Occasional Newsletter No. 5
I hope you have all enjoyed the summer and the exceptionally hot weather. You have probably had sightings of the Painted Lady butterfly and Silver Y moth which have both had a bumper year.
Forthcoming events
The enclosed winter programme includes a workshop on Saturday November 29th. We are fortunate to have the expertise of John Webb who is the Chairman of the YNU Mycological section. He will be introducing us to the delights of Slime Moulds! We have booked a room in the house in the middle of Sandal Beat and will meet there at 10.30 for a short introductory session. That will be followed by a foray in the wood looking for specimens which we will take back to the house where we will have lunch – bring your own, but drinks will be provided. The afternoon will be spent attempting to identify our finds. Numbers will be limited to 12 so get in touch to book your place.
We have also included a field trip to Roche Abbey early next year to look for the Yellow Star of Bethlehem. With luck we should also see the Town Hall Clock flower and there won’t be too much walking involved.
The two Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union conferences are included in the programme as the Nats is an affiliated society making our members eligible for YNU events. Further details available on request.
Remarkable Records!
As you know we always include members field reports at our winter meetings but summer sightings sometimes go unrecorded. We are always pleased to hear of anything you may have encountered during the summer, particularly within the Doncaster Borough – our recording area.
Bessie Chapman had an unexpected visit from a Ring Ouzel which landed in her garden in March, staying long enough for her to take a good look! This is particularly interesting as one flew into the window of a house in Bessacarr last year at around the same time, though unfortunately that one did not survive.
Another valuable record came from one of the Carstairs Countryside Trust meadows at Sykehouse and was passed on by the farmer who manages the fields. He phoned to say he had found an orchid which turned out to be a Green Winged Orchid – an extremely scarce plant especially in our area.
We were very fortunate to have Harry Beaumont with us for the mothing night at Owston. He took several specimens home to work on including about half a dozen featureless brown micro-moths, one of which turned out to be a first Yorkshire record! Unfortunately it doesn’t have an English name but its Latin name is Monochroa lutulentella.
If you have come across anything special we would love to know about it. We need the date and OS grid reference if possible.
A Year at Manor Farm Sykehouse.
This is our latest publication and was launched at the end of May. David Gagg and Louise Hill have provided excellent illustrations. It has been very well received and many who have read it say it reminds them of how things used to be in the countryside when they were young. It is a real tribute to Gwyneth in particular that she and Deena were still seeing the wildlife, described in the book, around their farm as recently as 18 months ago. It is available at £2.50, 50p of which goes to Sykehouse Church and would make an excellent Christmas present. We are pleased to report that Deena and Gwyneth have settled happily into their new home in Lincolnshire and are looking forward to the day they finally say ‘Good-bye’ to the builders!
Rossington Bridge
At last – the Local Government Ombudsman has issued her final report in which she ruled in our favour, finding DMBC guilty of Maladministration causing Injustice. It is now up to the Local Authority to ensure that the landowner comes up with a suitable management plan to encourage the site to return to heathland. Regarding the infilling of the Mother Drain, the offer of that part of the drain within the SSI still stands and includes a stretch of open water with Water Voles present. We are close to forming a small ‘not for profit’ trust which will be called The Sarius Trust after a Roman potter who worked on the site and stamped his wares with his name. This trust will manage the drain and attempt to acquire some adjacent land, or enter into management agreements with landowners, to safeguard the future of the site which includes a Scheduled Ancient Monument as well as having a rich fauna and flora.
Sutton Common
You will have received an invitation to a conference and site visit to this important Iron Age site, in recognition of the surveying the Nats did for the CCT before the serious archaeological excavations began a few years ago. A good number of our members attended and heard some excellent presentations taking us through the history of the site up to the present and beyond. As an added bonus, a human skull was unearthed the previous day and another one turned up during the conference. We were able to see it in situ on the site visit.
New Faces
Melissa Massarella, Doncaster’s first Biodiversity Officer, has been in post for a year now. We have built up a good relationship with her and she has invited us to various site meetings and asked for comments on a number of issues. Our main contact is through the Biodiversity Action Partnership, on which the Nats are well represented, and although we have yet to publish any local Action Plans, we have made progress over the last 12 months mostly due to Melissa.
We are pleased to report that there is now a Planning Ecologist based at the Planning Office, Rachel Hoskin, whom we are looking forward to welcoming when she comes to address the Nats on March 17th next year.
The Doncaster Nats have been campaigning long and hard to get these posts in place and although it has taken far too long, we are very pleased that it is has finally happened.
Please, Please, Please!!!!!!!!!
The Nats is a small society with a current membership of around 36. There is an active core who attend field meetings and collect records which are passed on to the Environmental Record Centre at the Museum. We all enjoy the work we do although as in every walk of life, it is those who have plenty of other commitments who find the time and energy to get involved. But – the Society doesn’t run itself and we desperately need someone prepared to take on the job of programme secretary. This involves putting together 2 programmes a year but ideas and suggestions are always forthcoming from committee members and others. So it is the contacting of potential speakers and getting in touch with them prior to their visit and sorting out the trips in the summer. That may mean getting permission to access certain places. It’s mainly a few phone calls and letters and if you are prepared to consider it but haven’t access to a computer, don’t worry, some of us have and could do that part of the job.
Also, since Deena left, we have been without a publicity officer. Marc, (Pip’s husband) has sent details of our meetings to the press but it would be wonderful if someone from our membership would be prepared to take on this job. It isn’t arduous and it would be great if coverage of events like the Slime Mould Workshop got a mention to tell the people of Doncaster that we exist.
For personal reasons David Gagg has resigned as a Committee member. He has been involved with the society for many years and was Conservation Officer for some of that time. He wants to continue his association but feels unable to fulfil his duties as a Committee member. I would like to record my thanks and, I’m sure those of the rest of us, for the laughs David has given us over the years as well as his commitment to the recording of Doncaster’s wildlife. I am currently volunteering at the Museum and working on the massive collection of invertebrates. I have just come across a tube containing a tiny, unidentified specimen from the 1970s, labelled ‘found on the droppings of a stick insect’ – guess where that came from!
So please – if you think you could step into any of those shoes, do have a word. Any changes will be formalised at the AGM in January.
And Finally,
I look forward to seeing you at our winter talks.
With best wishes, August 2003