298 



BUCKTON MARSH, EAST YORKS. 



W. E. L. WATTAM, 

 Huddersfield. 



BucKTON Marsh was visited by members of tlie Yorkshire 

 Naturalists' Union on Whit Monday last, and a brief reference 

 is made to the visit on pages 213 and 223 in the June issue 

 of " The Naturalist.' Photographs of the marsh also appear 

 on pages 213 and 222. 



While at Bridlington in August I took the opportunity 

 of investigating this interesting piece of ground. It is about 

 half a mile north-east from the village of Buckton, at the top 

 of the old lane leading up from Buckton Mere. Apparently 



Area of Buckton Marsh dominated by Cotton Grass. 



no attempt has been made to drain the area of three to four 

 hundreds yards of, what might now be termed, rough pasture. 

 The ground slopes slightly to the north-east, and has a more 

 pronounced slope to the south-east. " The shallow basin thus 

 formed evidently received the drainage, as now, from more 

 highly cultivated lands surrounding, and becoming water- 

 logged, the land became controlled by the Cotton Grass {Erio- 

 phoriim) and its associates, to a far greater extent than is now 

 the case. It is this remnant of Cotton Grass bog which is 

 being slowly but surely driven to extinction, that makes 

 Buckton Marsh worthy of a visit. 



The soil of the slightly higher portions of the ground sur- 

 rounding the marsh is of a sandy-clay nature, and has a flora 

 typical of such ground. The dominant grass is the Common 

 Bent ( Agrostis vulgaris). There are also the Quake Grass 



Naturalist, 



