The Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union in the Barnsley area:

Pt.1

The Victorian naturalists

The Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union is a federation of natural history societies and related groups that exist in Yorkshire. Its activities are recorded in ‘The Naturalist’, first published in 1875. The Union has for many years organised excursions throughout Yorkshire to examine the flora and fauna and from time to time localities in the Barnsley district have been chosen. There is always one visitper year to a locality within one of the 5 ‘vice-counties’, arather out-moded division of the county but one still in use by many natural historians. Knowledge of the natural historyof the Barnsley area has been greatly enhanced by these visits over the past 130 years or so.

It is interesting to trace the history of these excursions in our district and how they reflect social and cultural changes as well as the landscape and wildlife. A succession of remarkable personalities adds interest to the story. The first such visit I have been able to trace actually pre-dates the formation of the YNU. The ‘West RidingConsolidated Naturalists’ Society’ came into existence in 1861, created at a meeting designed to found the HeckmondwikeNaturalists’ Society. The broader concept was the idea of Mr Talbot of Wakefield, and this idea of forming a Union of Societies for the purpose of holding joint meetings periodically at the various places where local Societies had already been established, was warmly supported. These were the societies in Heckmondwike, Halifax, Huddersfield and Wakefield. In 1877, the name was changed to the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union. The change of named signalled a change ofemphasis regarding the ‘modus operendi’ of field meetings. Before 1877 the meeting marked the culmination of the days

activities when appointed mentors would ‘name’ the materials (plants, insects, shells etc.) gathered ‘en route’ by members tothe assembly point. After this date, it was realised that meetings might be more profitable if extended to encompass the whole county – but made more purposive and restricted to a defined area with a prepared programme of serious investigation. There would be no more ‘sight-seeing’ or fieldlectures. No doubt attitudes were gradually shifting towards the new concept before the name change to the YNU.

Thus there was organised a Whitsuntide excursion to Cannon Hall and Deffer Wood in 1870 (Barnsley Naturalists Society had joined by this time) and is variously described in the local newspapers. The party from Heckmondwike had their day chronicled by Mr.Oldfield who described their trainjourney (changing at Wakefield and alighting at Darton) in astounding detail. Eventually, after much delay, they arrivedat Darton ‘one of those sweet rural villages’, whose church ‘is a fine old English fabric, erected at the time when the monks of old held sway and when such edifices were almost the only architectural embellishments which the peasantry of the period were privileged to visit without restraint’. This gives a good indication of Mr.Oldfield’s style. The walk fromDarton to Kexborough and thence High Hoyland and eventually Cannon Hall so enraptured the writer that one may be forgivenfor thinking that it was the Elysian Fields that were being traversed ‘the senses gratified by the sweet perfume of the woodruff, the wild rose, the woodbine with its fragrant summer breath and other odiferous flora which graced our path’. Little wonder that the powers-that-be decided to put the whole enterprise on a more scientific footing, but for the modern reader these poetic musings and irrelevancies are vastly entertaining.

The Barnsley Naturalists Society had a presence this Whit. Monday, lead, as ever, by the redoubtable Thomas Lister, poet, postmaster and birdwatcher. Fortunately for us he submitted natural history details of the outing to three local newspapers (two are duplicated and one is slightly different). Much of what he wrote dwells on the ornamental plants found around Cannon Hall ‘where art has laboured for the

adornment of nature’. Then the local woodlands – Deffer Wood, Margery Wood and Cawthorne Park – were investigated. We are told that about 240 species of plant were found, exhibited and named and these included mosses, rushes, ferns and grasses. The level of expertise must have been quite exceptional but one does suspect a degree of exaggeration. Few species are specifically highlighted. Perhaps Enchanter’sNightshade was the best of those listed, but Deadly Nightshade (a scarce lime-loving species) was surely the plant we now call Woody Nightshade.

Insects were said to be scarce although the foliage on oak trees had been devastated. Interestingly, a well known west Yorkshire lepidopterist from a slightly later era, Ben Morley, makes reference – in The Naturalist - to the devastation of foliage by caterpillars in Deffer Wood in 1910and in subsequent years but makes no mention of the phenomenon in 1870. He lists a number of moths responsible, including Pale Brindled Beauty, Feathered Thorn and the micromoth Tortrix viridana.

Various members had brought along exhibits and Mr.Armitage gave some interesting observations on the ‘cow-lady’ (called by the more familiar name of Ladybird in one ofthe other reports). Mr Lister then gave a report on the birdsof the Barnsley area – something he was apt to do, I suspect,at the slightest provocation – and closed his discourse by quoting some lines of poetry by Ebenezer Elliott, the celebrated South Yorkshire corn-law rhymer. Further appropriate recitations followed and a vote of thanks given to J.S.Stanhope for throwing open the park – and who earlier in the day had displayed the bow of Robin Hood to the assembled party! What price today’s YNU excursions commencingwith the viewing of a mythical artefact and ending with a poetry recital?!!

As is often the case with these early reports, the natural historian is slightly frustrated by the lack of real scientific detail. On the other hand, as an evocation of timeand place these reports retain a vitality which positively echoes down the decades and casts an unusual light on an interesting group of our forebears.

Ralph Atkinson’s account of the first 100 years of the Barnsley Naturalists and Scientific Society contains a reference to an excursion in May 1871 to Stainborough and Rockley by the West Riding Consolidated Naturalists’ Society.This followed a similar excursion the previous year to the Cawthorne area. Identical articles of the event appear in twolocal newspapers, presumably written by Thomas Lister although this is not stated. However, the article is prefacedby some lines from the poem ‘Farm Maid’, one of Lister’s unpublished rural poems. These were unpublished, it was said,as a result of suggestions made by Miss E. Strickland that heshould write dialect poetry. Indeed, around this time, Lister’s recent poetical efforts had drawn rather barbed comment in the letters page of the Barnsley Chronicle. One correspondent ‘given to poesy’ criticised his acrostic poem on themarriage of Mr Newman as lacking structure and meaning and another critic found the poem slightly improved if read backwards!

The 1871 meeting was organised slightly differently to the one a year earlier. Most visitors arrived by the 9.40 train from Huddersfield and were thence conducted to rooms atthe Central Chambers where a ‘spirited preliminary meeting took place’to decide the route for the day. One party decided to walk via Worsbrough Reservoir – ‘abounding with equisetum or horse-tail, lemna or duckweed…’ – but few plants were collected as the reservoir was too full. Another party arrived from Penistone and the assembled throng spent time viewing the pictures in the gallery inside Wentworth Castle. Thomas Lister proceeded to recite his ode to Stainbrough wherein the owner, F.W.T.V.Wentworth, Esq., is hailed as a conservationist as opposed, one suspects, to the vulgar rabble who would seek totrap and sell Nightingales and Kingfishers for their music and beauty (respectively). A monument to Wentworth’s achievements in this sphere can currently be seen at Elsecar Heritage Centre.

At this point the chronology of the day becomes confusing. One newspaper article states that most of the party had to return to Barnsley to the room at the Central Chambers where all the days collecting (undertaken when, where and by whom?) was laid on a table. No further details are given although a second newspaper article lists a number of the rarer plants. Unfortunately, it is not clear whether or not these were collected on the day or indeed in the Barnsley area. Common Twayblade and Hemlock Water Dropwort may have been but Bird’s-eye Primrose certainly wasn’t.

This second article goes on to mention that the returning party came across ‘the renowned Tom Treddlehoyle, rambling in his garden’. Many readers will be familiar with the humourist’s dialect writings and indeed he is one of Barnsley’s famous sons. But why he had deliberately – so the article states – waited for the passing naturalists for no apparent reason (the party were not even aware of him) is rather odd and odder still that it should be deemed newsworthy! For us, however, it does conjure up a somewhat surreal image and no doubt reflects a Victorian sense of humour that is difficult for the modern mind to fully grasp.

It is interesting to hear the president of the WRCNS, MrHobkirk of Huddersfield, express a desire to see the commencement of a new flora of the West Riding. What eventually became a masterly account by F.Arnold Lees of the Flora of West Yorkshire was published by the YNU in 1888, Mr Hobkirk being listed as a subscriber. A number of botanical records from our area are contained in it. Interestingly, my own copy was from the library of Max Walters, an eminent British botanist who resided in the Barnsley district at one time.

The only other items of interest from the day are ornithological. The keeper informed Mr Lister that all three British woodpeckers inhabit the grounds around Stainborough where they are protected. Mr.Lister also highlights the similarity between the notes of Lesser Whitethroat and Redstart which could lead to confusion. His radical suggestion is to view the singing bird through a ‘field glass’ thereby ‘furnishing one of many instances in which the ear

requires correcting by the eye aided by a small telescope’. Three cheers for Mr.Lister, the science of ornithology was slowly evolving.

In August 1872 the WRCNS visited the Denby Dale district, of interest here only insofar as it is stated that some of the party rambled to Ingbirchworth Reservoir. No details are given. It is also stated that thanks were given to Benjamin Holmes, Esq., of Gunthwaite Hall, for allowing his woods to be examined. Whether these woods were around Gunthwaite we are not told and in any case, yet again, no details of what may have resulted from this ‘examination’ aredisclosed.

High Hoyland was the venue on Easter Monday 1875 for thenext visit to the Barnsley district by the WRCNS, attracting a staggering 150 participants. There is quite a lengthy article from a local newspaper pasted into Thomas Lister’s copy-book. This document, held in the Local Studies Dept. of Barnsley Library, is a celebration of the life of Thomas Lister and contains many cuttings (not in chronological order, unfortunately) relating to, amongst other things, field trips made by Barnsley Naturalists, the WRCNS and a little later, the YNU.

Much is made of the scenic beauty of the district and this still holds true today. We are then treated to a verbatim report of the annual address by the president, Mr. J. Wainwright, of Wakefield, who indeed was responsible for inaugurating this custom at the commencement of the first field-meeting of the year. His turgid peroration, is, despitefinding favour with the assembled throng - it was after all ‘ordered to be printed’, to modern sensibilities virtually unreadable. It is not known how long this tradition persisted. Finally, the question of a WRCNS journal is raised. It is interesting to note that a journal did indeed begin publication in the August of that year and was called ‘The Naturalist’. At the outset, therefore, it was sponsored by the Societies in the “Union of the West Riding Consolidated Naturalists’ Society” and is still today the

official organ of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union (into which the WRCNS transmuted in 1877).

A report of the excursion in the Barnsley Chronicle doesmention a few common plants that were found and states that thirty-two species of bird were observed, including the Fieldfare. However, the last section of the article merely highlights some of the birds seen in the Barnsley area generally (and beyond) during the past winter months – surelythe hand of Thomas Lister at work here! To give him his due, he did produce for the meeting an ironstone nodule from ‘Messrs. Sutcliffe’s pits, newly sunk at Genn House’ which contained the fossil of a King Crab from the Carboniferous epoch.

At last we reach the point where the YNU has materialized, the first meeting under its banner in the Barnsley area taking place on September 14th, 1878 at Wharncliffe Wood. Around 70 members attended, those from the Leeds district alighting at Barnsley and thence being ‘conducted on foot the rest of the journey by Mr. Thomas Lister’. This is a considerable ramble and one must assume that they collected and recorded en route, as in the old days of the WRCNS. It may have been a slight matter to Lister who, at least in his youth, was renowned for prodigious feats of pedestrianism. Inany event, the party assembled for tea at 4 o’clock at the Wortley Arms, after which sectional reports were given. The main topic of discussion revolved around the cause of the decay of Oaks in Wharncliffe Wood. Some attributed this to the leaching of potash from the soil, others to the depredation of caterpillars.

A new feature at this time was the issuing of a ‘Circular’, advance notice of excursions giving useful details about the chosen locality, including a resume of the known natural history interest. For this meeting, only Botanyis addressed and only two taxa apparently worth mentioning, ‘the Babingtonian forms of Rubus fruticosus and…the Bakerian varieties of Rosa canina…’ Not, one would think, a great enticement, especially for those having to make the last 8 miles or so onfoot!

By this time field meetings were being reported in ‘The Naturalist’, and the Wharncliffe excursion was no exception. These reports, as might be expected, contain a more detailed natural history summary than the local newspaper articles that tend to fade from the scene from now on. Thus the various sections – geological, botanical, entomological and ornithological, all have useful contributions to make. Some of the highlights of the day included Ranunculus lenormandi (Round-leaved Crowfoot), Carex laevigata (Smooth-stalked Sedge –a woodland species), Cotyledon umbilicus (Navelwort – Lees thought this wall-loving plant possibly native in this area),Cynophallus caninus (The Dog’s Stinkhorn fungus found by Dr. Leesand stated by him to be new to South-west Yorkshire) and Notodonta dromedarius and N.camelina (two moths, Iron Prominent and Coxcomb Prominent, neither uncommon). The Mountain Linnet, or Twite, was reported by Mr Lister.

One does gain the impression that something new and significant is happening in the world of local natural history study and it is gratifying that our Barnsley forebears played such an active role at this seminal period.

On 12th June 1880, a beautiful sunny day, an ambitious excursion to three separate districts within the Barnsley area took place; Mr.Lister lead one party around the Worsbrough Valley, Mr John Hutchinson, manager of Barnsley Gasworks, was in charge of a team visiting Cawthorne and its environs whilst Mr John Harrison guided an intrepid group along the middle reaches of the Dearne Valley. John Harrison,a native of Barnsley, was one of the five founding fathers ofBarnsley Naturalists’ Society in 1867. He was a keen and ablelepidopterist – one of the best in Yorkshire – but was of a retiring disposition and published very little but no doubt followed his hobby with passion. Long forgotten, I am pleasedto pay this small tribute to one of the first Barnsley entomologists. He died in 1907.

The Circular for this excursion was certainly fuller than previously for Wharncliffe, with the Geological and

Ornithological sections being particularly detailed although for some reason the bird list comprises the rarest species ever recorded in the district, hardly a useful summary of what might be expected on the day. Botanically, there are some interesting inclusions such as Green Hellebore and Herb Paris but the entomologists are rather dismissive of the district in terms of unusual moths and butterflies. The Conchologists, on the other hand, have the right attitude; they admit that the district is virtually virgin territory and therefore ‘…a good field for original workers’.

