the shingle shoreline and were entertained watching a practice air-sea rescue operation, with helicopters from the nearby RAF station at Lossiemouth hovering overhead. On looking down again our attention was caught by a brilliant blue patch on the shingle fifty yards below. For me it was the plant of the holiday, the one above all others which I had hoped to see - Oysterplant, a very scarce denizen of the exposed shores of North-west Britain its southern limit, its main stronghold being in Norway and Iceland. With its large glaucous and fleshy leaves it forms a sizeable clump up to two feet across, and from this come flower stalks which spread over the shingle ending in clusters of blue bell-shaped flowers. There were several plants along the shoreline: in some the blue colour was rather muted, but in others it was intense and contrasted vividly with the grey leaves. Reputedly it gets its name from its leaves which can be eaten and taste very much like oysters (Flora Britannica). It dies down in winter and the seeds are transported along by wind and tide and have been known to travel over 200 miles. After this the rest of the day had to be rather an anti-climax, but away from the shoreline we did see Tree Lupin, Soapwort, Flixweed (an unusual and exceptionally tall and slim member of the Cabbage family), White Wood-rush (a handsome naturalised plant two feet tall) and were very surprised to find several large clumps of Maiden Pink on bare ground at the edge of a road through the forest - this is apparently its most northerly location in Britain.

On the way home we called at Aviemore and went up to the Cairngorm Ski Station which is quite high. Above there the sides of the little burns have a choice collection of plants growing prolifically in their true mountain environment. In addition to plants seen at Ben Lawyers there was Dwarf Cornel - in both fruit and flower (we only have a few sites in Yorkshire) and sheets of Cloudberry in fruit with hundreds of the red berries shining (it is found on some of the high tops in Wharfedale but not known to flower). There were also the pink flowers of Starry Saxifrage at the water’s edge and on the banks, in addition to Common Bilberry there was also Mountain Bilberry with much larger glaucous leaves. The Harebells were of a deep rich blue such as I have never seen before.

It had been wonderful to get away, even if just for a short while, from the “forbidden” Dales this year to somewhere where it was possible to wander freely and enjoy the countryside.

Joyce Hartley

A board with photographs of many of the plants described here was shown at a Society evening meeting

Coloured frogs

In the past two years I have been asked to look at various coloured frogs in garden ponds in our recording area. Most pond owners seem to think they have been invaded by aliens. (In most cases this is not true.) According to Tom Langton of Froglife, frog skin colour can change shade over a few hours. Frogs have pigment granules in specialist reflective and colour-making cells which respond to humidity, temperature change and stress. Warm, dry conditions produce lighter colours, cold and damp create a darker appearance. The ability to alter colour according to their habitat offers many amphibians and reptiles a greater degree of flexibility. There are reports of just about every hue of frog from white to nearly black through all shades of green, brown, blue, yellow and red. If any of these characters turn up in your garden pond please let me know.

Nevil Bowland

Unexpected visitors

Early in the morning of the 24th May we were woken up by a telephone call from our neighbour. She insisted we wouldn’t mind having our sleep disturbed if we looked out of our bedroom window. There - grazing on the lawn - was a young female roe-deer which we had the pleasure of observing for quite some time. Finally she strolled off, walked through a thick beech hedge and continued to graze on the lawn next door. We watched her for a further ten minutes until she was disturbed by the noise of a water feature in a the garden and made off up the field at the back.

This was a “first” and most unexpected sighting since we have lived here for forty-seven years.

The second “first” was a sighting of a female brimstone butterfly laying eggs on alder buckthorn, the only plant of this type in the area. She must have found it by scent as she flew straight onto it. Unfortunately the eggs were sterile.

Finally, just before Christmas, we had a pheasant feeding in the garden. Three “firsts” after nearly half a century. Who knows what next?

Audrey Bowland

From the bookshelf - 3
of John Hobson

Last year we had such a wealth of material submitted for the Review that there wasn’t need or, indeed, room, for a third Bookshelf article. However, the 2001 issue, depleted because of our limited access to the countryside last year, allows space for another set of recommendations.

Readers may remember the approach of these articles. I ask some of the Society’s natural history experts to recommend a small selection of books from their own library which they think the rest of us will enjoy and find useful. Originally I asked for two suggestions - one reference book and one ‘good read’, but, as this proves to be a quite impossible task for any book lover, I am happy to negotiate a representative selection! This time John Hobson, our Recorder for Aquatic Life, agreed to be my interviewee.

You’ve only to enter John’s home to realise you are in the presence of an avid reader and book collector. Every room has its bookshelves and all the shelves are crammed full - apparently this is also true of the roof space! - and the books themselves indicate an interest in the whole range of natural history. Choice, then, was going to be agonisingly hard and the half dozen or so volumes laid out on the dining room table showed, I thought, great self restraint on John’s part.

