Doug handed out a New Year Quiz at our Christmas Social. For those who have not seen it, here it is …
[Click the link to see it on your screen without download.]
And here are the answers!
Author: Barnsley Nats
Barnsley Nats Annual General Meeting 2023
Barnsley Nats Annual General meeting took place on Wednesday 25 January 2023 at Barnsley Town Hall. The previous agm was in 2019; the 2020 agm was cancelled because of the covid-19 pandemic restrictions. After the business meeting, there was a presentation on Aspects of Biodiversity in Barnsley
There were questions, comments and suggestions for the programme and publicising the society..
We re-elected the members of our committee. New committee members would be welcome; get in touch to find out more about it. We meet three times a year and have plenty to talk about!
The papers for the meeting are attached:
[Just click on the link to read online]
Report on the years 2020-23
2020-23 accounts
Nats Christmas Social 2022
A trip down the microscope with Howard, Jill’s Christmas Quiz, and Cake!
Thank you to everyone who came to our Christmas Social; a nice get-together.
Thanks especially to Howard for his great presentation exploring the microscopic world — how he, together with Alwyn, matched the music with the movements was brilliant!
Thanks too to Trevor for thinking of showing us the video on the ‘power of nature’. If anyone missed it, we can forward it to you: just get in touch.
And thanks as always to Jill for setting the annual Christmas Quiz. It was a great quiz, and nice to be able to do it in person this time rather than online.
And good to have time together to chat with some cake!
Doug gave out copies of a New Year Quiz —here it is.
[Click on the link to view without downloading]
Here are the answers!
Field visit to an icy Elsecar
We had a great frosty time on Saturday 10th December viewing the birds in the open water left free of ice on Elsecar reservoir with more Great Crested Grebes than usual. And a Water Rail spotted briefly coming out on the ice.
We started by going into the woods near Elsecar Heritage Centre to immediately hear and see a Great Spotted Woodpecker.
Spotting the remaining fungi as well: including Oyster mushroom(Pleuratu ostreatus), Sulphur Tuft(Hypholoma fasciculare) and Willow Bracket(Phellinus igniarius).
Then retiring to the Milton Arms or the Teepot Cafe.
Wildlife on the Yorkshire Coast
Wildlife on the Yorkshire Coast, a presentation by Geoff Carr on Wednesday 23rd November was fascinating. Geoff covered a whole stretch of coastline with great images of the birds and other wildlife to be found. He pointed out for us the slippages down the cliffs that have preserved former grassland habitats now lost above the cliffs. A great talk that provoked a lot of discussion.
Visit to Anglers Country Park
On Saturday 12th November we have a field visit to Anglers Country Park for the birds of open water and scrub; looking for fungi as well. We will start with the hide(s) and go on round the water and possibly into some woodland areas.
We are meeting at 10 am in the main car park at Anglers Country Park, Haw Park Lane, Wintersett, WF4 2EB, grid reference: SE375153.
Car parking free for 2 hours, £2 for 3 hours.
Yesterday’s fungi –Langford wood & Dodworth Stack
An afternoon of surprises, as yesterday I found Dog Stinkhorn in Langford Wood, with Blackening Waxcap and Pestle Puffball on the stack at Dodworth . Quite a few Fly Agarics on the climb up to the Stack. Doug
Fungi at Dodworth pit-stack
After looking for fungi at a number of sites we decided to go back to Dodworth Stack on Saturday, 8th October. We had a productive and enjoyable visit; our thanks to Doug for arranging and leading this field visit. Watch out for his report.
The Catastrophe of Bare Peat: —the work of Moors for the Future
‘The Catastrophe of Bare Peat’ a talk by Robbie Carnegie on the work of Moors for the Future
Our next meeting is a talk entitled ‘The Catastrophe of Bare Peat’ by Robbie Carnegie. It will give an overview of the work of Moors for the Future, the issues they are tackling, and what they are doing now and in the future.
The talk is on Wednesday 19th October at 7pm in Barnsley Town Hall, S70 2TA. Finish by 9pm
Everyone is welcome so if you know of others interested in moorlands, the issues they face, and the work of Moors for the Future, then do pass on the invitation.
For those who haven’t been to a Barnsley Nats meeting at the Town Hall before, use the Experience Barnsley entrance and ring the bell!
Parking on council car parks and on-street parking spaces nearby is free after 6pm. Some town centre on-street parking may have different rules.
Barnsley: An Unnatural History
Five Barnsley Naturalists went along to the performance by Simon Armitage, the Poet Laureate, and his rock band Lyr. Entitled “Barnsley An Unnatural History”, it ‘celebrated Barnsley’s Eldon Street through the lens of its former Natural History Museum’. Yes the old Barnsley Nats museum!
We particularly enjoyed the piece in three parts, ‘A brief chronicle of birds in the Autumn and Winter months of 1886/7’, based on Thomas Lister’s weekly articles of bird sightings in Barnsley Chronicle. Thomas Lister was the President of Barnsley Naturalist Society in our society’s early days.
A Scottish Tour by Ron Marshall
Barnsley Nats talks are back! Ron Marshall gave a stimulating talk on wildlife in Scotland at our first indoor meeting for two years, on Wednesday 21 September.
Illustrated by fantastic photographs, Ron took us from Ardnamurchan to the Hebrides, from the Cairngorms to the Shetland islands.
He shared with us his experiences of pine martens and otters, ptarmigans and mountain hares, and a considerable range of birds of land and sea.
A great commentary Ron, giving us an insight into the behaviour and characteristics of Scottish wildlife. We can’t wait to visit the places you told us about.
Worsbrough country park for galls
Saturday September 10th, 10.30 am: A visit to Worsborough Mill Country Park , looking in particular for plant galls. We had have the benefit of Tom Higginbottom and some other members of the Plant Gall Society. More on what we found to follow.
Counting Glowworms
58 glowing glowworms counted in the cutting along the TPT at Thurgoland on Wednesday evening, 17 August 2022. 78 were counted on Saturday 27 August 2022. Doug Brown carries out a count twice a week each summer.
Batting in Dearne Valley Country Park – 24 August 2022
Our Wednesday 24 August evening field visit was a walk around Dearne Valley Country Park. We had a general look around the park along the canal, before using our bat detectors to identify the different bat species when it started to get dark.
The highlight of the evening was seeing the Daubenton bats skimming insects off the surface of the water. We had five species: three pipestrelle, noctule and Daubenton.
Thanks to Mark and Kevin for their support. It was good to have a number of bat detectors for people to try out.
Counting Wall Brown Butterflies -August 2022
For our field visit on Saturday 13 August 2022, twelve of us followed a route from the Royd Moor Hill view point above Thurlstone, down High Bank Lane to a former quarry. Four years ago in August 2018, Alwyn Timms led a Barnsley Nats group on a walk to count Wall Brown butterflies in this area. We decided to repeat the walk, a good way to remember Alwyn.
We counted 24 Wall Brown along High Bank Lane, equalling the 2018 number, far more than the recce the previous week.
We also had 8 Small Copper, 4 Red Admiral and 3 Small Tortoiseshell. And single examples of six other butterfly species. There were Gatekeeper in abundance a week ago but only one this time!
Images: Chris Tomson and Peter Roberts