There are two quite lengthy pieces in the local press ofthis excursion that give detailed background to the day’s events. One is subtitled ‘Excursion to “Bleak Barnsley”’, black or bleak being a well-known epithet of old in describing the district, and no doubt meant here ironically. The correspondent is all in favour of cooperation between naturalhistory societies that are ‘one of the latest outgrowths of modern development’. The other article covers similar ground but does include a list of birds seen which includes Corncrake, Nightjar and numerous warblers. Egg collecting was not out-of-bounds but it seems a little strange that one nest was robbed from an elm tree despite the fact that they could not be identified as the bird was not seen.

‘The Naturalist’ carries a two-page report that states that the attendance was about 60 and 15 societies were represented. The birds seen are listed but conchologists wereabsent so the district remained terra incognita for shells apart from ‘unusually fine examples of Succinea putris taken at Storr Mill’. This is a large shell found in wet places. John Harrison reported with G.T.Porritt (the great Yorkshire lepidopterist and co-editor of ‘The Naturalist’) that the day had gone tolerably well. The Argent & Sable moth was seen in New Park Spring with Waved Carpet and Beautiful Carpet amongst others. Perhaps the botanists fared best of all with C.P. Hobkirk able to report 159 vascular plants of which Sand Spurrey, Giant Bellflower and especially Green-winged Orchid were good

finds. Various mosses, liverworts, lichens and fungi are alsomentioned.

Tea was taken at the Queens Hotel at 5 o’clock with the Rev. W. Fowler presiding. There is something rather rueful inhis summing up of the meeting that he admitted was pleasurable but not particularly productive. Presumably this was because too much was crammed into one day whilst necessary reliance on public transport imposed its own limitations; and there was still too much sight-seeing at localities such as Cannon Hall and Wentworth Castle. It wouldsome time before the correct balance was struck.

It would be a mistake to overlook an excursion in September 1882, ostensibly to the Wakefield district, as one of the five routes planned covered the ground between Haigh and Darton. This seems to have been a productive meeting. H.T.Soppitt found the Haigh area good for fungi and listed 44species. Similarly, E.B.Wrigglesworth, an able coleopterist and the leader of this route, reported a number of beetles. Unfortunately, he included the carabid Carabus clatratus, an endangered bog species in Britain that has never been recorded in England, let alone Yorkshire. A curious error, although he was once described as a dilettante by Bayford in an article many years later.

G.T.Porritt - evidently a keen attendee of field meetings – reported a few moths from a rushy field and it is interesting to note that hymenoptera were reported as plentiful at Woolley Edge. This area was in fact regarded as a prime collecting ground for bees and wasps by Frederick Smith who penned an article on this theme for ‘The Zoologist’in 1852. Smith was a native of Wakefield who became one of the foremost hymenopterists in Britain, working as assistant keeper in the department of Zoology at the British Museum. Ithas to be said, however, that some of Smith’s records from here are in fact so unlikely that doubt has been cast in recent times. Whatever the truth of the matter, it seems probable that this site (wherever precisely it was, but

probably not within the Barnsley boundary) sometime in the mid 19th century was above average in terms of aculeate hymenoptera ‘biodiversity’ in a district otherwise not especially favourable to their abundance or variety.

Lastly, there were tributes paid to Mr Talbot (author ofthe ‘Birds of Wakefield’) who had recently passed away. It may be remembered that it was he who had originally voiced the idea of a Consolidated Union of West Riding Societies wayback in 1861. Thomas Lister ‘spoke from a long friendship and intimate knowledge of Mr Talbot’ whilst the chairman stated that ‘heknew much more than ever he professed to know’.One has a feeling that this high compliment may have been equally applicable to many others who supported the YNU at this time and would certainly apply to many in the future.

Whilst primarily concerned with field excursions, it would be remiss not to record the fact that the 22nd annual meeting of the YNU took place in Barnsley (Public Hall) on March 4th 1884. The Presidential Address was given by the famous Yorkshire botanist John Gilbert Baker on ‘The Fathers of Yorkshire Botany’, to be published in the YNU Transactions. The Barnsley Naturalists’ Society had organiseda Natural History and Fine Art Exhibition in honour of this visit and in connection with this an address was delivered byW.F. De Vismes Kane. The subject was ‘Variation in European Lepidoptera’, a well thought-out and interesting talk if the subsequently published article in ‘The Naturalist’ is anything to go by.

On 14th June 1890 an excursion was arranged for the ‘Dewsbury’ district, one of the two routes set to begin at Horbury Bridge intending to reach Bretton Park, a site mainlywithin the Barnsley district as we know it. The report in ‘The Naturalist’ indicates a certain amount of confusion withnaturalists wandering singly or in small groups randomly throughout the designated areas and only by 5o’clock as members descended upon the Royal Hotel at Dewsbury for tea

and reports was some kind of order restored. One thing is clear - the absence of any members from the Barnsley Naturalists’ Society. Perhaps Thomas Lister would have attended, but the great man had sadly passed away over 2 years earlier.

There is little specifically reported from Bretton Park – a herd of Fallow Deer and some Canada Geese. Mr S.L.Mosley of Huddersfield found Marsh Pug Moth and Argent and Sable, the latter a scarce day-flying black and white moth that always seems to attract comment when found.

9th July 1892 saw the YNU visit to Dunford Bridge, a potentially interesting excursion – ruined by the weather. Nevertheless, up to 35 members attended representing 13 affiliated societies, many persevering all day in continual rainfall and then attending the tea and Sectional Meetings when ‘…the cares of the day were somewhat if not wholly forgotten, and the meetings held…at the Wentworth Arms went cheerily on.’ This account in ‘The Naturalist’ is truly a testament to zeal and commitment in the cause of natural history.

No mammals were reported and few birds but the latter included Ring Ouzel and young Common Sandpipers. The botanists also fared poorly and recorded little, the more interesting parts of the moors being practically inaccessibledue to the rain. The writer tries to infuse his narrative with something to hold the reader’s attention but it’s a lostcause - Equisetum palustre var. polystachyum, new to the locality; nice try.

Perhaps the entomologists might have been forgiven for staying at home en masse but the intrepid lepidopterist G.T.Porritt was there as was S.L.Mosley. They were rewarded with the rare caddisfly Stenophylax alpestris for which there werehardly any British records at that time. John Harrison of Barnsley had found this species the previous year but despitethe importance of his discovery could not remember the locality, although he had had a notion that it may have been Dunford. Thankfully, this excursion confirmed it. Welsh Wave,Grey Mountain Carpet, Green Carpet, Galium Carpet and Silver-ground Carpet were the moths listed.

The best account concerned the mollusca although only 2 conchologists were present, one of which was Lionel E. Adams,an authority on this group who would go on to write books on the subject (his ‘Collector’s Manual’ now commanding a high price on the antiquarian book market). He resided in Penistone 1889 – 1892. The aim of the day was to visit Scout Dike and Gunthwaite but only the former was visited or at least commented upon – a pity, as Clough Wood at Gunthwaite has a calcareous influence which raises the molluscan fauna well above the average for the district, a circumstance of which Adams was well aware. Nevertheless, Scout Dike also hada conchological claim to fame in as much as the common shell Limnaea peregra (‘…a locality would be almost hopelessly destitute did it notnumber this particular one amongst its inhabitants.’) is present in an almost infinity of forms as well as in a number of distinct varieties, some of which were obtained. Planorbis albus was alsofound but not the ‘scalariform monstrosity’ known by Mr Adams to occur here. It would appear that some time was spent at Mr Adams’ house as Mr Fierke, the other conchologist present, praises his fine collection of British land and freshwater shells ‘…the peculiarity of which perhaps is that it consists almost entirely of his own collecting…’

All in all, then, a terrible meeting but not without points of interest and which at least illustrates a dogged Victorian spirit in the face of adversity. A vivid sense of place and time is also evoked.

The YNU has from its inception consisted of various ‘Sections’, entomological, botanical, mycological etc., whichhave organised their own excursions alongside ‘full’ Union meetings as already discussed. These sectional outings will be covered as they occur, but the Fungus Foray arranged for the Barnsley district in September 1897, was, curiously, deemed to be a bone fide Union Excursion, despite being solely devoted to the investigation of the fungus flora of the district.

Barnsley Naturalists’ Society rallied round to make the weekend a success (in fact the activities took place on Saturday 18th and Monday 20th September) and in this connectionthe name of E.G.Bayford is singled out, acting as he did as special secretary for this meeting. Edwin Bayford would be synonymous with natural history in Barnsley for the next 50 years and was also revered as a local historian. He would always maintain strong links with the YNU and was one of Yorkshire’s leading coleopterists (beetles), contributing to the Victoria County History on this subject a few years later. In 1936 he was elected President of the Union. By the time of this meeting he was hardly the ‘new kid on the block’since he had joined Barnsley Naturalists as early as 1883. Still, one does not become a leading entomologist overnight and it would appear that it was from the mid 1890s that he began to establish his reputation.

A number of leading mycologists attended this meeting including G.Massee of Kew, Charles Crosland of Halifax and the remarkable James Needham of Hebden Bridge, a brilliant ‘working-man’ botanist whose knowledge of fungi and mosses was truly awe-inspiring.

The Saturday excursion covered Hugset Wood and woodlandsaround Stainborough. The former was regarded as an interesting habitat that was especially rich in microscopic species, capable of supplying ‘…work to a single student for a whole season.’ Later in the day Stainborough Park proved worthwhile with Crucibulum vulgare, the ‘bird’s nest fungus’ and the liver fungus Fistulina hepatica occurring in profusion. However, the highlight must have been a ‘…pink-spored agaric made out to be Entoloma angustum…new to Britain…’ The Monday excursion was to woodlands just to the north of our district so is not discussed here. A general meeting was held that evening whichincluded exhibits and a racy (!?) lecture by Mr Massee. One is left with the impression that a superb couple of days wereenjoyed by all. Every species recorded is listed in ‘The Naturalist’, unfortunately Mr Massee’s lecture was not.

Earlier the same year the Union had visited the Skelmanthorpe area, on May 13th, one locality being Deffer Wood, like Wharncliffe Wood, almost wholly within Barnsley asnow constituted although traditionally associated with a neighbouring district. There is a very full Circular for thisexcursion in which Deffer Wood is acknowledged to be of entomological repute - although rather early in the season for much good work to be done, at least with the lepidoptera;having said that, for the Victorian entomologist in general, summer did seem to come late, as much in the psyche as in reality, I suspect.

No matter, in this Circular, very little is specificallyattributed to Deffer Wood although it is interesting to note that the Nightjar was considered to be common. Two beetles are also mentioned, Silpha (Dendroxena) quadrimaculata, a scarce and striking black and yellow species which has only recentlybeen re-discovered in the district and the rare longhorn Saperda carcharias which has never been seen since although Bayford considered this a probable introduction, presumably from imported timber.

I have been unable to find a report of the meeting itself, indeed around this time ‘The Naturalist’ carries few excursion reports. The 1899 visit to Barnsley, specifically Worsbrough Reservoir and woodlands around Stainborough, taking place on 28th September, is similarly unpublished.

Luckily, a detailed Circular is available for the meeting which gives us a ‘snapshot’ of sorts to the natural history of the Worsbrough Valley at the turn of the century. Two routes were proposed, one for the geologists and one for the rest. The geologists would have a number of leaders including Mr Kendall, future co-author of the ‘Geology of Yorkshire’ which was privately published 25 years later and Mr.W.Hemingway, a resident of Barnsley who had a deep interest in the fossil flora of the Carboniferous. At some point in his local investigations he chanced upon a fossil tree in Chamberlain’s brickyard quarry and upon submitting details to two eminent palaeobotanists, learnt that it was new to science. It was subsequently named Cordaites hemingwayii

in honour of its discoverer, a great tribute that needs no further elaboration.

A fairly short list of plants is given but includes the locally scarce Bogbean, Broad-leaved Helleborine, Spiked Water Milfoil and Spring Whitlowgrass. Mr Crosland recounts the fungi highlighted on the foray two years earlier but there are no records of mosses or lichens, a chronic deficiency that has never been entirely overcome in the Barnsley district, no local specialist ever having emerged.

One cannot say the same for entomology, for here we haveE.G.Bayford eager to put his knowledge of beetles and other groups at the service of the YNU, although his observations on the slugs ‘…the common, the large black, and orange with black markings.’ hardly bespeak any pretensions to malacological erudition. On safer ground with his beetles, an interesting list is compiled that includes the Glow-worm found by John Harrison near Stainborough 20 years earlier. The ground beetle Carabus monilis would not be expected these days and the rather distinctive Dascillus cervinus, has, to my knowledge, only been recorded once subsequently. A number of longhorns are listed and it is perhaps surprising that the Wasp Beetle (Clytus arietis) is considered less common than Rhagium bifasciatum –but who knows what subtle changes in distribution and abundance take place over the decades with relatively unknownorganisms? Perhaps the biggest surprise concerns the dragonfly Bayford called Libellula cancellata which that year he states was very common. If this is the species now known as Orthetrum cancellatum then it is an astonishing comment as this species has only in recent years spread northwards to Yorkshire. Although it is in fact fairly common in the district as I write, there is no historical evidence that it might have occurred in 1899. There are only 3 possible explanations: Bayford was mistaken; the name refers to another species; there was a short term influx which went generally un-noticed; very intriguing. My own theory is that Bayford was mistaken and it was Libellula depressa, another southern species but one that seemed to be undergoing range expansion at the time. Other Yorkshire workers refer to it in‘The Naturalist’ around this period.

W.E. Brady lists a number of moths – including some migratory species i.e. Humming-bird Hawk Moth which occurred plentifully that year. Brady knew his moths and produced a very useful district fauna in 1884, as part of the short lived Barnsley Naturalists’ Society Transactions. The aging John Harrison was still soldiering on and seems to have begunspecialising in his later years in micro-moths, no doubt under Porritt’s guidance. He provided a short list of speciesknown from the area.