To get a copy of John’s first choice you will have to search the second hand book shops or charity shops. The book belonged to John’s father, a keen botanist, and John can remember exploring its wonderful illustrations before he could read. That original copy was read to the point of extinction but he managed to replace it from a second hand shop. It is Outline of Nature in the British Isles, edited by Sir John Hammerton and published in two volumes by The Amalgamated Press Ltd London some time in the 1930s. This is a huge compendium of knowledge on every aspect of natural history and, with its 15 colour plates, 140 plates of photogravure and over 3000 other illustrations, a treasure house of detailed information for a naturalist of any age. The text is divided into chapters each comprising essays on a range of different aspects of nature study and lavishly illustrated. Although some of the information is out of date, for example it confidently asserts that otters, though difficult to see, are quite common in Britain, much of it is still accurate. We tested it by a couple of questions and there were multiple entries for each. The editorial style, particularly of the titles, has a rather ‘period’ flavour -“Avian Acrobats of the Leafy Stage” (tits) and Intimate Peeps into a Drop of Pond Water - but it’s stuffed with interesting observations and the black and white photographs, taken without the benefit of any of today’s technology, are both beautiful and revealing. No wonder John grew up to be a naturalist and an expert with the camera!

John’s next choice was Fresh Water Life by John Clegg originally published in the Wayside and Woodland Series by Frederick Warne & Co in 1952, and revised and reset in 1974. There were no less than three copies of this book on the table, one for best, one for use and one precious first edition found in an Ambleside junk shop. John Clegg, who died only three years ago, was a fellow of the Freshwater Biological Association and one of the network of freshwater specialists to which John himself belongs. This is an accessible book for the interested amateur as well as the specialist, useful to look things up in but also interesting to read.

Also by a fellow northerner is A Natural History of the Lakes, Tarns and Streams of the English Lake District by Geoffrey Fryer, published by the Freshwater Biological Association. This is, as the title states, a detailed study of Lake District freshwater ecology starting from the geology and working through to birds, and is very interesting and informative. However it is the format of the book which makes it so attractive. It is in the same form as Wainwright’s Walks and, indeed, reproduced by the same firm. Hand written (calligraphy by Sharon Murphy) and illustrated by maps, diagrams and drawings by the author, looking at it is like sharing the field notebook of an exceptionally talented and well organised natural scientist. It is a book to pore over and to cherish.

John’s last two choices reflect his special interests, microscopy and photography. The first is Freshwater Algae: their Microscopic World Explored by Hilda Canter-Lund and John W G Lund, published by Biopress 1995.This is a specialist book, one which the ordinary naturalist might prefer to borrow from the library rather than buy - it would set you back £46 - but I found the photographs with which it is lavishly illustrated utterly absorbing. Using huge magnification they reveal a world normally completely invisible to us. This world is often ravishingly beautiful in both colour and form. I thought what wonderful designs for wall paper or fabrics could be drawn from these illustrations. Come to think of it, they probably already have been.

John Shaw’s Close-ups in Nature (published by Amophoto) is also full of beautiful Images. This is an American book so, unfortunately for us, the wide range of species illustrated are mainly American, too. However the main purpose of the book is to give expert guidance on techniques for photography in the field. Each illustration is accompanied by detailed notes on how it was achieved. As John remarked, it gives even the experienced photographer something to aspire to.

My thanks to John for allowing us to have this fascinating browse in his library.

Jenny Dixon

Microscope group

The group continues to expand and to welcome newcomers. Topics this year have included small mammals, freshwater life, leaves, micro-fossils and the differences between river sand and desert sand.

John Naylor and Barry Neitress from Leeds Naturalists and Leeds Microscopical Society presented an evening on pollen, ranging from flower structure to slide making. The arrangement of style and anthers and their role in the biology of pollination was explained. Then we made slides of pollen grains, first coating the glass slide with a sticking agent, then shaking a flower head over it, fixing and staining the mount. The reward was a kaleidoscope of different shapes:-

Who would have thought that dandelion pollen looked like a cog wheel?

At the December meeting we looked at microscopic garden life, bark, lichens, moss and insects collected by Sandy Barker who has a particular interest in mites. This was a good opportunity to have these tiny creatures identified and learn that the number of legs they possess varies according to their stage of development. The evening’s most intriguing mite was found in the breathing tube of a house cricket.

Thanks to all who have presented workshops and to John Hobson for producing a stimulating programme and for continuing to transport boxes of equipment, books and microscopes to the meetings.

