Category: Meetings

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]

2023-New-Year-QuizDownload

Here are the answers!

2023 New Year Quiz AnswersDownload

Wildlife on the Yorkshire Coast

Coastline towards Bridlington, seen from Scarborough

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.

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.

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.

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

Wall Browns: Remembering Alwyn

In the summer we intend to have a field visit walking in Alwyn Timms’ footsteps, looking for Wall Brown butterflies on the patch where he recorded them. We will follow a route from Royd Moor viewpoint that Alwyn Timms took us on to count Wall Brown butterflies. Meeting at Royd Moor viewpoint, 10.00am, Saturday 13 August.

http://www.barnsleynats.org.uk/alwyn-timms-our-memories/

Under wind turbines above Carlecotes

A return visit to a fascinating mosaic of habitats in the Banks Renewable (wind farm) site between Carlecotes and Crow Edge with heath, grassland, woodland and bare ground and ponds: interesting plants and invertebrates: this time with frog tadpoles in one of the ponds, some orchids and moths. An oyster catcher calling! Ended by looking at the geology and industrial heritage.

Gosling Moor – Saturday 11 June 2022

A walk around Gosling Moor, an historic wood pasture, with some ancient and veteran trees, mainly looking at the trees themselves and the invertebrates they supported.

With a person at each corner, we held a sheet under various species of tree and gave a branch a shake.

We counted the species of invertebrates that fell into the sheet.

Oak had most as expected with Rowan not far behind.

Gunthwaite – 18 May 2022

Wednesday 18 May saw our annual evening visit to the Gunthwaite area, walking from Gunthwaite dam to Gunthwaite Hall Farm: ancient paved tracks, field paths, hedgerows, pastures, woodland and an impressive veteran tree.

There were lots of woodland flowering plants alongside the tracks and in the woodlands, although this year the summer migrant birds were missing.