A list of birds was also printed but it is stated that they were taken from Thomas Lister’s published list in the above mentioned Transactions for 1882-3! Whether this was because there were no active birdwatchers around capable of putting pen to paper or that maybe it was simply out of deference to the lingering legacy of Lister’s pervasive influence in all matters ornithological, we shall never know.And for the reasons stated earlier, we will never know what treasures were unearthed on the meeting itself.

Pt.2

A new century

Just 25 years after the YNU’s first visit to the Barnsley area, Wharncliffe Wood was re-visited by the Union on 3rd September 1903, one of the few fine days of that summer. The account in ‘The Naturalist’ was penned by the ebullient Tom Sheppard, at 26 already Curator of Hull Museum,co-editor of The Naturalist’ and author of numerous books andarticles. This particular piece has a more ‘literary’ style than is usual.

Members of the various sections quickly dispersed into the woodland although the geologists were treated to what may

have been an impromptu discourse on the physical features of the neighbourhood by Rev. A.T. Pratt. This was surely the Rev. C.T. Pratt of Cawthorne who evidently had an interest ingeology and indeed had submitted a short article on erratics around Cawthorne in a recent issue of the magazine. Most members then appeared to mysteriously re-group around Wharncliffe Lodge and eventually were able to view the Earl of Wharncliffe’s herd of Red Deer.

After tea at Wharncliffe Lodge, sectional reports were given. The conchologists had little to record, indeed it was stated that it was the worst meeting ever for molluscs, so itreally must have been bad, only Mr.Bayford securing the relatively uncommon Hyalinia excavata, and that by chance whilst looking for beetles. Bayford had, in fact, turned up rather late for the meeting and could only list 8 species although one of them was the rather local chafer Serica brunnea. This species is represented on the Barnsley list by this specimen only and one other found at the same place 75 years later! G.T.Porritt produced a short list of rather common moths including two ‘… fine melanic forms’ of Mottled Beauty and CommonMarbled Carpet. He was also pleased to confirm the caddisfly Crunoecia irrorata in Yorkshire as the only previous record had been made almost 40 years earlier. Lacewings are mentioned for the first time on a Barnsley excursion, Porritt reportingsix species belonging to the genus Hemerobius.

The botanists did not commence the day’s proceedings with any great expectations and as the meeting progressed they were not to be disappointed. Veronica montana (Wood Speedwell) was accounted the best find and it was deemed remarkable that not a single species of sedge was found. The mycologists, on the other hand, had high hopes, these woods being renowned collecting grounds for the larger fungi. On the whole it seems that a good day was had with members from other sections bringing fungal material to the experts for identification and thereby boosting the final total of noteworthy taxa recorded. The report in ‘The Naturalist’ is a

model of its type, managing to be readable, informative and succinct.

Finally, there were a body of enthusiasts who specialised in microscopic plant and animal forms and lists are given for these obscure organisms, the session proving more satisfactory than anticipated. Perhaps this highlights one of the main differences between this meeting and the one 25 years earlier. Levels of knowledge and expertise had risenquite markedly, no doubt mirroring the progress of biologicalknowledge generally as evidenced by the many handbooks and identification guides then becoming available; and all of this being underpinned by Darwinian theory as it became more widely accepted. It was a boom time for the serious student of natural history.

Almost exactly two years later the YNU visited the gently rolling countryside laying to the east of Barnsley around Grimethorpe and Brierley. The day was rather blustery and showery which handicapped the ornithologists and not muchwas reported. Wood Pigeons were abundant and a Red-legged Partridge was seen ‘…practically unknown in the immediate neighbourhood ten years ago…’ but of most interest was the multitude of Swallows, evidently on the point of migrating, crammed together on the boughs of a few willows and on the sheltered side of an old wall.

The conchologists had their usual dismal affair. A few freshwater shells are listed, three land snails and two slugs, one of them ‘…in a lane near Grimethorpe…’

The weather must certainly have hampered the entomologists and indeed Mr. A. Whitaker, reporting on the lepidoptera, suggests that more would have been found had it not been for the damp vegetation (the lepidopterists were hunting their quarry by ‘beating’ larvae from bushes and trees). A short listing of species secured in this manner wasproduced. Arthur Whitaker was an interesting character, joining Barnsley Naturalists as a 15 year old in 1897. He gotto know the leading local naturalists of the day and became an ornithologist and entomologist of some repute. He is mainly remembered, however, as a pioneer bat worker and

published extensively on the British species, his achievements being celebrated in the Sorby NHS publication ‘Arthur Whitaker’s Bats’, published in 1987. He died in 1949.

Porritt, as usual, was in attendance, but could only muster two caddisflies and the dragonfly Aeshna cyanea, a largespecies which may have been as common then as now but certainly for most of the intervening years the Barnsley district seems to have been a little too far north for the ‘Southern Hawker’. Of the beetles, four ladybirds make up thesum total of the day’s activity which really is a poor effort, an insult, even, to the fine woodlands found in this district at this time. It was surely a wasted opportunity foradding to local lists. Perhaps the coleopterists weren’t really trying and Bayford, although writing this short contribution, seemingly was absent on the day. One often gains the impression that, in his home district at least, he waited for insects to come to him rather than actively going out hunting them. One might even say he was not primarily a field-man, but a naturalist who had a deep intellectual interest in his subject that embraced various disciplines (taxonomy, nomenclature, history, bibliography etc.) more conveniently undertaken in the study than outdoors.

The botanists concentrated on fungi – assisted, dare onemention it, by a number of ladies present – and a good list was produced including two only once found before in the county, Eccilia parkensis and Galera rubiginosa, both from Houghton Common. New Park Spring and Lady Cross were the other localities visited. Finally, Mr Cosmo Johns, FGS, reported onthe landscape, typical of the Middle Coal Measures.

After tea the meetings were held in the new rooms of theBarnsley Naturalists’ Society where some of the Society’s collections were on view. It was the opinion of Tom Sheppard that ‘…it is a crying disgrace to a town the size of Barnsley that it has not itspublic building devoted to the purposes of a museum…’ A museum of sortsdid develop some years later and was put into the local authority’s hands in 1947 but was disbanded in the 1960s. Now, as I write, heritage is all the rage and there are serious moves to create a museum for the town in the Town

Hall. If this ever comes to fruition then the achievements ofour notable local naturalists should be celebrated in order to inform and inspire future generations.

The YNU visited familiar territory on 28th Aug. 1909 whenthe Cawthorne district was chosen to be the Union’s 219th meeting. A rather full Circular was printed in which we are told that the plan was for members to reach Cawthorne at 10.45, after being ‘…conveyed by motor bus…’ from Barnsley. Seventy five minutes would be allotted for obtaining lunch and/or visiting Cawthorne Museum – an institution that is most certainly worth a visit today and is remarkably little changed.

The geology is outlined by the vicar of Cawthorne, Rev.C.T.Pratt, whose interest in this field was alluded to earlier. Mr.W.E.L.Wattam of Huddersfield, who seemed to spenda lot of time investigating the Cawthorne area, ran through the plants likely to be encountered, including sedges, grasses and horsetails although little account seems to have been taken of the time of year. Mr.F.Batley, a Barnsley botanist, supplied a list of plants found mainly in and around the canal at Cawthorne Basin.

For the Vertebrate Zoologists Mr. Whitaker commented on the mammals and Mr. Armitage the birds. Interesting mammals include Natterer’s Bat, Otter and Harvest Mouse whilst the Badger seems to be absent at this time. A long list of birds is revealed which would make the modern birdwatcher quite envious, breeding birds including Wood Warbler, Nightjar and Turtle Dove. Marsh Tit is mentioned but this may well have been the hitherto unrecognised Willow Tit – but not necessarily - and it is perhaps a surprise that Nighingale isomitted but it is not unlikely that this bird was in decline locally.

A short account of the molluscs of the district was provided by Mr.Wattam and Mr.Brady, the latter the esteemed

author of the ‘List of the Macro-lepidoptera of Barnsley’ whohad seemingly foresaken lepidoptera by this time for the morepedestrian delights of conchology. Finally entomology is covered. It is perhaps not too surprising, in the light of earlier comments, that Bayford had little knowledge of the district’s beetles although his comment that Carabus monilis hadbeen met with at Cawthorne is not without historical interest. Ben Morley seems on surer ground with the moths of Deffer Wood, being able to reel off the various forms and varieties of the relatively common species likely to be found.

The meeting itself seems to have gone quite well with new species being added to local lists, according to the account in ‘The Naturalist’. From shale heaps some new and undescribed forms of fossil club-mosses and ferns were found but no details are given. Another slight disappointment is the absence of C.A.Cheetham’s report that presumably would have covered mosses. Cheetham would become one of the Union’sgreatest ever characters and it is interesting to note his presence here at this early date – but more on him later. Thebotanists otherwise repeat a familiar theme; a pleasant day, lovely countryside but a typical (i.e. rather limited) Coal Measures flora. The writer does make a telling point, however‘…in such delightful country, there must be in existence many other good species than seem to have been already recorded’. This is true; all that is required is a first-class local botanist with ample leisure time.

Of the invertebrates, E.G. Bayford provides a short listof common beetles whilst only two wasps were noted, Vespa vulgaris and the solitary species Odynerus parietum. As it wouldappear, however, that these latter identifications were made ‘in the field’, no great reliance can be placed on them. By way of complete contrast, Mr Wm. Falconer, a genuine spider specialist, did a good day’s work with the arachnids, discovering a number of species rarely recorded in the countyand two, Ceratinella scabrosa and an undetermined species of Walckenaera which were new to Yorkshire. Mr Falconer enjoyed

the route through ideal woodland but states that ‘…spider collecting…requires much closer application over a more restricted area…’ than the day allowed, but the point is made and is equally applicable to all invertebrate recording, and even botanical recording if it is to be carried out properly. There would bemore awareness over the years that biological investigation demanded concentration on a limited area and that ‘quality’ time should not be sacrificed for peripheral activities – an issue that one way or another had been occasionally raised over many years.

To return to the meeting and the conchologists, who, foronce, had things to report. Alighting at Darton and proceeding to Barugh, several species were found by the roadside and the canal at Barugh also yielded a number of fresh-water species. In Cannon Hall Lake it was noted that a Crayfish had made its home in a dead shell. Deffer and Cawthorne Park Woods were unproductive. One mollusc found (itis not stated exactly where) Paludestrina jenkinsi, called for special comment. It was a gastropod that had only been recorded inland as recently as 1893 but by 1909 was present in huge numbers, as in this case, in various places across the country. Suggestions as to how this could happen includedtransportation on timber and cycles of abundance and scarcityand later researchers have published various accounts in learned journals over the years. Thirty-six species were recorded on the day, certainly an improvement on any previousBarnsley district excursions.

A useful meeting, therefore, although there is no recordof the birds, mammals or Lepidoptera and as mentioned earlier, no record of Cheetham’s finds. As an indefatigable field-man there is no doubt that his contribution would have been valuable.

Pt. 3

The inter-war years

Fourteen years were to pass before the YNU once again favoured our district with its presence but on July 14th 1923 the 308th excursion of the Union was held at Penistone for theinvestigation of Langsett and Midhope Moors, Cut Gate and theLittle Don Valley. The report in ‘The Naturalist’ was edited,as were many at this period, by W.H. Pearsall and F.A. Mason,the former a specialist on moorland ecology who wrote the NewNaturalist title ‘Mountains and Moorland’ published in 1950. One would like to think that our own moors on this occasion gave him inspiration.

Botanists ruled the day it would seem, with W.E.L.Wattampenning a rather good overview of the area. Significantly this piece is headed Botany and Plant Ecology, an indication that such studies were beginning to take on at least the semblance of true scientific enquiry. However, that did not prevent the writer from expressing sheer delight at the scene‘…with a glorious wealth of ferns, male, lady, hay-scented and northern- hard, the verdure of which was strikingly relieved by countless spires of foxglove’. Points of note included the cranberry bogs of the neighbourhood and the meadows around the Flouch Inn whilst Mr.Snelgrove mentions the discovery of Bog Asphodel near the Little Don Valley.

It is a pleasure to report that mosses and liverworts were recorded on this occasion and species typical of the Millstone Grit were present. Two good finds were Orthodontium gracile var. heterocarpa – only recently identified in VC 63 at thetime – and Catherinea crispa along the banks of the Little Don River. Of the hepatics, the most interesting was deemed to beCephaloziella bifida, new to VC 63, growing among Sphagnum.

Short lists of Lichens and Fungi were also provided. Of the latter, two noteworthy species, Penicillium decumbens and P.brevicaule were discovered on an old boot picked out of a ditch but the rarest fungus, a discomycete called Vibrissea truncorum, was found on water-logged heather roots.

The remaining reports cover the Molluscs (about which hardly anything is said), Lepidoptera, Bugs and Apterygota – this latter group comprising a number of primitive insects groups such as springtails and silverfish. J.M.Brown, the recorder, stated that several found on the excursion were of considerable interest, not least of which were giant-sized (at 2mm!) examples of the collembolid Bourleriella hortensis, possibly indicating a new variety in combination with slight differences in anatomy. Brown also provided a useful list of bugs – another group with few adherents, even today – that included Bryocoris pteridis, only the second Yorkshire record. Theweather was not particularly good with little sunshine and wet vegetation hampering operations and one can only imagine with regret the extensive lists that may have been produced had conditions been more favourable.

Finally, Ben Morley listed a number of moths seen on theday, all more or less typical of the area. Oak Eggar was plentiful, including the remnants of dead specimens. Birds were thought to be the culprit as a wasp’s nest was found ‘…emptied of its living contents by birds’. This circumstance suggested a similar cause for the demise of the moths.

The same year saw the Union hold it’s Annual Meeting at Barnsley on December 8th. The President’s Address was

delivered to an appreciative audience the subject being ‘Animals of the Carboniferous Period’. After the formal part of the meeting, members of the Barnsley Naturalists’ Society ‘…shewed a number of interesting exhibits of local naturalistic features’. Also a ‘lantern lecturette’ given by Mr Barker entitled ‘Beauty Spots of the Barnsley Neighbourhood’ was delivered. Despite the rather twee title, Mr Barker was a local geologist of some repute and one might assume that there was more to his ‘lecturette’ than met the eye.