Heather Burrow

Geology excursions

10 May: Hambleton Quarry and Skipton Rock Quarry

The visit to the two quarries was to examine some of the features of the Skipton Anticline, a huge upfold in the strata that brings the limestones to the surface. It is one of several parallel folds along the southern edge of the Askrigg Block. At the core of the fold, the dark grey limestone of Haw Park has largely been quarried away in the Skipton Rock Quarry. To the north lies the Millstone Grit scarp of Thorpe Fell and to the south that of Skipton Moor. These inward facing scarps indicate the lateral extent of the fold.

We visited the disused Hambleton quarry, now a SSSI which belongs to the Bolton Abbey Estates. It shows a fine section through the Draughton limestone and shales. The Draughton Limestone is grey to dark grey and contains chert and fossil debris, often silicified. There are simple corals and brachiopods though not very common. The folding shows how alternating shale and limestone beds behave when folded. The softer shales thicken on the crests of the fold and thin on the flanks, in contrast to the more resistant limestone. There were probably earth movements going on during deposition as the limestones show graded bedding and strong lineation, having been deposited by turbidity currents.

7 June: Coldstones Quarry, Greenhow Hill

Coldstones is a large limestone quarry worked by the firm Pioneer. It lies on the watershed between Wharfedale and Nidderdale at Greenhow, the highest village in Yorkshire. The quarry is worked for aggregates and road stone. During quarrying, old lead workings have been met with and sometimes fresh mineral veins are exposed. Swallow holes or caverns occur within the veins, usually filled with debris, and the area around is scattered with old lead mines and dumps.

The rocks are entirely Carboniferous, exposed in a complex anticline, with a series of domes along the crest. This results in several small inliers of Carboniferous Limestone surrounded by Millstone Grit. The Craven Fault cuts across the region from east to west passing a short distance south of Coldstones Quarry.

The limestones in the quarry are the upper part of the Great Scar Limestone which forms the spectacular scenery of parts of the Dales such as at Kilnsey Crag and Malham Cove. The rock is very pure, being over 95% calcium carbonate, and therefore a valuable resource.

4 Oct: Knaresborough Riverside

Here are beautifully exposed cliffs of Magnesian Limestone, (of Permian age, c270 million years), which lie on the eroded surface of Millstone Grit sandstones (of Carboniferous age c 320 million years).

The cliff section near the weir shows the unconformity at the base of the orange-coloured Magnesian Limestone with a 27m vertical cliff below the Castle and, at road level, 2-3m of gritstone. The higher part of the magnesian limestone contains large scale cross bedding. Before the limestone was laid down, the whole of the Coal Measure strata had been deposited on top of the Millstone Grit and, in this area eroded away again. The junction between the two rock types – the unconformity – represents a gap in time of about 60 million years.

At the caravan park, we tested the limestone with a weak acid, (It can look like a sandstone, and it could also be a dolomite). The results of the tests showed it to be a limestone, and it forms massive cross-bedded units in the cliff along to House in the Rock and the Chapel of Our Lady of the Crag, cut in the cliff about 1408 by John the Mason. The figure guarding the entrance is likely to be a Knight Templar.

Further along are gritstone outcrops of the Upper Plumpton Grit which form buried ‘hills and valleys’ in the limestones. We lunched at St Robert’s Cave, before visiting Grimbald Crag on the other side of the river where limestones rest unconformably on Lower Plumpton Grit with a footpath running along the unconformity.

David Leather

Winter walks

Unhappily there is not a lot to say about the walks earlier in the year because we were only able to hold the one in which we walked round the Draughton - Bolton Priory area, and we all know that the real highlight of that did not take place on the walk itself but afterwards when we espied the flock of waxwings in Ilkley car park and watched them as they kept being harassed by a mistle thrush. After this came the advent of Foot and Mouth Disease which wiped out all further walking with the mass closure of all footpath networks, not only in the dales but across the country.

In spite of all our hopes and prayers the scourge spread, lingering on through spring and summer, not only throwing our winter walks out of kilter but affecting our summer programme of outings as well. Ours was not the only organisation so afflicted. The Ramblers’ Association and the Yorkshire Dales Society were among other groups to be hit by this calamity.

However, as the year progressed into autumn a faint light began its embryonic glow at the end of what had seemed a very long dark tunnel. At last Foot and Mouth appeared to be faltering; fewer and fewer cases were reported. Footpath systems were tentatively reopened, some to close and then open again, sadly not always with the approval of local farmers.

