The Catastrophe of Bare Peat: —the work of Moors for the Future : October 18th 2022

‘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 : September 23rd 2022

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 : September 21st 2022

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 : August 24th 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 13th 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: Walking in Alwyns’ Footsteps : August 13th 2022

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/

Silver-washed Fritillary in Barnsley? with a sighting in 2014 : July 2022

The Silver-washed Fritillary butterfly, predominately found in southern England, is expanding its range. They have been recorded at Brockadale, we have been told, for the last four years. Are they likely to be found in Barnsley?

Alwyn Timms recorded one in Hugset Wood in 2014. Here are some of his images:

It’s been recorded occasionally since then.
Worth looking out for!

Brockadale Nature Reserve: July 23rd 2022

Five Barnsley naturalists joined the Yorkshire Naturalist Union (YNU) field visit to Brockadale Nature Reserve. It’s a varied site on magnesium limestone. Although the meadows were somewhat parched, highlights for us included sightings of Silver-washed Fritillary and copious Banded Demoiselles over the river Went.

Counting glowworms : July 13th 2022

Five Barnsley Naturalists and one interested walker on the TransPennine Trail (TPT) joined Doug late in the evening of Wednesday 13 July in his twice weekly count of glowworms during the summer on the TPT near Thurgoland.

Both the glowworm numbers (11) and moth trap numbers (4) were however very low that night.

For more information on glowworms – http://www.barnsleybiodiversity.org.uk/glowworm.html

Under wind turbines above Carlecotes : June 2022

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 : June 11th 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.