Despite Holmbridge being selected as the Union’s VC 63 July excursion in 1928 the meeting actually took place at Cawthorne and was fully reported in the December issue of ‘The Naturalist’. Access problems caused the Holmbridge meeting to be cancelled. Browsing through the Union’s journalat this period indicates the great strength and vitality of the YNU. The articles are many and diverse and cater for a wide range of interests, many penned by specialists in their field, whether amateur or professional. Every naturalist in Yorkshire seemed to have something to say – species lists forvarious localities being particularly popular, and in retrospect, arguably of most importance.

Whether or not Barnsley naturalists were contributing anything to this burgeoning phenomenon is difficult to say; if the Cawthorne meeting is anything to go by then one must say probably not, only H.Wade who covered Geology being a local man. Even the meeting arrangements were undertaken by aHuddersfield man, Mr.W.E.L.Wattam and the leader for the day was Ben Morley, the well-known Skelmanthorpe lepidopterist, no doubt mourning the absence of G.T.Porritt, the great Yorkshire lepidopterist who had recently passed away. A very full obituary was written by E.G.Bayford for ‘The Naturalist’.

As already mentioned, the geological report was penned by Mr.H.Wade. From him we learn that the central part of the village lies on the sandstone between the Parkgate and Swilley coalseams. We are then told where the various seams

outcrop and also where else sandstone occurs – such as CannonHall Park ‘…crossing over to the east side of Tivydale, and from thence extending towards the southern border of the parish’.

Birds are dealt with by J.C.S. Ellis of Brighouse who joined the YNU the following year. The best bird seen was Pied Flycatcher, ‘stated by Nelson to breed annually here’. Presumablyno one actually knew whether this species was breeding at Cawthorne in 1928 or not and Ellis had to refer to an authority writing over 20 years earlier. No doubt Thomas Lister would have known.

Most reports deal with invertebrates with Mrs Morehouse of Doncaster kicking off with Mollusca. As usual, there is little to report with both freshwater and land species being scarce although the ubiquitous Paludestrina jenkinsi was present in both the lakes and the old canal. Three slugs were noted.

J.M.Brown took care of ‘entomology’ and plant galls, thelatter featuring ‘…a particularly fine and curiously formed “Witches Broom”’, on Wild Cherry. Of Deffer Wood as a haunt for insects Brown was rather disdainful and was only able to provide short lists of Bugs, Lacewings and Psocoptera (barklice), thelatter a woefully neglected group of insects only now beginning to attract the attention of amateur entomologists.Moths, Bees and Wasps were also said to be scarce but the comment that ‘…no butterflies were noticed…’ seems incredible on a warm, sunny day in mid-July, even at such an apparently barren spot as Deffer Wood. Brown also did duty with the beetles, Bayford yet again not being in attendance, although his list of beetles obtained on the 1909 meeting at Cawthornewas referred to. The large and impressive longhorn Stenochorus meridianus was far and away the best find on this (1928) occasion, an elusive beast which the writer has only seen twice locally over the last 20 years or so.

Fortunately, Chris Cheetham was on hand to redress the balance, opining that the woodland provided good ground for Diptera. He was able to list over 100 species recorded on the

day, 7 of which were new to Yorkshire. This is the first timeflies had been recorded in the Barnsley area and from the author’s point of view a significant moment in the history ofthe natural history of the district! Cheetham made special reference to an Empid, Trichopeza longicornis, which was abundant here although scarce generally in Yorkshire (it is in fact not uncommon in damp, shady woodland, certainly around Barnsley). The Psilid Loxocera sylvatica was also accounted a good find and whilst no great rarity has only once come to the attention of the writer in recent years.

There are short reports covering plants, mosses and lichens. Pearsall’s erudite comments on the former are most interesting. Whilst the district was very typically Coal Measures – originally of the dry oakwood type in the main – there were wide areas with high water level and clayey soil. This gave rise to the woodland floor being carpeted with WoodMillet ‘…more extensively than is usual in woodlands of the Coal Measures type’. He also managed to find two plants in the lake not listed in the Circular, Potamogeton pectinatus and Myriophyllum spicatum (Spiked Water-Milfoil).

Mosses were not much in evidence but a special look-out was kept for Orthodontium gracile whose distribution in Yorkshirewas being mapped. Cheetham secured it on rotten wood in Deffer Wood. Or so it was thought. O.lineare, an introduced southern hemisphere species would in fact have been the moss discovered.

A short list of Lichens is provided by Mr Wattam which is particularly useful in that the substrate on which each species is found is given. It is also commented how devoid are the trees of foliose and fructocose species, the latter best represented by the Cladonias. No doubt this statement holds true today.

Everything considered this seems to have been a wonderful meeting and one to which the writer wishes he couldtime-travel. Collecting flies with Cheetham in Deffer Wood would have been an experience. A Circular for the excursion was alluded to but I have not seen it. Perhaps Barnsley

naturalists made their mark by contributing to it. Either wayit would be an interesting document.

The Langsett area once again beckoned Yorkshire naturalists to meet and explore these fine moorland acres, almost exactly 12 years to the day after the previous visit in 1923. The Little Don Valley and Harden Moor were the sitesspecifically chosen for investigation.

The Circular covers Geology, Vertebrates, Botany, Mossesand Lichens but there is no invertebrate information. It may well have been the case that little if any insect recording had been carried out since the 1923 outing, indeed access onto the moorland may well have been a problem.

Ralph Chislett, the county’s leading birdwatcher, ran through the birds to look out for – Common Sandpiper, Dipper,Grey Wagtail and Kingfisher as well as four species of owl, Ring Ouzel and Merlin. It does not appear that Chislett attended the meeting, however, as there is no mention of birds in the subsequent report.

It is good to see Mr Wattam still going strong as he succinctly outlines the plants ‘…typical… of the Millstone Grit area..’which will be seen but ‘A strict look-out should also be kept for Arctostaphylos Uva-ursi’. This is Bearberry, a mainly Scottish plant, rare elsewhere, but historically known from moorland sites near Sheffield. Needless to say it was not found on this excursion. Some of the more interesting lichens are mentioned but readers are referred to the full list compiled by Mr.Wattam resulting from the 1923 excursion and published in ‘The Naturalist’ of that year.

Mr Milsom outlines some of the mosses to be found, also urging bryologists to search for the rarer varieties of common species. Why particularly this area should be subject to this mode of investigation is not stated. Perhaps sub-specific studies were in vogue at the time?

The meeting itself seems to have gone well with good weather. There does seem to have been issues surrounding

access to these moorlands in a general way and the writer of the opening paragraph wonders where all the protesters were on this day when permission had been obtained. Mr Bisat then proceeds to give a brief summary of some geological points ofinterest, taking as his reference the recently published ‘Geological Survey Memoir’ of the country around Holmfirth and Glossop. Further research is required to clarify the position of the Rivelin Grits.

Despite no information with respect to invertebrates contained in the Circular, both Chris Cheetham and M.D. Barnes attended the excursion and presented reports.Cheetham we have heard about previously but Maurice Barnes isnew on the scene.A Huddersfield man and only 23 at the time, he was showing great promise as a field entomologist and it is certain he would have become a leading Yorkshire naturalist. Tragically he was killed at the very end (indeed, just after the end) ofthe Second World War on a mine-sweeping operation. The obituary, written by W.D.Hincks, may well be the most moving ever to be published in ‘The Naturalist’.

As it happened, neither man had much to report. Given that we now know the Little Don Valley to be one of the very best sites in the Barnsley area for insects, this is disappointing and rather surprising. July is probably not themost productive month for beetles, however, and Barnes’ list contained only the click-beetle Ctenicera pectinicornis of note. Healso reported on the Lepidoptera and was able to list The Shears, Broom Moth, Ruby Tiger and Map-winged Swift amongst others. Cheetham’s account of the diptera is even shorter. One must assume that he was concentrating almost exclusively on craneflies and for some reason few were to be found.

Mr.Wattam for the botanists did not appear to find anything new but he provides an interesting botanical ‘snapshot’ of the valley, as it were, which, viewed from a modern perspective, seems reassuringly familiar. Similarly, most of the lichens listed in 1923 were re-found with additional Cladonia species noted on this visit.

Perhaps of most interest is Mr Burrell’s account of the mosses. Although, again, most species had been noted before on the previous excursion, there were additions made at Harden Moor, two of which, Dicranella reufescens and Discelium nudumwere also known from the exposed bed of Langsett Reservior. These are extremely minute bryophytes but were exposed on theshale this day in optimum conditions, visibly colouring the slopes. A number of technical points regarding these species end the report.

So, a good meeting but adding little to local lists. No matter. We are pleased to have been able to share something of the day with them. If there is tension in the air we are unaware of it but things would never quite be the same again.Surely Maurice Barnes did not die in vain? If he fought to preserve what we really hold dear, then this meeting of hearts and minds at the Little Don Valley must be as good an expression of it as we are likely to find.

On 5th December 1936 the annual meeting of the YNU took place at Barnsley (in the Mining Department of the Technical College). Since our own Edwin Bayford was President of the Union that year, he had the additional honour of presenting his Presidential Address in his home town, taking as his subject ‘The Rise and Progress of Coleopterology in Yorkshire’. This talk was subsequently published in ‘The Naturalist’. It is painstakingly researched as befits a ‘local’ historian, well structured and certainly a useful contribution to the subject, indeed the only contribution as far as I am aware.

There are two points of particular local interest. One being the short account of how he first became interested in beetles in 1883 whilst walking through a Barnsley woodland. Whether he was already a natural historian at this time is not clear but manifestly he would have had at least a propensity in this direction. Secondly he refers to an index to an entomological book – Samouelle’s ‘Entomologists’ UsefulCompendium’ – which he owned and was inscribed ‘The Barnsley Literary Society’. This index basically consisted of labels

bearing names of species which were meant to be cut out and used (in conjunction with actual specimens). Since many labels had in fact been removed, Bayford assumed it was the work of an unknown local entomologist from an earlier era. Ashe put it ‘This early list of species, although for many reasons it lacks any basis of authority, is still not lacking in interest, and deserves a place in any study of the local fauna’. Well perhaps it would, if we knew which species were being referred to. Only the great man himself knew that and Bayford never did produce a local fauna.

Pt. 4

The 2nd World War and beyond

Moving on to the war years, one may perhaps be forgiven for assuming that the YNU would ‘shut up shop’ as it were, for the duration. Nothing could be further from the truth. Indeed the Union seemed to thrive throughout this dark period. There are occasional references to ‘these times’ and so forth but in the main members carried on their ‘laudable and useful activities’ as the Vice-Chancellor of Leeds University put it, almost in personal defiance of Hitler himself. Inevitablerestrictions to travel merely ensured that ‘local patches’ were more thoroughly examined than normal – no bad thing – and ‘The Naturalist’ certainly maintained its usual high standard, albeit on a somewhat reduced basis as the War progressed.

I am able to report that two Excursions were held in ourdistrict during the period of the Second World War, the firstbeing the Annual Foray of the Mycological Committee of the Union taking place between September 27th and October 1st, 1941. The district to be surveyed were the woods around Cawthorne and Bretton ‘…a good war-time setting’ stated Willis Bramley, who would remain fungus recorder of the Union for many years. What exactly was meant by ‘a good war-time setting’ is open to interpretation but as a Barnsley naturalist with a love of this area I think I have a notion

as to what was meant. The special intimate beauty of the district would have been such as to ‘take the mind’ off doom-laden developments in the wider world, at least temporarily, whilst simultaneously acting as a symbol for all that we stood to lose. After all, in an insane world, what could be saner than a fungus foray? And there is surely little doubt that YNU members, serving in the Armed Forces or not, were under no illusions as to what was at stake.

As might be expected, a lengthy list of species was recorded and in due course published in ‘The Naturalist’. TheCommon Stinkhorn was very abundant and the Common Mushroom plentiful enough in the pastures to supply a number of meals – not a trifling matter in 1941, one suspects. It is stated that Rhytisma acerina was not present on Sycamore. This fact is quite interesting as these days even the most inattentive rambler could hardly fail to notice the black spots that somewhat disfigure the leaves of every Sycamore in the district. This is a sign of a cleaner atmosphere. It was alsonoted that the Birch Polypore could only be associated with dead trees in these woodlands even though it can attack and fructify on live ones. This observation elicits no interpretation, however.

Of the many species listed quite a good number were new to Vice-County 63. Two were new to the county – Russula velenovskii and Peniophora leprosa. Better still, Phanerochaete filamentosa, a resupinate fungus found on dead wood, was an addition to the British list, the second time this had happened on a YNU Fungus Foray to the Barnsley area.

The second meeting was also strictly mycological - although technically a full Union Excursion - taking place between September 19th – 23rd, 1942, again around the Cawthornedistrict (members lodging at Cinderhills Farm). Meeting on successive years at the same locality was deliberate policy at the time, allowing interesting comparisons to be made, at least in theory. Again, a number species new to the vice-county records were discovered but beyond that there was justone addition to the county list – Gyrodon caespitosus, ‘easily recognised by its labyrinthine pores and Boletus-like fruit body’.

There is little doubt in my mind that the Yorkshire Naturalists who spent those days industriously investigating,collecting, analysing, identifying, theorising and eating! the objects of their chosen study were doing more than consciously upholding the spirit of the YNU in those trying times but were in some indefinable way representing the British way of life, if this cliché has any meaning at all. Against this background and without wishing to sound too flippant, was victory ever really in doubt?

The first post-war excursion of the YNU to the Barnsley area was organised for the investigation of Worsbrough Reservoir and Rockley Woods on 21st May, 1949.

There is a detailed Circular to set the scene, the tone being brisk and efficient. The Geology section includes a reference to the information provided and the botanical piecegives the authority for the nomenclature employed. Both of these were in fact penned by Mr Barker, a long standing Barnsley naturalist. As a Fellow of the Geological Society heis able to list a number of fossil plants and animals from the area. Many of these are from the roof of the Barnsley Coal seam that outcrops nearby, being chiefly preserved in ironstone nodules. A brief mention is made of the old ironstone workings in Rockley Woods. Fragments of ironstone here had been known to reveal fossils as had the associated black shales. The botanical background is familiar enough although a few plants mentioned – Skullcap, Viper’s Bugloss, Agrimony, Water-pepper etc. – do not seem to have been featured in previous Circulars for the district generally. Weare informed that Rockley Woods possess an outstanding moss flora although the species listed are, in the main, common taxa.