By October some walking was possible. It was, therefore, on 21st October that I arrived at the Beacon car park to lead, as I thought, the first winter walk for some time. Unfortunately I was joined by only three people and they cried off due to illness, so, nowt daunted, I set off by myself, making my way down to Danefield and then on to Bramhope where I was able to gain access to the Puritan Chapel and look round inside. I then proceeded to Staircase Lane and then up the Avenue des Hirondelles. ( I have since learned that this was an Edwardian scheme which was started and never finished because of the Great War.) I made my way back to Danefield and, passing Giant Rumbold’s upturned boot, eventually returned to Surprise View and the car park.

Next month, on a sunny 11th November, I actually got a group together for a walk from Buckden in classic limestone country. This time there were over a dozen of us and we enjoyed a cracking ramble. We set off up Cray Gill which gave us a chance to observe its charming series of waterfalls. We observed the 2 minutes silence for the victims of the Twin Towers attack in that quiet glen. Later we watched a kestrel hovering over Yockenthwaite, and Olwen Middleton regaled us with stories of ancient cairns in the area. After a grand walk we returned to Buckden car park, and I must confess I fell asleep in Lorelie Fox’s car on the way home. I hope my snoring wasn’t too off-putting.

On December 16th we headed for the Washburn Valley, starting off from Swinsty Moor Plantation. Here our bold little covey met up and proceeded to wander down the track at the south side of Fewston Reservoir and along to Blubberhouses. On the way we saw rafts of Canada and greylag geese, one or two tufted duck and, of course, the ubiquitous mallard. Turning up the north side of the reservoir we eventually joined Bosky Dike Lane - alas no boggart - just a few passing motorists! We came into Fewston itself and made our way down to Swinsty Reservoir, eating our lunch on an attractive wooded knoll overlooking the water. Here some of us spotted a great crested grebe. Later we came to Stackpole car park where, at the water’s edge, were several muscovey duck, some Canada geese and a mute swan. We carried on along the dam and by Swinsty Hall which now has some attractively landscaped gardens with statuary outside. Eventually we got back to the cars and said our farewells. So ended the final walk of 2001.

Never mind. As I write the days are growing longer and who knows what surprises and treats lie ahead in our 2002-2003 Winter Walks programme. It has been put to me that we might start our walks at 10.00am. What do you think? Do let me know.

Chris Hartley

Summer Outing to Leighton Moss & Arnside
7th July 2001

This outing, originally scheduled to visit Teesdale, had to be changed to Leighton Moss and Arnside due to the foot and mouth disease outbreak. In the morning the whole group visited Wharton Crag in the hope of seeing Peregrine Falcon which had bred there, but unfortunately the young had flown the nest a few days earlier. However there was plenty of interest for the botanists and the butterflies were quite good also. In the afternoon some of the party were dropped off at Leighton Moss R.S.P.B. Reserve, whilst others went on a walk, led by Don, around Arnside. A good day was had by all.

The following are the species recorded during our visit.

Birds

Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Greylag Goose, Canada Goose, Common Shelduck, Eurasian Wigeon, Gadwall, Common Teal, Mallard, Ruddy Duck, Marsh Harrier, Common Buzzard, Common Kestrel, Peregrine Falcon, Common Pheasant, Moorhen, Common Coot, Oystercatcher, Avocet, Northern Lapwing, Dunlin, Ruff, Black-tailed Godwit, Common Redshank, Common Sandpiper, Black Headed Gull, Skylark, Sand Martin, Barn Swallow, Wren, Hedge Accentor (Dunnock), Robin, Blackbird, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Long-tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Jay, Jackdaw, Starling, Chaffinch, Goldfinch

Mammals

Red Deer (Stag & Hind)

Butterflies

Large Skipper, Small White, Northern Brown Argus, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Grayling, Speckled Wood, Wall Brown, Meadow Brown

Moths

Chimney Sweeper, The Cinnabar (caterpillars), 5-Spot Burnet

Dragonflies

Common Blue Damselfly

Hoverflies

Volucella Pellucens

Ken Limb (Top)

Winter Outing to Martin Mere
17th November 2001

Once again our trip to Martin Mere was arranged to coincide with the Northern Bird Fair which is held there each year.

The bus picked up at the usual points, the final one being Addingham about 8.40am. We had a full bus apart from three places se we were all pleased to receive a refund of £1 (more to spend in the gift shop). The morning was very overcast but dry and not too cold so our journey to Martin Mere went without incident and we arrived there about 10.30am. Our President had informed us of the lectures which had been planned for the day and told us that tickets were required for Bill Oddie’s talk but some would be kept back to distribute later in the morning. However, when we arrived we were told that they had all been given out so none were available. This was disappointing as quite a number of us would have liked to hear him.

