341 



THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SPURN. 



The 224th meeting of the Yorkshire Xuturahsts' Union was 

 held at Spurn, the south-east extremity of the county, during 

 the week-end commencing July 9th. The district is particu- 

 larly attractive, being one of the wildest tracts of land in the 

 county ; whilst the sea-beach, sand-dunes and mud-Hats have a 

 characteristic fauna and flora. The recent ravages of the sea, 

 and the low-lying flooded lands, were also worthy of attention, 

 the floods being of so serious a nature as to have interfered with 

 the character of the tongue of land at two or three points. 

 In one place, near Kilnsea Beacon, the sand, which has washed 

 over the fields, has resulted in the formation of a new breeding 

 colony of the Lesser Tern. 



Headquarters were at the ]\Iarquis of Granby Hotel, Easing- 

 ton, where the party was well looked after. On Saturday 

 evening Mr. J. W. Stather presided at the general meeting, at 

 which reports on the work accomplished in the various sections 

 were given by the respective officers. 



Mr. J. W. Stather writes : — The boulder-clay cliffs of South 

 Holderness, especially in the neighbourhood of Easington and 

 Kilnsea, are being rapidly cut backward by the sea, and geolo- 

 gists interested in glacial problems never fail to see something 

 worthy of note in the ever-changing sections exposed in the 

 cliffs, and the wonderfully numerous and varied collection of 

 boulders on the beach. Large numbers of these boulders are 

 known to have come from far distant and widely separated 

 localities, and among them is a small but well-known group 

 ■of Scandinavian rocks, hailing chiefly from the Christiania 

 district. 



One of the objects the geologists taking part in the excursion 

 had before them was to add to the list of Norwegian rocks 

 known to occur in the Holderness drifts. In this quest they 

 were materially assisted by Mr. V. Milthers, a Danish geologist, 

 who had kindly sent over to the Secretary of the Glacial Com- 

 mittee a collection of between thirty and forty Scandinavian 

 rocks found as boulders in the Quaternary deposits of 

 Denmark. 



Beginning on the beach opposite Kilnsea Lane end, the 

 party worked for several hours both north and south of that 

 point, returning late in the afternoon to Easington with heavy 

 satchels and aching backs. 



J1910 Sept. I. 