It is good to see Mr.Bayford providing a note on some ofthe more or less uncommon beetles whilst admitting that the locality had never been worked regularly or systematically. Subsequent investigations would reveal that it is not at all a bad place for the diligent coleopterist although no modern workers have been able to re-find the scarce and declining

carabid Blethisa multipunctatum. He makes special mention of the very local beetle Thymalus limbatus, taken over 60 years earlierat a nearby site (probably Jowett Royd Wood). That such ancient data is deemed noteworthy is really indicative of howlittle was really known regarding the district’s fauna. Disregarding the Lepidoptera, few rare insects were known andfew, it must be assumed, were expected.

Another local man, Mr J.H.Seago, gave a brief run-down on the Lepidoptera liable to be encountered. These included such butterflies as Dark-green Fritillary, Dingy Skipper and Large Skipper and the moths Small Elephant Hawk, Lunar Hornetand Leopard Moth. An ambitious portfolio to say the least although Dark-green Fritillary was indeed more frequent at that time. Mrs. Morehouse rounds-off the invertebrates with afew molluscs found locally whilst a Mr.T.M.Fowler, who may have been more photographer than ornithologist, provides a list of birds, highlighting the presence of Hawfinch in the Rockley area.

The meeting itself, which was favoured by excellent weather, attracted a large gathering and included such entomological heavyweights as W.D.Hincks and indeed the greatand now aged Mr Bayford himself. The latter may have enjoyed a certain celebrity as it was pointed out that he attended the last YNU excursion to take place at this locality way back in 1899! He also did duty in the Chair at the evening meeting for recorders’ reports in the absence of the President. There exist photographic plates of this meeting that are held in the Archive Dept. of the Central Library.

Both Hincks and Bayford give full accounts, in ‘The Naturalist’, of the day’s events from the point of view of their own specialisms. Indeed Hincks was the master of most insect groups and his report testifies to deep knowledge, especially with the more obscure hymenoptera. His records of the smaller Parasitica stand as a ‘one-off’ event as far as the Barnsley area is concerned. Bayford dealt with the beetles, most of which have been re-found by later workers although his record of Mantura rustica, a local leaf beetle, still stands on the local list on the basis of this days

collecting. A short list of Lepidoptera is provided by Mr Hewson that includes Holly Blue but the best find by an entomologist that day was an example of the caddisfly Agrypnia pagetana, a new species for Yorkshire.

Compared with the invertebrate recorders, botanists and birdwatchers (as they would then have been known) fared less well although Mr Shaw’s plant list is not without interest. Town Hall Clock, Sanicle, Pignut, Three-nerved Sandwort and Adder’s Tongue Fern being some of the less common taxa discovered. The birdwatchers saw Whitethroats in good numbersand a pair of Turtle Doves but little else. The nest of a Great Crested Grebe was robbed by boys almost under their noses, perhaps summing up a rather poor day out. Nevertheless, this seems to have been an excellent meeting overall, one that enriched the natural heritage of the borough, so to speak, with much ‘laudable and useful work’ being done.

A curious excursion, the next one, in the familiar surroundings of Cawthorne and Bretton Park on July 25th 1953. We are informed that the attendance was good, due in great measure to the Barnsley Naturalists which included amongst its number an encouraging proportion of younger members as well as Mr Bayford, who is mistakenly ascribed a founder of the Union. In fairness, it must have seemed that he had been around for ever. The corollary of this situation, however, isthe presumed absence of most if not all of the post-war generation of knowledgeable younger men who were coming through the ranks of the YNU at this time. This no doubt helps to explain the paucity of information provided in the report of the meeting. Rain in the afternoon would not have helped either and the shock of opencast operations at Cannon Hall may well have dampened spirits even more than the inclement weather. Apart from a fairly short list of fungi provided by Mr.Watling, little else is reported.

After the vibrant Worsbrough meeting in 1949 which perhaps held promise of a new era of natural history investigation for our district, the present meeting might be

said to have had a rather quaint, tradition air, more reminiscent of the time of Thomas Lister, a local ramble perhaps but without the poetry recital! The Circular, in the main, does nothing to dispel this notion.

The Circular, the ‘nature notes’ therein being the responsibility of members of Barnsley Naturalists’ Society (as we are informed by Mr R.S. Atkinson, the loyal and tireless Secretary for many years to come) covers Mammals, Birds, Plants, Beetles, Lepidoptera and Geology. The geology notes are, as ever, informative, being from the pen of Mr Barker. Items of interest include mention of an ice-borne igneous boulder found years earlier near Banks Hall that is now preserved outside Cawthorne Museum, itself an important repository for local fossils. His botanical notes are also useful, setting some of the scarcer plants in their broader landscape. Thus ‘The general features of this area are somewhat rugged in character, the land being much undulated, with streams running through small valleys. It is a well-wooded region having a typical coal measure flora with a light admixture of introduced plants, now well established’. Impressive, Gilbert White could hardly have improved on that.A number of aquatic plants are listed as well as Corydalis claviculata from Deffer Wood. Cow-wheat is present on the outskirts of woods whilst waste-ground yields Wild Mignonette(Reseda lutea) and Dyer’s Greenweed, relics of a past dyeing industry. Perhaps Dyer’s Rocket (Reseda luteola) was meant for the former? On higher ground Milkwort may be in flower. ChrisCheetham, the Union’s General Secretary, had added a note urging botanists to look for Juniper as it was not recorded for VC 63. He had included a similar imperative to the previously printed Circular for North Cave as VC 61 was equally Juniper-less. An unwarranted intrusion, surely?

Mr Seago deals with the moths and butterflies, the former comprising in part a list of melanic forms known from the district that is noted for these varieties. It is interesting to learn that Wood Tiger, Marbled Coronet and Forester Moth were known locally. Of the butterflies both Dark Green and Silver-washed Fritillary are cited, although

the latter only known very rarely at Bretton; in fact it would have been extinct in Yorkshire by this time.It is perhaps a surprise to read of Comma occurring in DefferWood. Large Skipper is spreading but Small Skipper has disappeared after a recent revival as has Peacock. Green Hairstreak appears to be extending its range in the district.A useful summary in retrospect.

One cannot in all honesty say the same about Bayford’s coleopterological contribution which lacks detail and clarityand in one case harks back to 1890. This can be put down to greatly advanced years of course; it is just unfortunate thatthere was no one willing or able to pick up the baton. Yet there is an interesting reference to the beetle Metoecus paradoxus that is found in wasps’ nests (we are not told this). But it begs the question, why was this record not published? It is only due to the latter-day investigations ofGodfrey Blunt, studying the Bayford Collection housed at Birmingham University, that we know that this beetle was found at Kexbrough in 1935.

The best one can say about rest of these entomological ‘nature notes’ is that Bayford doesn’t waste words. Of the Neuroptera, several genera and dragonflies ‘should be seen’. Of the Diptera, only one fly is known (had he forgotten Cheetham’s excellent 1928 list from Deffer Wood?). Of the Isopods, Trichoniscus pusillus was found in 1951. We are not informed of the locality, but do we really care anymore? I’m not sure Mr Bayford did by this time; he was after all aroundthe 90 years mark and not likely to be unduly concerned with such trifling detail.

Mammals and Birds are perfunctorily dealt with by Mr Jukes and Mr Horrocks respectively. It is interesting to learn that Red Squirrels occur in both Deffer Wood and at Bretton ‘where on hot afternoons they can be found resting in nests of the Wood Pigeon’. Are we to assume that Barnsley Red Squirrels had lost the art of dray construction? No wonder extinction was looming. Some of the scarcer birds recorded at Bretton over the years is given by Mr Horrocks, including Brent Goose (23rd April, 1949, according to Nick Addey’s ‘Birds of Barnsley) and Corncrake, which must have been considerably

earlier, but the emphasis was still on breeding birds as it had been for decades. There is no evidence of systematic recording of the district at the time despite the fact that birds and birdwatching in Yorkshire generally was beginning to take on a higher profile and importance. As Nick Addey putit (ibid.) ‘The year 1950 was a watershed in our local ornithology, marking a distinct break between the old-style naturalists and the modern generation of birdwatchers. The emphasis turned to the study of bird movements…’

It is perhaps worth mentioning that this is the first Circular pertaining to our district wherein directions are given for those travelling by car.

Before we leave 1953 we must mention the passing that year of Mr W.E.L.Wattam, aged 81. Not a Barnsley man but a long time resident of Huddersfield and a great supporter of that Naturalists’ Society, he seemed to have a great love of the Cawthorne area and knew its plants very well. There is a glowing tribute in ‘The Naturalist’ to his knowledge and skills and his life-long devotion to the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union. He was also a kindly and sincere man and one of many of the ‘old school’ that had died over the past decade.

The Annual Meeting of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union took place in the Mining and Technical College at Barnsley onDecember 8th 1956. Once again, Mr. Bayford was the centre of attention. Having attained his 92nd year he was made an Honorary Member of the Union in recognition of all the valuable contributions he had made over almost seventy years.Not only this, but the Mayor of Barnsley was moved to pay tribute to ‘one of Barnsley’s most notable and highly respected citizens…’ A remarkable achievement for a shopkeeper with an aptitude for natural and local history. He finally died in 1958, presumably of natural causes, W.D.Hincks penning an affectionate obituary notice in the April-July 1959 issue of ‘The Naturalist’. Most of Bayford’s achievements we have already covered but its interesting to learn that his entomological library – which surely must have been of

supreme importance – was acquired by his obituarist. Tragically, Hincks himself died not long afterwards and ChrisCheetham had also passed away around this period. Truly it was an end of an era for Yorkshire natural history.

Pt. 5

The modern period

The Gunthwaite area was selected for the 576th YNU Meeting, to take place on June 3rd 1961 – a new locality if one disregards the vague reference to Gunthwaite Woods on the1872 Denby Dale meeting and the Dunford Bridge debacle of 1892 when the conchologists intended to investigate Gunthwaite but didn’t quite make it. The meeting was organised by the Barnsley Naturalists and there exists a considerable archive of newspaper cuttings, photographs, hand-written species lists and correspondence relevant to this occasion which may be inspected in Barnsley Library. It is interesting material although not especially illuminating on the natural history front.

The Circular also seems to be the work of members of thelocal society. Certainly, sufficient background information

is provided including a brief history of the area’s ‘historical associations’. Whether we need to know that ‘potted meat and salad sandwiches with cakes at a cost of about 2/6’ will be served I shall leave to future social historians to determine.

Birds and mammals are covered, somewhat inconsequentially, it must be said, whilst of non-lepidopterous insects, nothing is said because nothing is known, which is fair enough. Mr Seago does make the point, however, that a thorough investigation would be rewarding as the district is unspoilt. My own studies of this area 20 years later proved his speculation to be well-founded.

The Lepidoptera are outlined but there is real howler here as it is said that The Queen of Spain Fritillary had been reported. Also, Epirrhoe tristata is given the name Common Carpet when it in fact it is the name of the much rarer SmallArgent and Sable , so we are not sure what is meant (these errors are corrected in the report of the meeting). On the whole, however, the novelty of including English names in a Circular such as this is a step forward, in my opinion. It isinteresting to learn that Phytometra viridaria (Small Purple-barred) used to occur on nearby Gadding Moor as its foodplant, Milkwort, was known from there.

Mr Jukes lists a few plants including no less than four orchid species and a number of more or less uncommon sedges and ferns. Finally, Mr.Thompson asserts that the district is rich in bryophytes and indeed lists a few good ones includingSchistostega pennata, a luminous moss that would certainly have been well worth seeing. If someone had been systematically working this district then it is a shame that the results arenot generally known. Under Mollusca, Mr Thompson mentions a couple of snails but there is no mention of the fact that a geological marine band which runs through the woodland gives rise to conditions which are responsible for a much better species profile than might otherwise be expected. Finally theland planarian Orthodemus terrestris, we are told, was once found.

This excursion was blessed with ideal weather with about20 members turning up for the morning session, many of whom

set about investigating the Dam. Some Barnsley Naturalists arrived in the afternoon with junior members much in evidence.

The county’s leading and certainly best known ornithologist, Ralph Chislett, was present and did not seem disappointed with a total of 53 species observed. A good range of summer migrants was noted as well as Tree Sparrows and Corn Bunting. A ‘black-capped Tit’ was thought to be Willow Tit ‘although both species probably occur’ is the most interesting comment. It suggests that the distinction between Marsh and Willow Tit was still a problem for many birdwatchers althoughof course Chislett would have had little trouble. It is also likely that Marsh Tit was still present in and around our coal-measures woodlands, as Chislett suggests, although no doubt in decline. It is only a rare visitor to our area today.

Not only was Yorkshire’s premier birder present, but also John Flint, the county’s leading entomologist, ably assisted by Roy Crossley (briefly to reside in the town during the late-60s) who would develop into a dipterist of national renown. Flint specialised in beetles and bugs whilsthis wife, Tim, became Sawfly recorder for the Union. Given this evident wealth of expertise and a district now known to be the haunt, for example, of scarce flies and beetles associated with dead wood, one might have expected this to have been a red-letter day in the history of insect recordingin the Barnsley area. In reality very little of note was reported, both sawflies and hoverflies comprising very commonspecies which could have been found anywhere. Flint did find one leafhopper, Delphacodes albofimbriata, which was new to VC 63.

For once, the conchologists report a good day, increasing the local list to thirteen species. Clausilia bidentatawas in large numbers on an old wall ‘a good shell for this acidic district’. Botany seems to have been pursued solely by Barnsley members who re-found Dyer’s Greenweed, not reported since 1953 and were pleased to find Moonwort and Adder’s Tongue ferns. Local members were able to consult the Botanical Society’s master mapping card to ascertain the level of coverage for the relevant 10 km square. 51 species were added

but the scheme itself, to which Barnsley botanists had enthusiastically contributed since 1954, had presumably run its course since the resultant ‘Atlas of the British Flora’ was published only one year later, in 1962.