As soon as we arrived people split up and went their separate ways depending on their interests. There is so much going on that you need to plan beforehand what your priorities are so that the time is spent in an economical way. We decided to look round the exhibits and book stalls first before going on to look from the hides at the wild birds which congregate there in the winter. The water was teeming with swans, geese and ducks, and the bordering fields also had some interesting birds to see. (A full list of birds seen, compiled by Ken Limb, is shown at the end of this report.) Most people had taken their lunch out with them and either sat in the hides to eat or at one of the many tables dotted about outside.. Luckily it wasn’t too cold but we decided to return to the bus for our lunch.

After eating we went round the more ornamental part of the reserve where birds are pinioned to keep them there. It is good to see birds which we have seen before in various countries and get a good look at them at close quarters. We find it quite a challenge to try to name the geese and ducks before we get to the identification boards which are very clear and explicit. Having a bit more time left we had another look from the hides at the wildfowl before going back into the building and having another browse round the book shops. A couple of our members were fortunate to obtain tickets for the Bill Oddie lecture which they had found very humorous and enjoyable.

Our journey home was mainly in the dark and passed without incident. We arrived back in Ilkley about 6.30pm and most people seemed to have enjoyed a very good day out. There really is something for everyone at Martin Mere at this time of year. Thank you to all who helped to organise this excellent day out.

Birds seen

Grey Heron Shoveler Collared Dove

Tundra Swan (Bewick’s) Common Pochard Kingfisher

Whooper Swan Goldeneye Wren

Ross’s Goose Common Buzzard Hedge Accentor (Dunnock)

Greylag Goose Peregrine Falcon Robin

Canada Goose Common Pheasant Blackbird

Barnacle Goose Moorhen Blue Tit

Common Shelduck Common Coot Great Tit

Eurasian Wigeon Northern Lapwing Magpie

Common Teal Ruff Carrion Crow

Green-winged Teal Snipe Starling

Mallard Black Headed Gull Tree Sparrow

Northern Pintail Lesser Black-backed Chaffinch

Gull Greenfinch

Mammals seen

Stoat

Report by Joan Alred

The Old Tip Field, Sun Lane, Burley-in-Wharfedale

It is several years since I last did a report on this area and it has changed quite a bit. Because I have had so many queries as to what it was like originally, a note on this is perhaps timely here.

Originally it was three fields; the larger central one was the old village tip for Burley and the smaller fields at each end were used for grazing. When Ilkley UDC took over the running of Burley and other nearby villages, the three fields were merged into one and used for dumping the household waste for the entire area. The banks of rubbish rose over ten feet high alongside the lane causing it to become a shady woodland walk as the hitherto neat hedges grew tall reaching for the light. Eventually after many local protests, the tip was closed and grassed over to become a wonderful place for butterflies, particularly the vanessids, whose caterpillars fed on the large stands of nettles , and then the adult tortoiseshells, peacocks and admirals on the many thistle flowers. On a sunny day several hundreds could be easily counted in a walk around the field.

In 1993 all changed when poisons from the old buried tip began seeping into the drainage water that led eventually to the river, causing Bradford Council, now the owners, to begin a very drastic reclamation of the area. Everything was swept away, the trees and bushes that had seeded and grown up on the steep high banks of the tip, the ancient and overgrown hedge on the tip side of the lane, the woodland flowers that had grown in the shady lane and even the surface of the lane itself all went before the irresistible force of huge earth-moving machines as the high tip itself was shaped to match the rolling hills above it. A complicated pumping system channelled the polluted drainage water into a series of reed beds, one below the other, which would purify the water as it passed through them and finally drain it into a large pool constructed at the lowest level. A very high-tech and expensive ‘skin’ was spread over the main part of the field under the soil to prevent the rain getting through into the old tip and it is this skin, which is doing its job extremely well, combined with the recent wet winters, that is now causing the ecology of the area to alter. All the heavy rain falling on the field is being held in the soil above the skin and instead of a rather dry raised area which we had for the first few years, is a place so wet as to be ‘boggy’ almost everywhere.

It will drain away again to a certain extent when the drier weather comes, but all the moisture has meant the grasses have grown very lush and after several years without being mown, are choking out the smaller flowering plants. It was inevitable as it became a closed community again, that many of the annuals and ephemerals that regenerated in the bare soil would be squeezed out and disappear, but some plants will go because they cannot compete with the rank and unmown grasses; and the original plan was that the grass should remain short. Other plants, tall enough to compete, are enjoying the wet conditions, like the Meadow Buttercup that is turning the area near the entrance to a sea of gold in the late spring, and the beautiful blue Meadow Cranesbill increasingly appearing down the banks. One or two Marsh Orchids have appeared and these should do well together with Purple and Yellow Loosestrifes.

