Natural History in Barnsley
Our field visit on the morning of 11 January is a circular walk along Barnsley Canal and Wilthorpe Marsh.
We are meeting at 10am in the car park down Smithies Lane opposite The Fleets (a former pub now a Barnsley College sports centre).
Grid Reference: SE346078. Postcode S71 1NL.
If the car park is full, there are local side streets. Bus number 12 runs regularly down Smithies Lane: the 09.37 and 09.52 buses from Barnsley Interchange get there for 10am.
Looking forward to seeing everyone
May we take this opportunity to wishing everybody a Happy New Year.
You are more than welcome to come along and join us for any of our meeting or field visits.
We kick start 2020 with an indoor meeting on January 8th.
This will be a presentation by Alwyn Timms; entitled The Discreet World of Barnsley’s Small Blue Butterfly
We also have a field visit on January 11th. Details to be confirmed.
And on January 22nd our indoor meeting is a members short presentations. This is very much a nature wide array of topics.
Our updated 2020 Spring Summer Programme will be available for viewing shortly.
Recommended by the Wharncliffe Heath Trust at their presentation on April 3rd
Ferel; G Monbiot
Grazing Ecology and Forest History; F Vera
Wilding: I Tree
“Sedges have edges, rushes are round, grasses have knees that bend to the ground.”
This little witty rhyme may be used to separate these three plants into there correct category.
The stems of sedges and rushes are solid; in cross-section the stems of rushes are round, while those of sedges are triangular and so have edges.
This coming Wednesday December 11th we have our Christmas Social. A selection of food will be provided by members of the committee, but you are welcome to bring something along too. We have also arranged tea, coffee and soft drink.
This field visit will take place at the Anglers Country Park . Our group leaders for this field visit are Colin and Linda Graham. Colin and Linda will be giving us an insight into the Gull Roost at this park. This is a popular area for winter ducks too.
We are meeting at 1 pm in the main car park at Anglers Country Park, Haw Park Lane, Wintersett, WF4 2EB, grid reference: SE375153.
Good footwear and warm clothing may be a good idea. The cafe there will be open when we arrive.
We do have a later start time for this field visit of 13:00.
Our next Barnsley Naturalists meeting is Wednesday 27th November.
Tom Aspinall, from Moors for the Future, is our guest speaker for the evening. Tom is giving a talk on bumblebees and solitary bees. This will include identifying the different species, where you may find them, their behaviour and life-cycle.
Lots to interest us.
All welcome, Barnsley Town Hall, 7pm.
We have to make a change to the presentation in our printed programme. The presentation will now be- ‘Migration and Orchids on Lesbos, Cyprus and Samos’ by Colin and Linda Graham.
As usual our in-door meeting start at 7 pm at Barnsley Town Hall
Fungi
Our next morning field visit is to the area around Worsbrough Reservoir country park looking at the fungi there.
Geoff Jackson is leading the walk from the main car park [grid reference SE351033] on Park Road along the track on the south-side of the reservoir towards Shaw Bank wood and Rockley Old Hall.
Meeting at 10 am. All welcome.
Please note the car park has a small charge.
We are having a change of plan for our indoor meeting this Wednesday, October 30th. We are sorry for any inconvenience that this may cause you, but we do have an equally interesting alternative lined-up: We will let you know when Alwyn is able to do his The Discreet World of Barnsley’s Small Blue Butterfly presentation.
Ron Marshall has kindly brought forward his From Catalonia to Finland presentation for us to enjoy.
How modern science is revealing their story’ is the title of our next talk to be given by our guest speaker Professor John Reilly at Barnsley Town Hall on Wednesday 16 October at 7pm.
When and where did the ancestors of modern birds evolve? What enabled them to survive the meteoric impact that wiped out the dinosaurs? How did these early birds spread across the globe and give rise to the 10,600-plus bird species we recognise around the world today.
John Reilly’s talk sets out to answer these fundamental questions on the evolution of birds. It is based on the latest scientific discoveries and enriched by his personal observations.
All of our talks are open to anyone with an interest in the topic. So please pass on the invitation to anyone with an interest in birds and their history on our planet.
Our next field visit is on Saturday 12 October to Wortley Hall Gardens and Parkland where the ancient trees will attract our interest alongside other natural history.
The leaders are Doug Brown and Barry Tylee (Friends of Wortley Hall).
We are meeting at 10 am with parking alongside the drive on the way into Wortley Hall grounds.
The Grid Reference for the meeting point is SK312995: The postcode for Wortley Hall is S357DB
There are twenty six acres of grounds to explore at this former stately home, so we should have an interesting field visit, like we usually do.
Many thanks to our leaders, Doug and Barry, on what proved to be a fascinating walk; their combined knowledge is immense. Barry gave us a brief insight into the history of the grounds before we set off. The walk was aimed to be a look at the tree that had been planted over the last 200 years. An arboretum of many American trees which contains a Giant Redwood, a Brewers Weeping Spruce, a Bald Cypress and Black Locus. We had a good look at the grounds possible oldest resident,a Sessile Oak which is estimated at 350 to 500 years of age. One of the group said “if trees could talk what interesting stories would they be able to tell”. This set me thinking too; what could these trees have witnessed. So I intent to provide some additional information; my personal view on on the events that they have lived though along with some fact about the species . We had many other interesting observations too; morel, stinkhorn, fly agaric and jellyear mushrooms and a ladybird larvae to name a few.
John Reilly’s presentation on ‘The Ascent of Birds: how modern science is revealing their story’ is based on the latest scientific discoveries and enriched by personal observations.
When and where did the ancestors of modern birds evolve? What enabled them to survive the meteoric impact that wiped out the dinosaurs? How did these early birds spread across the globe and give rise to the 10,600-plus species we recognise today.
John Reilly’s talk sets out to answer these fundamental questions.
Open to all. Wednesday 16 October, 7pm, Barnsley Town Hall
A field visit to Wortley Hall gardens and parkland led by Doug Brown (Barnsley Nats) and Barry Tylee (Friends of Wortley Hall Gardens).
Meeting at 10am on Saturday 12 October; parking on the drive on the way into Wortley Hall
Wednesday 2nd October
We are looking forward to seeing you all at the first indoor meeting of our Autumn and Winter Programme. As usual, we start with a members evening sharing knowledge and observations. This of a less formal structure than the meetings with guest speakers. Very much a catch up and news of what everyone has spotted over the break; multi-topic and hopefully with some interesting finds, images and stories. Please take part: it’s always really interesting to hear from a variety of people.
Our printed Autumn and Winter Programme will also be available.