CiRC. 153. 



LEADERS AND GUIDES. — The Union has been fortunate in securing 

 the presence of Mr. J. G. Goodchild, P^G.S., F.Z.S., M.B.O.U., of Edinburgh, 

 and Mr. J. E. Tinkler, of Leytonstone. The arrangements and routes will be under 

 the direction of these gentlemen and of Mr. John Barker, of Reeth. Mr. Goodchild 

 was one of the geologists engaged in the survey of the district, and Mr. Tinkler, 

 son of a former vicar of Arkengarthdale, is the author of the list of birds referred to 

 elsewhere. 



ROUTES. — These will be arranged by the leaders from day to day. 



PERMISSION has been granted for the various estates — subject to the 

 proviso that there is no disturbance of the game. It should also be borne in mind 

 that in gathering specimens of any kind the object of the Union is the preservation 

 of the fauna and flora of its district. 



BOOKS AND MAPS.— The district to be investigated is included in Quarter 

 Sheets 97 N.W. and 97 N.E. (new series Sheets 40 and 41) of the One-Inch 

 Ordnance Map. These are published geologically coloured, both solid and drift 

 editions. For geological information consult the Geological Survey Memoir of 

 'The Country around Mallerstang.' Mr. Goodchild's and Mr. Tinkler's papers 

 in the 'Naturalist' on the Flora and Fauna of the district should be referred to, as 

 well as Mr. J. Gilbert Baker's classical work on 'North Yorkshire' in both editions. 



THE DISTRICT for investigation consists of Arkengarthdale, through 

 which flows the Arkle Beck, the various becks draining into it, and the district 

 immediately surrounding its confluence with the Swale. 



Mr. John E. Tinkler writes that Arkengarthdale and High Swaledale are 

 mainly composed of a lofty group of fells, reaching their highest point in Great 

 Shunnor Fell, 2,346 feet above sea-level, and seldom reaching a lower elevation 

 than 1,600 feet. They are mainly cragless, treeless sweeps of moorland, their 

 surface composed of peat bog, ling, coarse grass and bents, mixed with swamp, with 

 here and there a small tarn or reservoir, the latter constructed for lead- mining pur- 

 poses. These are succeeded by lower ranges of hills varying in altitude from 

 upwards of 1,600 feet, until at Applegarth and the Red Scars at the extreme limit 

 of the district, the heights of 950 and 965 feet respectively are reached. The 

 highest point of the New Forest is Kexwith Moor, 1,450 feet. The tops of these 

 lower hills much resemble the higher fells as to their surface, but many of their 

 edges are margined by fine limestone precipices, the most notable being Kisdon, 

 Winterings, Ellerton, Downholme, Red, Garnless, Glints and Applegarth Scars in 

 Swaledale; the Fell End Scars in Arkengarthdale, and Casey Green Scar in the 

 New Forest. Besides the two main valleys containing the rivers Swale and Arkle, 

 the hills and fells are intersected by numerous deep ravines called Gills, containing 

 smaller streams or becks, often well-wooded on their lower slopes with mountain 

 ash, birch, hazel, juniper, yew, holly, thorn and other trees and bushes, and many 

 of them having small but beautiful waterfalls. Some of these gills are margined by 

 fine limestone crags, notably, East Stonesdale, Swinnergill, Gunnerside Gill and 

 Oxnop Gill in Swaledale, and Little Punchard Gill in Arkengarthdale. Hoove 

 Tarn in Arkengarthdale is at an elevation of over 1,600 feet. The chief woods in 

 Swaledale are found below Reeth, near Grinton, Marrick, Ellerton, Marske, Apple- 

 garth (noted for its yews), and Downholme. Above Reeth, beyond large patches 

 of thorn, wild briar, and hazel bushes (chiefly on the hill slopes between Keld and 

 Low Row), scattered clumps of trees here and there, and fir plantations on Whita- 

 side, Crackpot, Kisdon, and at Thirnswood, there is very little woodland. Scar 

 and Eskeleth are the chief woods in Arkengarthdale, and there are besides several 

 smaller plantations and scattered groups of trees, together with patches of thorn, 

 hazel, etc., here and there in the lower part of the valley, but by far the greater 

 part of the dale is without wood. The New Forest is fairly well wooded, Rispey 

 and HoUin Woods being a fair sample of the woods which formerly clothed the 

 hill slopes and valley bottoms of the whole district. Hedges are almost unknown, 

 stone walls taking their place. The enclosed and cultivated part of the district lies 

 mainly on the slopes of the hills and in the valleys. In Arkengarthdale and Higher 

 Swaledale it consists entirely of pasture and meadow land ; in Swaledale, below 

 Reeth, there is some arable land, but of no great extent. 



GEOLOGY.— Mr. J. G. Goodchild, F.G.S., F.Z.S., M.B.O.U., writes that 

 the rocks of Arkengarthdale consist chiefly of the upper two-thirds of the Yoredale 

 Rocks (Lower Carboniferous) with a few out-lying remnants of the Millstone Grit, 

 left on the summits of the higher fells as representatives of the thick mass of Upper 



