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.
Category: Meetings
Visiting Barnsley Main, 9 July 2022
Following our field visit to the Barnsley Main Colliery site on Saturday 9 July, we have been collating the lists of the species we saw and will report on this shortly.
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.
Primeval Barnburgh! – 7 May 2022
Eight Barnsley Naturalists joined the Yorkshire Naturalists Union Botany Group exploring the flora of the springs and fens of the magnesium limestone just over the Barnsley border, near Barnburgh. An impressive area with an array of Great Horsetail described as primeval!
Nabs wood – 9 April 2022
There was a change of plan for our field visit on Saturday 9 April. We went to Nabs Wood near Silkstone Common looking for the first woodland flowers. Nabs Wood is a Woodland Trust site. We were intending to go to Bagger Wood and the nearby Lower Lee Wood, which are Woodland Trust woods as well. However both of these have had recent work done and looked rather bare. As well as the emerging flowers, we looked for invertebrates and fungi
Carlton Marsh Nature Reserve –12 March
On Saturday morning, 12 March, we visited Carlton Marsh Nature Reserve. A mix of reedbed, fen, scrapes, marsh, meadows and wet woodland makes Carlton Marsh a great place to visit, enjoy some birding, and spot signs of Spring!
Cliff Gorman who has been involved with Carlton Marsh over many years joined us and posted this account on the Barnsley Bird Sightings blog:
The Barnsley Naturalist Society visited this morning providing the following:
4 Buzzards in the air together, 5 singing Chiffchaffs, 1 singing Cetti’s warbler, 3 singing Reed Buntings, 1 yaffling Green Woodpecker, 1 Linnet, 1 Greenfinch, a male Grey Wagtail and 6 Common Gulls.
The first flowers of Cowslip were showing in the western Meadow along with Dogs Mercury and White Dead Nettle on the embankment.
4 Smooth Newts and a Froglet from last year were found under an old sleeper and a Lemon Slug was under a rock.
A fresh dead Wood Mouse was another interesting find.
It was really good to see old friends from this group again, I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. Thank you for coming and being so enthusiastic.
Elsecar
Saturday 8 January: Elsecar Nature Reserve
Better than the terrible forecast! An enjoyable damp walk around the reservoir and willow carr. Impressive number of goosanders on the res.
Broomhill Flash and Wombwell Ings
Saturday 11 December: Broomhill Flash and Wombwell Ings
Our birding visit started at the Garganey Trust hide at Broomhill Flash; we then walked down to Wombwell Ings and looked over both the Ings and the Fleet. Now part of new Dearne Valley SSSI.
Fungi on Dodworth pitstack
Saturday 13 November: Dodworth pitstack
Our visit to Dodworth pitstack concentrated on identifying fungi in the grassland and woodland found there. A number of plants including polypody, were also recorded.
Stranglers at Wortley Hall
Saturday 2 October: Wortley Hall parkland and walled garden.
Doug and Barry led us on a visit last Saturday to Wortley Hall for fungi and veteran trees. A good visit made more exciting by Doug’s earlier discovery of a special rare fungus: one that parasitises and grows out of another!
The greyish parasite fungus (the Powdercap Strangler, Squamanta paradoxa) grows out of the much more common yellow host fungus (Earthy Powdercap)
Under the wind turbines above Carlecotes
Saturday 28 August: A good number of naturalists visited the Banks Renewables site with its heathland habitat, with lots of interest.
YNU VC63 excursion
Saturday 23 July saw the Yorkshire Naturalists Union yearly meeting for south-west Yorkshire. We met near Monk Bretton Priory and walked downstream along the river Dearne. Unfortunately there was torrential rain but we made our way through the dense vegetation along one side of the river, had lunch sheltering under a viaduct, and after some botanising in a meadow made our way back along the other side.
Our first field visit in 2021
Midsummer in a Worsbrough meadow
Our first Nats evening nature walk in 2021 was on Wednesday 23 June to Worsbrough Country Park. We used the wider paths and more open areas to help with social distancing.
We enjoyed exploring the flowering plants in a meadow and seeing chimney sweeper moths in an area with their food plant pignut