There is a great deal of Ragwort and calls to reduce it, but the butterflies like it, particularly the Gatekeeper, a comparative and very welcome newcomer to Burley. Last season there were several places with eight or nine Gatekeeper butterflies feeding on the Ragwort flowers, and the leaves are the foodplant for the yellow and black striped caterpillars of the Cinnabar Moth which has probably colonised from the not too distant Ben Rhydding Gravel Pits, together with the Narrow-bordered 5-spot Burnet Moth, now also breeding in the field on the clovers. The number of moth species recorded is not great but the butterflies are good, although the Common Blue has failed to make much of a comeback despite the abundance of its foodplant Birdsfoot Trefoil.

The trees and bushes planted as ‘whips’ to replace those that were stripped out have mostly done well and several are now fruiting – beautiful translucent red berries followed the flat panicles of creamy-white flowers on Guelder Rose bushes, some of the Blackthorns were heavy with sloes covered in their blue bloom, and many wild Roses carried a large crop of hips, the variation in them a challenge to any botanist!

Of the real trees, the alders have outstripped the rest, relishing the wet conditions; they are now quite tall, hung with catkins and last year’s ‘cones’, popular with small parties of Redpolls working through the branches. The growth of the trees and bushes has meant more cover for small birds, which was entirely lost for a while after the alterations and perhaps the many Gorse bushes, which have become self-seeded from the soil brought in, will provide nesting cover, as well as a splash of welcome colour at almost any time of the year. The field has also provided a refuge from the sadly decreasing Grey Partridge, as a pair and sometimes more, can be seen most years and even with a family of chicks.

Frogs still breed in the rather choked ditches and probably Toads also, as I have seen several young ones during the late summer and autumn. The pool is becoming more difficult to see as the trees grow up round it but there are damselflies and dragonflies in the summer and a variety of attractive water plants including Bogbean and Water Violet.

It is eight years since the area was stripped completely, including the lane, which was surfaced with rubble and given curbing stones down either side, but the natural world takes no notice of such tidiness and the neat little road has become a lane again, the curbing stones have disappeared under grass and other plants growing over them and the severely cut-back hedge on the other side of the lane again dangles with hazel catkins in the spring, and has nuts and sloes, hips and haws in the autumn. On the field itself the growing trees and bushes make several places impenetrable, the ditches have nearly disappeared under tall vegetation, wild flowers grow with the reeds in the once tidy beds and large patches of moss are creeping among the grass because of the wet.

A certain amount of careful maintenance is needed if the Old Tip Field is to retain the success it has been so far.

Freda C Draper

Nature Notes in the Gazette

In Spring 2001, we were contacted by the Ilkley Gazette to ask if the Wharfedale Naturalists Society would like to contribute a regular column to, on 19th April the first article appeared. Since then, Nature Notes has appeared more or less fortnightly and has treated all kinds of topics of the paper about local natural history. The committee was consulted and it was thought to be a good idea, so local interest from bumble bees to butterbur and moles to magpies. The general idea is to include examples of local flora and fauna at a time when readers might see them, presented in a way which will appeal to the interested general public - and all in 300 words! 2001 had its own particular problems in that people could not get out and about in the countryside as they normally would so we had to think about what might be seen in the streets, parks and gardens.

Needless to say, we couldn’t possibly construct these articles without a great deal of help. We’ve relied heavily on the expertise of the Society’s recorders, and we’re particularly grateful to those members who have contacted us with information or ideas. Thus we learned of two interesting appearances of fungi, one rare one on a fodder bag in Rawdon, another a splendid specimen in an empty shop window in the middle of Ilkley. So, a big thank you to all who’ve helped us and, as we approach the second year of Nature Notes, please do keep the ideas coming.

John and Jenny Dixon

Mrs Joan Duncan M.B.E

We were all delighted to hear of the recognition afforded to our Honorary Vice President, Mrs Joan Duncan, in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. Joan was awarded an M.B.E. for her services to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, having been nominated by the YNU, the YWT and, of course, the WNS.

She duly attended the investiture at Buckingham Palace and later shared her memories of that special day on the Members’ Evening last December. Our congratulations to Joan for such a well-deserved award.


RECORDS FOR 2001

The weather in 2001

In these days of global warming we have become used in recent years to average temperatures exceeding long term averages. But 2001 was not like that. It was as average as can be with temperatures over the year equalling the long term average, and rainfall at 878mm (34.57 inches) only slightly different. I have to admit that because of absences my records are incomplete but once again I have been helped out by Jenny Dixon and Heather Burrow and believe that the final picture has only a small margin of error.