A useful meeting, therefore, which seems to have been particularly well organised at local level by Mr Atkinson. Itis noteworthy that a number of top class naturalists were in attendance but disappointing in as much that, for whatever reason, full advantage was not taken of the opportunities presented. Perhaps the prospect of potted meat sandwiches wassimply too much of a distraction!

Conservation issues and species protection assume more importance in the ranks of YNU members as the decade rolled on. Also, the burgeoning activities of the Sorby Naturalists were beginning to be published in ‘The Naturalist’, includingcontributions from Barnsley man Michael Clegg, eventually to become a TV celebrity naturalist after a working life in Museums. Barnsley natural history seemed to be at a standstill, despite Mr Atkinson occupying the role of GeneralSecretary of the Union, although a dedicated band of skilled birdwatchers were beginning to contribute greatly to our knowledge of the local fauna, but not necessarily through YNUchannels.

The 107th Annual Meeting of the YNU was held at Barnsley on 2nd December 1967.There is nothing in the report of any specific relevance to our district – we are not even told where the meeting took place. Amongst the names of resigning members is Mr Jukes, sometime compiler of botanical notes for Barnsley area circulars.

Notwithstanding the low profile natural history held in the district, the 613th Meeting of the YNU was arranged for Bretton Park and Stocksmoor on the 6th July, 1968. Roy Crossley, the Divisional Secretary, lived in Barnsley at the time and was responsible for its organisation. Occasional

insect notes relating to his recording work in the Upper Dearne Valley constitute the sole evidence of local entomological activity during this lean period.

The Circular for this excursion is totally bereft of wildlife information, but this presumably was the policy at the time as other Circulars are equally lacking in this respect.Barnsley Naturalist and Scientific Society was still supplying sandwich teas (the contents not specifically statedon this occasion) at 2/6 per person, the same rate as the previous district meeting 7 years earlier.

The meeting took place in brilliant sunshine but only 3 reports were submitted to ‘The Naturalist’, Ornithology, Entomology and Vascular Plants. Although species reported from Stocksmoor Common were included, they are not referred to here as the reserve is outside the Barnsley area.

Birds were covered by a Mr Disbrey about whom nothing isknown by this writer. It is a bald list of about 50 species and includes Turtle Dove, Redstart and Tree Sparrow.

John Flint does duty with the insects of which plenty were about but quantity rather than quality seemed to be the order of the day. It has to borne in mind, however, that manyspecimens would have had to be determined perhaps weeks or months later so reports of this nature tend only to include either the most striking or identifiable or those checked-outfairly soon after the meeting. One striking insect reported was the sawfly Tenthredo scrophulariae, a large, unmistakeable wasp-like creature, which, like the Argent and Sable Moth from the previous century, always seems to merit a mention ifseen. The small black solitary wasp Crossocerus monilicornis was new to VC 63. This wasp is quite scarce but could still be found at this site 20 years later. It is otherwise only knownfrom the Little Don Valley in our region. A closely related sphecid, Crossocerus binotatus, was new to Yorkshire and the sibling species C.dimidiatus was also present. A few other insects are noted, including the water-beetle Ilybius subaeneus ‘this being the fourth Yorkshire station…’ and the uncommon hoverfly Xylota nemorum, found by Roy Crossley. Overall, then, not a bad

day for the entomologists, but Bretton Lakes is a good locality whose riches would only be revealed in the years to come.

The botanists also seemed to do tolerably well, the anonymous report remarking on the amount of regeneration taking place of both native and alien trees. The Tulip tree was singled out for its magnificent crop of flowers. Many of the wild flowers noted, such as Water Starwort, Water Figwort(the host plant of the sawfly mentioned earlier), Skullcap and various sedges would have been found around the margins of the lakes and it was felt that further searches in this habitat would add more species.

Quite a useful excursion, therefore, at a point in time when perhaps the pursuit of natural history had become ratherunfashionable. There does seem a curious detachment prevalentalthough this could just be the writer looking back with hindsight. The thirty-seven members who visited Bretton Lakes were helping to keep a spirit of enquiry alive and we are equally grateful for the ‘snapshot’ of this fine site they provided on this sunny July day in 1968. It seems in some ways as remote as the earliest excursions under Thomas Lister.

The Mycological Section held a Spring foray at Wakefieldbetween 12th-15th May 1972. This meeting, however, encompassed Bretton Lakes and Deffer Wood so is relevant to our story. The weather had been cold and indeed specimens were hard to find although it is suggested that this is not necessarily a bad thing, since ‘As usual when there is not a wealth of material a few uncommon species were found that would probably have been overlooked otherwise’. A sentiment which will ring true with many naturalists, perhaps without having been consciously aware ofit.

The following species were recorded from Bretton Lakes; Anthrocobia macrocystis, A.maurilabra, Panaeolina foenisecii, Pluteus atromarginatus, Conocybe aporus and Psathyrella spadiceogrisea. For

Deffer Wood are listed the discomycete Trichoscyphella calycina and the basidiomycete Dacryomyces dacryomitriformis.

Bretton Lakes continued to attract the YNU, the Entomological Section visiting on 30th June 1973. There had been an entomological section in existence from the very early days of the Union but it had not always arranged field trips. A South-West Yorkshire Entomological Society appeared to run in tandem with the Entomological Section for a few years in the 1920s but seemed to exist for members’ indoor diversions as much as anything. Under Maurice Barnes in the 1930s the section held outdoor meetings although they often exactly coincided with full Union Excursions, which rather defeated the object of the exercise. Under John Flint regularfield trips commenced from the 1960s and are reported in ‘TheNaturalist’, the present one penned by Roy Crossley.

Mr Flint spent the morning exploring the north side of the lower lake and was rewarded with the scarce sawflies Abia sericea and the alder-feeding Eriocampa ovata. The solitary bee Andrena ruficrus was new to VC 63. A few other insects are noted, the most interesting being the hoverfly Helophilus trivitattus, a species primarily associated with coastal areas although not unknown inland.

Continuing the Sectional theme, the YNU bryologists visited Hoyland Bank on 27th April, 1974. Sitting comfortably between Bretton Lakes and Cawthorne, this site ‘…proved a most interesting bit of country.’ The site consists of a steep bank with older deciduous woodland whilst the bottom of the bank had been afforested following opencast operations some years earlier. The older woodland produced some good mosses such asTetraphis pellucida, Orthodontium lineare and on the ground a considerable growth of Isopterygium elegans. The liverwort Lophocolea heterophylla was also present. At the bottom of the bank was the conspicuous Pohlia nutans whilst a nearby ride ‘…was carpeted with the rather dull-looking, brownish-green, foliose hepatic Nardia scalaris.’ Some interesting species found around marshy spots included Pellia neesiana, Campylopus introflexus, Dicranella cerviculata and Plagiothecium undulatum. Both Aulacomnium palustre and

A.androgynum was present, the former particularly abundant andfrom these boggy areas no less than seven species of Sphagnummoss were recorded. Nearby Margery Wood was also visited but little else of note was added. A full list was given in the report in ‘The Naturalist’. This kind of meeting can hardly fail to add to our knowledge of the natural history of the district. The pity is that they have always been so few.

A full Union meeting was organised for the end of May inorder to investigate Wentworth Woodhouse, Wharncliffe Wood and the area between Wortley and Deepcar, described as the Upper Don Valley. A three day event, the excursionists visited Wharncliffe Wood and the Upper Don Valley on the second and third days respectively, the two Barnsley area sites of relevance to us.

The Circular is not particularly informative but it is of interest to hear about a small Nightjar colony at Wharncliffe. A call is put out to entomologists as these sites are poorly explored but no one seems to have attended as there is no report of insects in ‘The Naturalist.’ The bulk of the report is botanical but most species noted occurred around moorland ponds near to Wharncliffe Chase, theSheffield side of the boundary. The Wortley area was exploredon the third day. Pink Purslane was noted on the banks of theDon and Bird Cherry and Gean en route to the dam that was covered with Potamogeton natans whilst adjacent marshy areas yielded Phalaris arundinacea, Salix fragilis and Rorippa amphibia. A party exploring woods upstream from Wortley station located the fern Dryopteris borreri, scarce on the Coal Measures. A nearbyrough pasture had a large colony of Western Gorse and a number of lime-loving plants were also present viz. Spring Sedge, Purging Flax and Quaking Grass, a surprising assemblage presumably the result of earlier tipping.

Nothing in the bird list deserves special comment although it is nice to learn that such species as Tree Pipit,Redstart and Wood Warbler were in song (such activity denotedby an asterix). Of the mammals, Bank Vole and Water Shrew were seen near Wortley. Smooth Newt was found in the Upper Don Valley.

Not a particularly inspiring meeting, therefore, especially as three days were devoted to it. It appears to have lacked specialists and it is certainly a pity no entomologists turned up. The damp woodlands around Wortley have revealed an interesting fly fauna in recent times and doubtless additional notable species await discovery.

It is surely pertinent to mention at this point the workof Dr L.Lloyd-Evans, the President of the YNU in 1974 whose Presidential Address was entitled ‘The Biogeography of Snailsin Yorkshire’. A Huddersfield-based naturalist of wide-ranging interests, who, like W.E.L.Wattam before him, spent much of his time investigating the countryside around Penistone and Cawthorne, devoting five years of conchologicalfield work to this region. Molluscs, as indicated in his Address, were his speciality and after a century of meetings bemoaning the lack of them it is rather ironic that Dr Lloyd-Evans’ research in our district should have yielded such fruitful and interesting results (which can be read in the Jan-Mar. 1975 issue of ‘The Naturalist’).

Just two years after the successful meeting at Hoyland Bank, the Bryology Section yet again chose a Barnsley site for their Spring Excursion, Hazlehead, near Penistone. Littlewas found on the boulders of the polluted River Don but on shaley outcrops along the bank ‘…were rich growths of Pellia epiphylla, Pohlia annotina, Polytrichum aloides and a little Solenostoma sphaerocarpum.’ Peaty banks also produced a rangeof interesting bryophytes but the trees held few epiphytes. Arough pasture was investigated in the afternoon, uncovering no less than six species of Sphagna growing with Acrocladium stramineum, Drepanocladus fluitans and Calypogeia fissa amongst others.Small boulders, rocky outcrops and even dung were examined and added species to the daily total. A full list was published in ‘The Naturalist’, rounding off a useful report of an excellent days work.

The Penistone area remained a popular destination as the1970s progressed, a full YNU Excursion talking place at

Langsett on 11th June 1977. Unfortunately, proceedings were marred by rain and the entomologists subsequently had little to report. This is the first occasion the name W.A. Ely occurs in a Barnsley district report. A Rotherham-based specialist of the Parasitic Hymenoptera, Bill would generate many records of all invertebrates on his many visits to our district whilst maintaining a friendly rivalry in terms of his primary task of building a comprehensive profile of Rotherham insects. On this occasion his list of ‘other arthropods’ is of most interest in as much as little work hasever been carried out here. Species seen were the woodlice Oniscus asellus, Porcellus scaber and Trichoniscus pusillus. On Castle Dykewere found the millipedes Tachypodoiulus niger, Ophyiulus pilosus and Polydesmus gallicus whilst woodland below the reservoir yielded Iulus niger, Cylindroiulus punctatus and Proteroiulus fuscus. P.gallicus is a southern species, an addition to the Sheffield region.

The botanists seemed to fare quite well under the expertguidance of D.R.Grant. Around Castle Dyke Western Gorse and Adder’s Tongue Fern were seen but the best find was Eleocharis uniglumis (Slender Spike-rush) found in a pool in an old Millstone Grit quarry. It is very rare in VC 63. Four sedges were discovered in this grid-square, namely Carex demissa, C.panicea, C.flacca and C.echinata. Further sedges were found in theboggy areas up the Little Don, C.laevigata, C.curta, C.pulicaris and C.paniculata whilst the ferns Scaly Male-fern and Lemon-scented Fern were deemed worthy of note. In an echo of the previous Wortley excursion, both Bird Cherry and Gean were reported.

The first moss gathered by the bryologists turned out tobe the best find of the day – Grimmia doniana – not recorded in VC 63 since 1854. Other saxicolous species found included Grimmia trichophylla and Ptychomitrium polyphyllum. Also of interest was the moss Campylopus introflexus, a species rapidly spreading in VC 63 yet only discovered in 1971. Seven species of Sphagnum were noted along with Drepanocladus exannulatus and Philonotis fontana. The mycologists also did reasonably well withforty species of fungi recorded of which Calocera furcata at Fox Clough was noteworthy.

A useful meeting, therefore, rather spoilt by the weather as far as entomology was concerned, despite the best

efforts of Bill Ely, Mr and Mrs Flint and Jerry Lee, a Sheffield coleopterist.

At the start of the new decade a couple of articles in ‘The Naturalist’ reflected, albeit in a minor way, a resurgence of interest in the wildlife of the Borough. A short piece by Derek Whiteley of Sheffield Museum on some of the exciting hoverflies being found by Austin Brackenbury in Wharncliffe Wood was the first of many syrphid related articles which would inspire a number of aspiring entomologists at this time, the writer included. Mr Brackenbury, a railway signalman based in the woodland, was ideally placed to pursue his hobby (two trains and three new VC records per day!) and was a true champion of local wildlife, his illustrated talks becoming something of an institution. The second article concerned the Short-eared Owls of Carlton Marsh, a reserve owned by Barnsley Council but run by a dedicated band of amateur naturalists. One such acknowledged at the end of the article – written by RSPB officer John Armitage – was Godfrey Blunt, a top-class all-round naturalist specialising in birds and Lepidoptera who would have undoubtedly have progressed studies in the Barnsley area, especially the Worsbrough Valley, and possiblyvivified the slumbering local society, had not his working life taken him out of the region. He was a key figure in the organisation of the next YNU Excursion to our district, a two-day meeting to Worsbrough Country Park and Rockley, 17th-18th May 1980.

