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The Wharfedale Naturalist
Review of the year 2001
Volume 56
Programme
May 2001 to March 2002
| Summer Programme 2001 |
Leader |
| 1 May |
Hebers Ghyll |
Mike Atkinson |
| 15 May |
Middleton Woods |
Don Barrett |
26 May
|
Nidd Gorge |
Ian Wallace |
| 29 May |
Adel Dam Nature Reserve |
Peter Riley |
| 10 July |
Bat walk round Menston |
Chris Hartley |
| Winter Programme 2001-2002 |
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11 September, 2001
|
Open Evening with Members exhibits,
questions and slides |
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25 September
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River Animals |
Sylvia Jay |
9 October
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Butterflies of Yorkshire |
Howard Frost |
23 October
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Springtime in New Zealand |
Jean Kendrew |
13 November
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Natural Environment and Conservation |
Tony Robinson |
27 November
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Digitalis, Dandelion and Burdock |
Margaret Lindop |
| 11 December |
Members Evening |
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8 January, 2002
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Chinas Migration Hotspot Beidaihe
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Colin Straker |
| 22 January |
Mammals
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Nevil Bowland |
12 February
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Exploring in Antarctica by Boat, Ski and Dog-sled
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Neil Aitkenhead |
| 26 February |
Retrospective Evening
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12 March
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Birds of the Shetland Isles |
Steve Knell |
22 March (Friday)
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Annual Dinner |
Guest speaker |
| 26 March A G M |
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Botany Section Outings, 2001
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17 May
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Ben Rhydding Gravel Pits |
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14 June
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Tip Field, Burley in Wharfedale |
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28 June
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Kilnsey and Lower Littondale* |
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| 12 July |
Washburn Valley* |
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Geology Field Meetings, 2001
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10 May
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Skipton Rock Quarry, Haw Park, Skipton |
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7 June
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Coldstones Quarry, Greenhow |
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4 Oct
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Knaresborough |
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Fungus Foray (joint with Harrogate Naturalists)
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| Sunday 14 October 2001 |
Middleton Woods, Ilkley. |
Leader Dr Tom Hering. |
| Summer Outing |
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| Saturday 7 July, 2001
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Excursion by coach to Arnside and Wharton
Crag Nature Reserve, and Leighton Moss. |
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| Winter Outing |
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Saturday 17th November2001
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Excursion by coach to Martin Mere. |
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Winter Walks 2001 (Sundays)
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21 October
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Otley Chevin |
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11 November
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Buckden and Yockenthwaite |
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16 December
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The Reservoirs of Washburndale |
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| Dates for 2002: |
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| 6 January, 10 February, 10 March and 7 April |
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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
Societys 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 years 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 worlds climate,
and said that it had concluded that the Earths 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 Earths
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 Earths infrared heat cannot escape into space,
while the Suns 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
Earths 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 doesnt 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 Earths temperature is going to be half as
much again as the gain since the last ice age until today. Thats
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 wasnt 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 wont
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 wont. 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 Bewicks
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 Earths 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 Wharfedales 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 dont
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 Earths 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 dont need to do anything but just carry
on as we are. If we dont 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 Daubentons
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 Daubentons bat and a
year in its life cycle, before discussing where my project fits
into this ecology.
Daubentons 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 Daubentons 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
Daubentons 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 Daubentons 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 Daubentons 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 years
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 Daubentons
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 Im 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. Id
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.
Id not had this species before, but the description didnt
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.
Lets have a look. Oh no theyre
not. Where did you get them?
No wonder they werent 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! Theyve
escaped into the garage and theres not a sign of them. Im
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 Erics 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 boys voice as he murmured,
Bambi likes sweeties too. Now we know why Bambi had
been so interested in Erics 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 hadnt 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 Ladys-mantle, Yellow Saxifrage. Bog
Asphodel, Golden-rod and Slender St Johns-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 plants 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 Ladys-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 Stags-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 waters 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
wouldnt 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 wasnt 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 Societys 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.
Youve only to enter Johns 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 Johns part.
To get a copy of Johns first choice
you will have to search the second hand book shops or charity shops.
The book belonged to Johns 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 its stuffed with interesting observations
and the black and white photographs, taken without the benefit of
any of todays technology, are both beautiful and revealing.
No wonder John grew up to be a naturalist and an expert with the
camera!
Johns 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 Wainwrights 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.
Johns 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 Shaws 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 evenings 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 Roberts 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 Rumbolds 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 Foxs car on the way
home. I hope my snoring wasnt 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 waters 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 Oddies 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 wasnt 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 (Bewicks) Common Pochard
Kingfisher
Whooper Swan Goldeneye Wren
Rosss 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 years 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 couldnt possibly
construct these articles without a great deal of help. Weve
relied heavily on the expertise of the Societys recorders,
and were 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 whove 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
Queens 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.
| Month |
Comment |
Deviations
from Average |
| |
|
Temperature |
Rainfall |
| January |
Very cold and much drier than
average |
- 1.9%C |
-32% |
| February |
Colder and wetter than average |
- 0.3%C |
+20% |
| March |
Very cold. A little drier than
average |
-2.1%C |
-9% |
| April |
Cold and very wet |
-0.8%C |
+173% |
| May |
Warmer and drier than average |
+1.3 |
-19% |
| June |
Temperature slightly below and
rainfall well below average |
-0.2%C |
-32% |
| July |
Very much warmer and drier than
average |
+1.4%C |
-41% |
| August |
Temperature and rainfall well
above average |
+1.0%C |
+75% |
| September |
Temperature below and rainfall
above average |
-0.6%C |
+11% |
| October |
Very warm and very wet |
+0.2%C |
+104% |
| November |
Warmer and much drier than average |
+0.3%C |
-55% |
| December |
Very cold and very dry |
-2.2%C |
-68% |
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) 10th 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 |