Temperature
Cold spells were an important feature of the year. One of them, in December, which continued into 2002 will no doubt be well remembered for some time, producing a low of -9%C and a total of 20 nights of frost. The other, in January, may not be so well remembered but that too produced 15 nights of frost and a low of 6%C. January was in fact one of a series of seven months from October 2000 to April 2001 all of which were colder than the long term average. The whole of the meteorological Winter of 2000/1 (December, January, February) was almost 1%C colder than the long term average. Despite the warmth of may, Spring too was on average quite cool so that gardens got off to a slow start. In contrast, the Summer (June, July August), and Autumn (September, October, November), were warm.

The most prolonged hot spells were of fourteen days, all with temperatures exceeding 20%C, at the end of June and at the beginning of July, and another of 15 similar days at the end of July and the beginning of August. Overall, July was very close to the record highs of 1994 and 1976. Equally remarkable, though with lower absolute values was along spell in October which made it the warmest since 1969. The hottest days were at the beginning of July when two days topped 27%C. In all nine days reached 25%C, and 54 reached 20%C, eight in May, eight in June, nineteen in July and nineteen in August.

The last Spring frost was on 21 April and the first Autumn frost was on 9 November.

Rainfall
No records were broken either of monthly rainfall or of rainfall in one day though there were four days (one in each of August, September, October, November) with over 25mm (1 inch) of rain in one day. There were no prolonged wet spells though October, with at least measurable rainfall on almost every one of its days, was noteworthy. The driest spells were of twelve days at the beginning of May (with only 2.2mm of rain in that period) of twenty days spanning June and July (3.7mm) and eighteen days spanning August and September (3mm). Also surprisingly dry was a spell of twenty-three days to the end of December in which only 9.7mm fell.

Once again snow was neither heavy nor long lasting, the heaviest being of 75mm (3 inches) and 150mm (6 inches) in February and 100mm (4 inches) in March.

John Ward

Botany

The normal source of 95% of our records – the footpaths of the Dales – being completely out of bounds this year, we have had to rely on areas still accessible such as gravel pits, tip fields, quarries and on private gardens. Whilst these limited areas alone cannot give a balanced view, additional glimpses from the roadsides as members have been passing through the Dales seem to indicate that plants have had a good year. Hopefully the absence of over-grazing will have helped in many places and we may see the benefit for the flora in 2002.

In the following report the scientific name is added the first time the species occurs.

Gardens

Several interesting discoveries were made this year:

Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia)  an alien from North America. A most unusual plant with ferny foliage and separate male and female flowers, the males in a long terminal raceme and the one female below in the axil of the leaf-like bracts. Several were found in a Menston garden and are not only the first record for WNS but also for the whole of VC64 (AMG).

Elecampane (Inula helenium)  2nd record – appeared in a west Ilkley garden. It was an outstanding specimen 8 feet tall and a pair of steps had to be utilized to take close-ups of the flower heads.

Due to shortage of land in Ilkley, new houses are being built in the grounds of nineteenth century mansions. Many of these grounds have long been allowed to go wild and the owners of the new ‘infill’ houses are making interesting finds in their gardens.

Common Spotted-orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii)  A garden in the west of Ilkley had one group of over 100 plants and others scattered elsewhere.

Broad-leaved helleborine (Epipactis helleborine) In Ben Rhydding one house had over a dozen plants in the garden and up the drive. Again in Ben Rhydding, several members reported seeing a magnificent single specimen over a garden wall.

Botany Section Outings

Of necessity these were not as set out in the Summer Programme

Hambleton Quarry (disused) 10^th May

This was officially a Geological outing but many members belong to both sections and were happy to record plants at the same time. The most abundant species was Field Horsetail (Equisetum arvense), hundreds of fertile spikes showing. On drier parts of the quarry were Common Whitlowgrass (Erophila verna), Hairy St John’s-wort (Hypericum hirsutum), Wood Avens (Geum urbanum), Wild Strawberry (Fragaria vesca), Silverweed (Potentilla anserina), and Great Mullein (Verbascum thapsus). In damper areas were seen Field Wood-rush (Luzula campestre), Wood Forget-me-not (Myosotis sylvatica), Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria), Marsh Thistle (Cirsium palustre), males only of Butterbur (Petasites hybridus), Rosebay Willowherb (Chamerion angustifolium) and Common Ragwort (Senecio jacobea). Nearby at the northern side of the A59 road at Draughton Bottom were large patches of Cowslip (Primula veris), Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) and Primrose (Primula vulgaris). Not far away on the railway embankment, and so large it was visible from the road, was another patch of Primrose.