This seems to have been a good meeting attracting a range of Yorkshire specialists from various disciplines. PhilPage, the Country Park Ranger and Godfrey Blunt were able to report 58 birds over the weekend including Reed Warbler and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker at the reservoir and Redpoll and Tree Pipit in a cleared area of Old Park Wood. A roding Woodcock was heard on the Saturday evening. A short list mammals, amphibians and reptiles was given and included GreatCrested Newt and Grass-snake.

The entomological highlights around the reservoir on theSaturday were the scarce ground beetle Badister sodalis, found by Huddersfield coleopterist Mike Denton, the leaf beetle Prasocuris phellandrii and the rove-beetle Philonthus quisquillarius. Sunday’s investigations around Old Park Wood yielded the rarebeetle Hylecoetus dermestoides and the uncommon and rather impressive looking fly Xylophagus ater, both indicative of relatively old woodland. Bill Ely found the empid fly Hilara galactoptera, an uncommon species in VC 63.

Godfrey Blunt was joined by Sheffield Museum’s moth expert Steve Garland but only nine butterflies were seen, oneof which was Dingy Skipper in Old Park Wood. Mr Blunt conducted an evening moth-trapping session during the weekendthat produced Broad-barred White, Water Carpet and Herald whilst there were daytime records of Mother Shipton and SmallYellow-underwing.

Rounding off the invertebrates was Clifford Smith, the great Yorkshire spider expert. He was able to list a good number of species, none of which however, were particularly noteworthy. Nevertheless, many were new to Grid-Square SE/30,serving to indicate a chronic lack of recording in the past.

The botanists seemed happy enough exploring the edges ofthe reservoir on the Saturday, even finding a scarce plant, Scirpus sylvaticus, in a marsh by one of the feeder streams. An old shale heap near the M1 was covered with the grass Vulpia bromoides, uncommon in the district. The area around Rockley Abbey was visited on the Sunday with the woods containing a typical flora, the best find being Adder’s Tongue Fern. It was noted that the rust Puccinia adoxae was present on some specimens of Town Hall Clock (Adoxa moschatellina), the only previous VC 63 record from Worsbrough Bridge in 1949.

The marsh near Rockley Old Hall was the best site visited by the bryologists, yielding the handsome moss Physcomitrium pyriforme, scarce in VC 63, and the local Calliergon cordifolium. The dam wall produced Schistidium apocarpum, Orthotrichum diaphanum and Hypnum cupressiforme var.resupinatum whilst on nearby wasteground was discovered Bryum violaceum and B.klinggraeffii. By contrast the woodland areas were devoid of interest.

A worthwhile meeting and one that the writer would have attended had he known about it. As it transpired, the writer’s first excursion would have to wait until the following year.

The 1981 Excursion to VC 63 was organised for the Holmebridge area, specifically Ramsden Clough. Surprisingly, perhaps, the upper reaches of this locality are situated within the Barnsley area, albeit the extreme western fringe and so the results are well worth documenting here. As this was the writer’s first experience of the YNU in action, a particularly strong impression was made, especially regardingthe rather frightening level of expertise exhibited by many members. Nevertheless, the ‘new face’ was made welcome, despite being unable – through a hitherto unrecognised ignorance of almost limitless profundity – to contribute anything of value to the proceedings.

The day was breezy with sunny intervals, the rain threatening but not quite materialising. D.R.Grant, the indefatigable botanical excursionist, gave a brief overview of the higher ground – the ‘Barnsley’ bit of interest to us –with Nardus stricta, Eriophorum, Molinia caerulea, Empetrum nigrum withsmaller amounts of Calluna vulgaris and Vaccinum mrytillus. Also seenwere large clumps of Dryopteris borreri and Thelypteris oreopteris whilst Carex laevigata was abundant in the bogs.

The moss specialists seemed rather disappointed with theClough despite large rock exposures at the valley head. It cannot be precisely determined which species were found actually within the Barnsley area but it is likely that Nardiacompressa, Solenostoma sphaerocarpum, S.triste, S.pumilum, Fissidens adianthoides, Brachydontium trichodes, Seligeria recurvata, Blindia acuta and Tetrodontium brownianum were some of the species thus located.

Entomologists were out in force, indeed one stalwart ornithologist was heard to complain that there were too many nets waving about, no doubt sending the birds into deep cover. Again, it is not possible to be sure just which insects were recorded on the higher ground but certainly the writer can recall the unusual sight of good numbers of Small

Argent & Sable moth flying in sunshine near the top of the path. Godfrey Blunt found the moorland hoverfly Sericomyia lappona higher up the clough; indeed the ‘old hawthorns bordering thestream higher up proved richest for insects, the prize being the rare wood-boring beetle Hylecoetus dermestoides (L.) flying in some numbers by the stream.’ Quite a sight, unfortunately overlooked by yours truly. Other insects presumably recorded in this area included the weevils Hylobius abietus, Barypeithes sulcifrons and Leiosoma deflexum, the longhorns Rhagium mordax and R.bifasciatum, the soldier beetle Rhagonycha testacea and the leaf-beetle Calomicrus circumfusus. Above the hawthorn wood were the ground-beetles Carabus violaceus, C.problematicus, the snail-eating Cychrus caraboides and the fast-running metallic Notiophilus aquaticus and N.germinyi.There was even an ‘other arthropods’ expert present in the shape of D.T.Richardson. Other arthropods were generally scarce although one of the three millipede species found was the little known Polydesmus coriaceus. Of the six centipedes to be recorded, one, Lithobius calcaratus ‘spotted by Dr.L.Lloyd-Evans…in a coniferous plantation, is not particularly common in Yorkshire but has an uncanny habit of turning up in the most unexpected places.’

John Dale, the Union’s bird recorder for VC 63 was able to report forty-five species. Those seen towards the higher ground included Dipper, Ring Ouzel and a pair of Wrens breeding 370 metres above sea level.

A tremendous meeting, therefore, with a high turn-out numbering many experts in their respective fields. It was a turning point for the writer who decided that day-flying insects were the ones to record. The study of hoverflies was duly commenced the following year, fostering an interest in diptera that has persisted to the present day.

The YNU commenced publication of a quarterly ‘Bulletin’ in 1984, carrying members’ articles of general natural history interest at a time when ‘The Naturalist’ was perhaps leaning towards a more academic approach. Bulletin No. 6 carried a review of a new Barnsley Naturalist and Scientific Society’s publication ‘Wildlife in Barnsley’ edited by leading local botanist and ornithologist Jeff Lunn. The

review pays tribute to the author of the introductory articlethus ‘Older members of the YNU will recall with gratitude the devoted service of Ralph Atkinson who held the position of Hon. General Secretary of the Union for many years. His opening historical review of the…Society with which he has been closely associated for much of his life is an interesting essay…’ It might be added that Mr Atkinson enthusiastically supported this publishing venture, the first by the Naturalist Society in a century. The reviewer, Roy Crossley, also reviews on the same page the Annual Report of Carlton Marsh Local Nature Reserve, yet another example of the buoyant state of wildlife investigation within the Borough. Worsbrough Country Park also produced a similar report at thetime.

The Jan-Mar1987 issue of ‘The Naturalist’ carries a report of the YNU’s Mycological Section Spring foray to Deffer Wood and Worsbrough. Mid-May turned out to be too early for most fungi and only one agaric, Pleurotus cornucopiae, was found. A slime-mould Fuligo muscorum and ascomycete Peziza micropus along with two rusts from Worsbrough, Melampsorella symphytii and Puccinia deschampsiae complete the list apart from an example of one of the ‘fungi imperfecti’ from Worsbrough, Lidophia graminis, hitherto unknown in Yorkshire.

Circulars for meetings began to appear in the ‘Bulletin’and it is from this source that we able to glean background information about the Cawthorne Excursion, for 2nd July, 1988.Although Cawthorne is given as the locality, three disparate sites were intended for exploration, Margery Wood, Hugset Wood and Wilthorpe Marsh. The latter two do not constitute part of the Cawthorne district and even Margery Wood is considered more akin to High Hoyland than Cawthorne, but no matter.

A few interesting plants are said to occur in Margery Wood – Wood Barley and Spindle – more commonly found on magnesium limestone, whilst Pendulous Sedge and Great Horsetail are also present. Perhaps surprisingly, the mollusca are said to be interesting, with Acanthinula aculeata andZonitoides excavatus known from Hugset Wood. The author was able

to contribute some information regarding the insects of that woodland having collected there quite regularly in the recentpast. White-letter Hairstreak and Yellow-legged Clearwing were two excellent lepidopterans, only being eclipsed by the almost mythically rare hoverfly Callicera aenea. Of Wilthorpe Marsh, only dragonflies are discussed and include the recently discovered Sympetrum sanguineum.

The meeting attracted forty members who assembled in thecar park of the Spencer Arms. The two woodlands visited produced 36 bird species which included Tawny Owl, Whitethroat, Goldcrest, Turtle Dove, Blackcap and Garden Warbler. At Wilthorpe Marsh a completely different avifauna was encountered, the scrubby areas being ideal for warblers of which five species, including Grasshopper Warbler, were reported. Some members were pleased to see Kingfisher, an increasing species, as well as small numbers of Sand Martin and Grey Partridge, which are both in decline.

The writer reported on entomology which was a little disappointing, not being helped by afternoon showers. The only insects reported from Hugset Wood were the hoverfly Xylota coeruleiventris, the soldier fly Beris morrisii, the ‘doli’ fly Scellus notatus and the solitary wasp Crossocerus capitosus whilst that serial excursionist, John Flint, found the distinctive leaf-rolls of the small red weevil Attelebus nitens. A party of coleopterists in Margery Wood under Mike Denton found little of interest save the weevil Pissodes pini and the longhorn Leiopus nebulosus although Eric Smith from Sheffield – a regular collector at a number of Barnsley sites at this period – added two beetles to the Barnsley list, the small carabid Bembidion quinquestriatum and the rove beetle Quedius semiaeneus. Itmay be pertinent to add here that the writer was embarking ona list of insects of the Barnsley area, an enterprise that saw fruition 11 years later with the publication ‘Insects of the Barnsley Area’, published by the Sorby Natural History Society. Bill Ely’s investigations near the Fleets Pond east of Wilthorpe Marsh were responsible for adding a number of flies to the Barnsley list, most notably the ‘dolis’ Syntormonpumilus, S.monilis, Dolichopus campestris and Teucophorus spinigerellus andin collaboration with John Newbould unearthed the scarce

froghopper Macrosteles ossiannilssoni and the small lacewing Semidalis aleyrodiformis.

Eight species of butterfly, including Painted Lady in Margery Wood, were seen and the larvae of the locally scarce moths Scalloped Hook-tip and Puss Moth were discovered by Godfrey Blunt in Hugset Wood, a site that also yielded Clouded Magpie Moth, a species not infrequent at this locality.

The botanists fared averagely, locating the special plants in Margery Wood but only reporting Hypericum perforatum (Common St.John’s Wort) and Malva moschata (Musk Mallow) in Hugset. Much of the time seemed to be spent around the environs of Wilthorpe Marsh where the banks of the river Dearne produced Myrrhis odorata (Sweet Cicely), Conium maculatum (Hemlock), Salix viminalis (Osier), Scrophularia auriculata (Water Betony) and Tanacetum vulgare (Tansy). The approach to the river yielded Viburnum opulus (Guelder Rose), Prunus domestica (Bullace),Malva sylvestris (Common Mallow) and the grass Aira praecox. Some of the plants in the area of the Barnsley Canal proved interesting with one particularly rich marshy spot holding Pulicaria dysenterica,(Fleabane) Senecio erucifolius (Hoary Ragwort) andSilaum silaus (Pepper Saxifrage) as well as the sedges Carex disticha, C.pallescens and C.otrubae. The margins of the Fleets Dam was also explored including a waste area on which Chenopodium bonus-henricus (Good King Henry) and Artemisia absinthium (Wormwood) were growing.

Bryologising was confined to the woodlands which ‘…were richly invested with impenetrable undergrowth which made even common woodland species difficult to locate.’ A short list of common species is given and, typically, epiphytes were scarce, only Lophocolea heterophylla and Orthodontium lineare being reported. The best species were found along the rides of both woods, Margery Wood holding Jungermannia gracillima, Pohlia carnea, P.wahlenbergii, Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus and R.loreus, this last a rare taxon. Pseudephemerum nitidum was present in good quantity on bare wet clay. Hugset Wood held Riccardia chamaedrifolia and Calypogeia arguta.

The mycologists exhibited an unusual level of specialistzeal, confining their attention, by and large, to dead thistle stems in the Fleets area. Ascomycetes uncovered by this process included Diapleella clivensis, Leptosphaeria purpurea, Ophiobolus acuminatus, Mollisia clavata and Pyrenopeziza revincta. The latter was also found in Margery Wood, here on the dead stemsof Foxglove.

Plant galls were written-up by veteran cecidologist JohnPearson, a charming man who, I am pleased to say, prefaced his report by praising the beauty of the district. More than sixty galls were found including the gall midge Semudobia skuhravae, a recently recognised birch catkin gall, suggested by Dr.Lloyd-Evans as a possible find alongside the traditionally recorded S.betulae.

All things considered, quite a good meeting with a healthy attendance, the day partly spoilt by cool conditions and afternoon rain. The writer was rather disappointed with the woodland insects in a somewhat overgrown Hugset Wood. Despite conditions seeming optimal a mere three years earlierthe wood was evidently past its best by the time of this meeting.

Barnsley naturalists had to wait until 4th. June 1994 forthe next opportunity to engage with the YNU at a local venue when Scout Dike and the adjacent Royd Moor Reservoir were thesites selected. The Circular contains a short list of beetles, including the impressive chrysomelid Timarcha goettingensis, provided by Mr Hemingway of Wakefield, but no other wildlife details. Around this time there seems to have been some irregularity in the appearance of excursion reports, some occurring in ‘The Bulletin’ rather than ‘The Naturalist’ and often with considerable time delay. Unfortunately, this meeting seems to have fallen into the latter category and it was not until the April-June 1999 issue of ‘The Naturalist’ that the report appeared. At a length of scarcely half a page it must rank as the shortest of all time.

