CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES. 537 
Mr. T. Suepparv.—The Effect of Urban Expansion on the Fauna and 
Flora of East Yorkshire. 
Probably few areas have been altered so much by the necessary interference of 
man as has the East Riding of Yorkshire, and certainly few can show such a marked 
change in the consequent flora and fauna. Natural forces, aided by man, have 
added to these changes. 
In comparatively recent times the ‘ Isle of Holderness’ was a land of meres and 
marshes, resembling the Norfolk Broads of to-day. The place-names and others 
indicate the former mere conditions. Until the area was drained in the eighteenth 
century the villages which were placed for the most part on the raised glacial mounds 
were separated from each other during the winter months, communication being 
possible when the carr lands were frozen over, or by flat-bottomed craft known as 
carr-waddles. In prehistoric times pile-dwellings existed inside these meres, and 
pelicans, cranes and other birds were denizens. 
To the west of this area is the sweep of the high chalk Wolds, formerly largely 
waste, devoted to rabbit warrens and woodland, and the home of the wolf, deer, pole- 
cat and great bustard, the last of which was trapped in 1832. Through the energies 
of the Sykes family all the area has been reclaimed and put under cultivation, and 
to-day is one of the most fertile districts in the country and, in addition, is famous for 
its breed of horses. 
To the west of these again is the Vale of York, with its accumulation of blown sand, 
which, as a result of drainage, is now particularly suitable for potato and other crops. 
In the western extremity of the Riding—in the Goole and Selby areas—important 
changes have taken place. In the reign of Charles I, Vermuyden, a famous Dutch 
engineer, drained the area, and the name ‘ Dutch River ’ and numerous Dutch personal 
names in the district remind us of these changes. The effect on the fauna was 
immediate, and as the population which made its livelihood by catching wild fowl and 
by fishing (particularly for eels) saw their quarry disappearing, they cut the dikes, 
and in other ways endeavoured to prevent the improvement of their land. An oil 
painting exists showing ‘ King Charles I killing deer driven into Thorne Mere’ by an 
enormous number of boatloads of men. Neither the mere nor the deer now exist 
at Thorne, and further alterations to this large area are now being made as the result 
of the discovery and working of coal. 
Great changes still occur as a result of coast erosion. For thirty miles between 
Bridlington and Spurn the soft glacial and post-glacial beds are being washed away 
at an average rate of 7 feet a year, and a large number of townships and villages have 
been engulfed by the sea in comparatively recent times.1_ Others have been saved by 
the protection of groynes and sea-walls. The fine mud and sand derived from these 
cliffs have been carried south and into the Humber, and in this way the area known 
as Spurn Point, Sunk Island, Broomfleet Island, and Read’s Island (the last the only 
island now) have been formed and have added thousands of acres of valuable land to 
the Riding. 
Spurn Point, a narrow neck of land 4 miles in length, the breeding place of the 
Lesser Tern and Ringed Plover and the home of the sea holly and other rare plants, 
is now an important zoological and botanical centre, though of recent origin. Myriads 
of birds assemble here on migration. While a service was being held in EHasington 
Church news was brought that the ‘ Woodcock has arrived.’ (These birds were 
usually so exhausted that the villagers were able to kill them with sticks.) The 
parson ordered the doors to be closed while he took off his surplice and cassock so 
that ‘ we can all start fair.’ 
To-day the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union employs a watcher during the season, 
and the area is kept as a nature reserve as much as is possible. ‘Sunk Island,’ as 
one large reclaimed area is known, caused the havens of Patrington and Hedon to 
be closed, and the latter township, which once returned members to Parliament, is now 
a small market town. As well as Spurn Point, Hornsea Mere, the last of our lakes, 
and the cliffs of Bempton and Speeton, are * breeding grounds’ of many species of 
rare birds, and these are watched by paid keepers. The Dotterill Inn near 
Flamborough is called after a bird now long extinct in the district, and the raven, 
eagle, brock (or badger), wolf, wild cat and other names still preserved in place-names 
1 ‘The Lost Towns of the Yorkshire Coast.’ T. Sheppard, 1912, 340 pp. 