Ben Rhydding Gravel Pits   As one of the few available sites, several visits were made in May, June and July.

 On the earliest visit we were pleased to see that it was going to be a good year for the orchids – many leaves were found down towards the river in the middle section and even more east of the East Lagoon. Other interesting items were bulbs (obviously naturalised) which would normally be over at our usual visiting time – Pheasant’s-eye Daffodil (Narcissus poeticus), large trumpet Daffodils, Summer Snowflake (Leucojum aestivum) and Spanish Bluebell (Hyacinthoides hispanica). On the riverbank Creeping Comfrey (Symphytum grandiflorum) was flowering along with Few-flowered Leek (Allium paradoxum). Perforate St John’s-wort (Hypericum perforatum) which is being squeezed out of its normal site by the side of the East Lagoon has successfully transferred to the river side of the path. A sizable Forsythia shrub has established itself and was flowering. A Male-fern (Dryopteris filix-mas) was found – the first on the site.

On later visits, immediately on entering the gravel pits the ground was seen to be covered with Silverweed. The orchids in the middle section were the usual mixture of Southern Marsh-orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa), Common Spotted-orchid and their hybrids together with a few Northern Marsh-orchid (Dactylorhiza purpurella). These continued over the fence and amongst them surprisingly was a large clump of Cowslips. (These previously had only been found once at the extreme western edge of the site.) Here also was found Zigzag Clover (Trifolium medium). East of the East Lagoon the orchids were excellent, as last year, and the species were the same; however, one difference was noted – there seemed to be a higher proportion of Common Spotted-orchid this year, probably up to 20%. There were all shades of colour from pale pink to dark purple and even one pure white. All the colours were shown off by the undercarpet of Silverweed. No Bee Orchids (Ophrys apifera) were found in this area, but a member visiting later found four, one amidst a brilliant patch of Biting Stonecrop (Sedum acre) in the flat area between the lagoon and the fence, and three behind the garages. It was pleasing to note the rare Grass Vetchling (Lathyrus nissolia) was still present as was Marsh Fern (Thelepteris palustris). Yellow Iris (Iris pseudacorus) was flowering well, but Ragged Robin (Lychnis flos-cuculi) was much scarcer than last year. Regretfully the site as a whole is continuing to become overgrown and this year the stands of Japanese Knotweed (Fallopia japonica) and Indian Balsam (Impatiens glandulifera) were larger than ever.

Farnham Gravel Pits 12 July

Harrogate Naturalists kindly invited us to go round their reserve and in return we made a list for them of the species we saw which numbered almost 150. To give a small selection there were Bee Orchid, Common Spotted-orchid, Common Twayblade (Listera ovata), Common Centaury (Centaurium erythraea) and Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus minor), the last being in seed. Around a shallow wet area were both Water-speedwells (Veronica anagallis-aquatica and V. catenata), False Fox-sedge (Carex otrubae), Grey Club-rush (Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani) and Pendulous Sedge (Carex pendula). We also saw Purple-loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), Ribbed Melilot (Melilotus officinalis), Blue Fleabane (Erigeron acer), Black Bindweed (Fallopia convolvulus), Nettle-leaved Bellflower (Campanula trachelium) and Moonwort (Botrychium lunaria). Cowslips had been plentiful and the most common plant at the time of out visit was Hairy St John’s-wort (Hypericum hirsutum) which covered large areas and, in fact, was becoming a problem.

Burley Old Tip-Field 14 June

In addition to the Section Outing, many other visits have been made and Mrs Draper, who goes there almost daily, has compiled a fresh list of the plants seen in 2001. This was necessary as, due to the ever-changing nature of the site, many of the plants recorded during the period from 1994 (when the tip was remade by Bradford Met.) to 2000 have now disappeared. Some, it is known, have died out but others may still be present hidden by dense herbage, as unfortunately the site has not been cut as needed. The number of species apparently lost is 85, the new species this year are 27, giving a current total of 304 species.

Amongst the new arrivals this year was Common Spotted-orchid, one a pure specimen, the other a hybrid probably with Southern Marsh-orchid. Another specimen of the latter is flowering in another part of the tip. Also seen were Blue-sow-thistle (Cicerbita macrophylla), Black Nightshade (Solanum nigrum), Spotted Dead-nettle (Lamium maculatum), a white form of Water Avens (Geum rivale), Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis), Purple Crane’s-bill (Geranium x magnificum), Great Burnet (Sanguisorba officinalis), Common Michaelmas-daisy (Aster x salignus), Yarrow (Achillea millefolium), Field Wood-rush, Hairy Sedge (Carex hirta), Soft-brome (Bromus hordeaceus), Sweet Vernal-grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum), M