Donald Grant commented on the botany. A small pond next to Scout Dike held Ranunculus omiophyllus and the stonewort Nitella

flexilis whilst the surrounding rough area produced Petty Whin and the sedges Carex binervis and C.viridula ssp. oedocarpa. A number of brambles were listed for both here and also Royd Moor which also yielded the sedge Carex acuta. The only other account covered ‘freshwater biology’ about which there was little to report. Nitella flexilis was also at Royd Moor, of interest in as much as few recent stonewort records are knownfrom this upland area.

The writer was present at this excursion, at least for the morning, and can state that attendance was rather poor and the weather equally so, being heavily overcast, breezy and very cool. Reference to my notebook reveals the discoveryof two flies new to the Barnsley area, the common empid Xanthempis digramma and the ‘doli’ Rhaphium elegantulum.

Not one of the great meetings therefore though no doubt other members’ notebooks contain some things of value. Royd Moor comprises an interesting mosaic of habitats and would nodoubt have rewarded detailed investigation had the weather been anything like normal for the time of year.

An autumn meeting of the YNU bryologists took place on 12th.October 1996 at Bagger Wood near Stainborough. Local naturalists were on hand to guide the visitors through the woodland which turned out to contain a number of interesting species. ‘A surprising find was Aulacomnium palustre among grasses; presumably this spot had once been much wetter. Another interesting find was a good patch of Pohlia lutescens on a vertical bank.’ As usual, few epiphytes were present, the principal ones being Dicranoweisia cirrata, Hypnum cupressiforme and Lophocolea heterophylla. According to the report in ‘The Bulletin’, Worsbrough Reservoir was briefly visited in the afternoon. This produceda record of Ulota bruchii, not seen during previous visits and therefore ‘… evidence of its re-colonisation of industrial areas in South Yorkshire.’

Bretton Park was chosen as the YNU’s VC 63 excursion venue for 1999, the meeting taking place on 5th. June. The Circular, as seems to have become customary, included little

wildlife information although the Park is said to contain allthree British Woodpeckers.

This was a meeting the writer would have liked to have attended as Bretton Park is one of the best local sites for insects (along with the Little Don Valley, Gunthwaite and a few now extinct waste-ground sites) but work commitments ruled otherwise. As if to compensate for the brevity of the Scout Dike report, this one covered five pages in ‘The Naturalist’ under various headings which included Trees & Landscape History by Colin Howes, curator at Doncaster Museum. From this we learn that the Alders which line the northern fringes of the lakes are a recent phenomenon resulting from falling water levels, managed and otherwise, with a coincidental reduction in the Water Vole population allowing seedlings to flourish. The Hornbeam is an interesting component of the woodland being introduced about 1800 although 70% of the current population derive from the mid-1980s, a development with ecological consequences for thereserve. Oaks and Beeches, surviving from the original post 1777 landscaping, now account for less than 1% of the total tree population. Grazing pressures would have been balanced by extensive tree planting but an absence of trees from certain periods may be explained by felling for one reason oranother. Recent decades have witnessed dramatic natural regeneration of most woodland tree species.

Mr Howes also co-wrote the Mammals & Lower Vertebrates section wherein we are informed that recorded species includeOtter, Pine Martin, Dormouse, Red Squirrel and Water Vole. Recent bat records have included Noctule, Daubenton’s and thescarce Leister’s. The previously evening’s bat-detecting session had resulted in a new species for any YNU meeting – anewly separated species of Pipistrelle. Some comparisons weremade with the past excursions of 1890 and 1953 which revealedthe continuing presence of Hedgehog, Mole, Brown Hare and Fox. Grey Squirrel had replaced Red. Fallow Deer were absent but the recently spreading Roe Deer were noted. Although no trapping or bird-pellet analysis was undertaken the presence of Wood Mouse was detected and a Brown Rat was seen caught by

a Stoat. The past occupation of Water Vole was evidenced by numerous old burrows and a Mink was observed, a species thought to be implicated in the Vole’s demise. A Badger sett was found which showed signs of occupancy.A discussion with anglers revealed the presence of Common Carp, Bream, Gudgeon, Perch, Pike, Roach and Tench.

A number of invertebrate specialists were present who reported on Molluscs, Butterflies, Moths and Beetles. Eighteen molluscs were found out of a known total of 40 species for the reserve. The molluscan fauna was stated to betypical of acid woodlands of this region with such species asZonitoides excavatus restricted to this habitat. Slugs were more plentiful than in 1969 when a survey was undertaken, Limax maximus being particularly frequent. There were large numbers of Lymnaea truncatula and Oxyloma pfeifferi, two freshwater taxa not seen on the previous date. For a number of reasons it was felt that the habitat in general had deteriorated somewhat.

The lepidopterists more or less drew a blank on a cool previous evening’s light trapping and on the daytime meeting only 2 butterflies were noted, Small White and Gatekeeper, 2 macromoths Angle Shades and Common Carpet and 8 species of micromoth which included the mines of Eriocrania subpurpurella on oak and Phyllonorycter maestingella on beech. The coleopterists largely restricted their investigations to fungi and dead wood, this approach revealing a number of interesting specimens. Bitoma crenata was found under bark in good numbers and Scaphisoma boleti, a notable beetle, in decaying fungi. A southern wood-boring beetle, Hemicoelus fulvicornis, was only the seventh Yorkshire record.Two common longhorns were found, Clytus arietus (The Wasp Beetle)and Grammoptera ruficornis whilst the ‘…splendid longhorn, Anaglyptusmysticus, although not recorded on the day, has been encountered in the past.’ (Originally found by the writer, I may add).

Mr Magee reported on the freshwater invertebrates, his short list including two mayflies new to the Barnsley area, Caenis robusta and Baetis vernus.

Birds on this day were unremarkable and call for no special comment. Flowering Plants were covered, once again, by Mr Grant who prefaced his remarks with a brief geological outline. Over 100 native plants were recorded, a new species for the reserve being Carex spicata whilst the less scarce sedgeCarex remota was seen by the old boat-house. Grant, a noted batologist (brambles expert), listed Rubus dasyphyllus and R.newbouldii with R.rufescens near the boundary wall in Bath Wood, which, together with the grass Melicta uniflora indicated ancientwoodland. The botanists present were no doubt pleased to finda large colony of Epipactis helleborine, an orchid only sparsely distributed throughout our district.

Mr Blockeel, the brilliant Sheffield bryologist, concentrated his efforts around Bridge Royd Wood and the lakemargins. The latter habitat was more productive with a fine population of Calliergon cordifolium half submerged in a shaded channel. Also of interest was the second vice-county record of Ulota phyllantha whilst its congener U.bruchii was found on a tree trunk on the south bank of the upper lake. Other recordsincluded Plagiomnium affine, Campylopus pyriformis, Lepidozia reptans underRhododendron, Pseudephemerum nitidum on a moist bank and Scapania undulata on a damp track.Two further species discovered were curiously and diversely out of context. Seligeria recurvata, on an old bridge, is usually found on the Pennine gritstones whilst a concrete pyramid (sculpture??) near the lower lake held Tortula intermedia, rare on the Coal Measures, its natural habitat being on limestone rocks.

Albert Henderson’s graphic account of the lichens is full of interest and harks back to an earlier style of reporting which is now less common in ‘The Naturalist’. Despite a limited Parmelietum-Xanthorion flora on the trees in general, by the bridge east of the lower lake ‘…old ash and willow in sheltered corners…had Ramalina farinacea and Evernia prunastri and sported up to 16 lichen species per tree. Saxicolous lichens, too, showed their fullest presence around the lakes…Fencing above the Lower lake and Cut had throughout its entire length an impressive continuum of Micarea denigrata, Lecanora conizaeoides, Placynthiella icmalea, Trapeliopsis granulosa and T.flexuosa,

infrequently and startlingly spotted by isolated, upstanding thalli of Platismatia glauca, Evernia prunastri, Ramalina farinacea andUsnea subfloridana, looking strikingly like miniature sculptures in this setting.’ The preservation of the Park’s proper sculptures is briefly explained as is the aforementioned ‘concrete pyramid’which is in fact an old pump-house in a possibly ‘follies’ style landscaping of the 18th/19th century. It is often mistaken for one of the Park’s sculptures.

So ended one of the better Barnsley meetings of the YNU in recent years and certainly the best documented.

A little over two years later and the YNU was back in Barnsley, this time to the classic excursion ground of the Cawthorne district centred around Cannon Hall Country Park. Although the Circular drew attention to the possibility of permission not being granted to visit surrounding woodland (due to Foot and Mouth outbreak) these fears were not realised in the event, although most members seemed to confine their attentions to within the Park’s boundaries.

The writer had the pleasure of sharing the introductory paragraphs of the report with lichenologist Albert Henderson and was therefore able to ensure that the scenic beauty of the area was mentioned – quoting a line from Lloyd-Evans’ 1974 Presidential Address – and was also pleased to allude toCheetham’s list of diptera from the 1928 meeting to Deffer Wood. Mr Henderson, referring to the Field Centre meeting rooms, remarked on the attention paid ‘…to a large and most impressive glass bead portrait in the Landseer style, something of a rarity, obtained for the Cannon Hall collection in 1970…’. Excellent stuff, do we detect the ghost of Thomas Lister somewhere on this meeting?

Only 38 species of bird were seen out of a known breeding total of around 60 species. Comment was made regarding the increase in Nuthatch over the preceding ¼ century and the sighting of a Common Buzzard over Margery Wood was propitious – an early indication of a local

population developing as this fine raptor increases throughout eastern Britain.

The entomologists were favoured with the presence of Harry Beaumont, micro-lepidoptera recorder for the YNU and co-author of the excellent ‘Butterflies and Moths and Yorkshire’. Recording was confined to the Park where Comma and Gatekeeper were seen as well as the Oak Nycteoline Moth, also found by the writer. Larval mines of the micro-moths Leucoptera laburnella on laburnum and Caloptilia rufipennella on sycamorewere found, the latter a relatively recent addition to the Yorkshire fauna.

Only 107 beetle species were recorded by Mike Denton with nothing of real interest. The locally distributed Henoticus serratus was found in old fungi on the south side of thelake whilst the Ladybird Myrrha 18-guttata was present on Scotch Pine, a widely distributed species but not commonly encountered. Ernobius mollis, a small beetle related to ‘woodworm’, was also on Pine. There are only 26 Yorkshire localities for this beetle, one of which is nearby Deffer Wood. Beating Pine yielded 6 species of ladybird to Dave Hemingway, the Union’s Divisional Secretary for VC 63, who also registered a few spiders.

The writer sought flies, not with any conspicuous success, but the meeting proved useful in that a good, shady habitat by the cricket field yielded enough in the way of fungus-gnats to ensure that subsequent visits were usually well rewarded with a haul of good species. Otherwise, the picture-winged fly Tephritis cometa by the southern lake edge andDennis Giggal’s discovery of the scarce conopid Conops strigata were the best finds.

The botanists, in this well-worked district, followed the shores of the lakes where Unbranched Bur-reed was found towards the cricket ground. Here, the grass Brachypodium sylvaticum was present, more typical of less acidic soils, as well as the bramble Rubus warrenii. The footpath towards the western side of Margery Wood was taken in which locality morebrambles were identified, namely Rubus hylocharis, R.rufescens and

R.newboudii and where the local woodland plant Enchanter’s Nightshade was in flower.

Fungi recorded during the meeting included the bracket fungus Inonotus hispidus, the agarics Coprinus plicatilis, C.cinereus, C.cothurnatus and Conocybe rickenii. ‘The unique smell of the stinkhorn Phallus impudicus signalled its presence in several places, later confirmed visually.’ The tiny agaric Flammulaster carpophila, growing on fallen beech cupules, was the find of the day.

Fifty eight lichens were reported by the 3 specialists present, the overall conclusion being that the flora of the district, for so long subject to pollution, was improving. The discovery of Physcia aipolia, a recent addition to the West Yorkshire Conurbation, on a tree by the car park, helped to re-enforced this impression. Caloplaca phlogina, a recently ‘split’ species from the very common C.citrina, was considered an unusual find here. Curiously, only two Cladonias were seen, C.fimbriata and C.coniocraea.

A useful meeting, therefore, that rather set a template,so to speak, for the writer who was destined to spend many pleasant days in subsequent years collecting gnats by the cricket ground and watching Buzzards soar over Margery Wood.

Remarkably, the next Barnsley based YNU excursion was scheduled for the following year (2002) with the classic locality Worsbrough Country Park being the venue under the leadership of the writer. The Circular contains some nuggets of entomological information based on the writer’s own dipterological researches around the willow carr and Dennis Giggal’s impressive coleopterological discoveries made whilstinvestigating the Park’s dead-wood and fungal associated micro-habitats. Mr Giggal was responsible for adding a good number of insects to the Barnsley list around this time, manyoriginating from his eco-friendly garden at Worsbrough Common.

The day of the meeting – 10th August – was cool and overcast and after rain the previous day made entomologising very difficult. Harry Beaumont detected the larval mines of

the micro-moth Phyllonorycter platanoidella on Norway Maple, a relative newcomer to the County but only 4 butterflies were noted during the day. The writer’s best find was the handsometachinid fly Phasia hemiptera whilst Dave Hemingway noted the local leaf beetle Pyrrhalta viburni on Guelder Rose.

The botanical report ran through the various trees and shrubs found around the reservoir as well as in the drier anddamper areas of woodland. The ground flora of the former included Oxalis acetosella (Wood Sorrel), Silene dioica (Red Campion) and Myosotis sylvatica (Wood Forget-me-not) whilst the latter held the grass Bromopsis ramosa. A number of waste-ground plantswere also noted.

The mycologist present, Mr Webb, was pleased to find theslime-mould Stemonitopsis typhina in the plasmodium state that was later cultivated to produce a particularly fine specimen for his herbarium. No less than 5 lichenologists were presentwho between them recorded 72 species. Of particular interest were Caloplaca obscurella, Lecania hutchinsiae, Melanelia exasperate, Verrucariaelaeina and Ramonia interjecta.

Pt.6

The Future