252 



THE YOUNG 



NATURALIST. 



The following plants in flower, not prev- 

 iously mentioned : — Lesser stitchwort {Stel- 

 laria graminea) ; broad leaved garlic [Allivm 

 wsvnum) and comfrey {Symphytum offici- 

 nale), at Hamstead, on 13th May. Oak 

 (Quercus ijediunculdtci) and strawberry 

 headed clover [Trifolium fragiferum, at 

 Nortfield, on 14th May— G. F. Wheeldon, 

 Birmingham, 



A DAY^S RAMBLE IN UPPER 

 WHARFEDALE. 



By E. P. P. BuTTERFiELD, Wilsden. 



Perhaps few, if any, places of similar 

 extent, possess such a combination of attrac- 

 tions as Upper Wharfdale. The historian 

 and the antiquary may here find ample 

 material with which to busy their brains ; 

 the aesthetic, their sense of the beautiful 

 satiated amongst its most charming scenery ; 

 whilst to the naturalist, employing the term 

 in its most extensive sense, it is a perfect 

 paradise, its high hills enclosing narrow 

 valleys, in most places well wooded, coupled 

 with an abundance of water, and a pure 

 atmosphere, make it particularly productive 

 to cryptogamic plants. 



On the 7th May, taking advantage of the 

 earliest train from Keighley, I soon found 

 myself at Skipton, which is a distance of 

 about six miles from Upper Wharfedale. 

 The town is chiefly noted for its old castle. 

 On the walls which surround the grounds 

 grow LinaricL cynibalaricL, A. Ruta-mwaria, 

 Sedtcm acre, and S. iridactylites. Leaving 

 the castle at our left, we walked along the 

 highway leading to Bardon Tower. To the 

 right are Skipton rocks, a low range of lime- 

 stone hills extending from Skipton to Bolton 

 Abbey ; on the opposite side of the valley, is a 

 still higher range of heather-clad hills, which 

 are continuous with Bardon Moor. About 

 an hour's walk from Skipton and we ar- 

 rive at the top of Barden Moor, where we 

 first got a fine view of Upper Wharfdale. 



Here the prospect is really magnificent. In 

 front, at the bottom of the valley, are the 

 famous woods known as Bolton Woods, 

 which belong to the Duke of Devonshire, 

 over top of which is distinctly seen his 

 extensive deer park. Another prominent 

 feature in the landscape is the stupendous 

 mass of rocks known as " Simon's Leap," 

 which is situate on the east side of the 

 Wharfe, about two miles north of the deer 

 park, and appears at this distance as if it 

 beetles towards the basin of the Wharfe, 

 the intervening sides of the valley, more 

 particularly in its middle and upper portions, 

 being clothed for the most part with plan- 

 tations of fir and larch, which at this season 

 of the year give it a most impressive and 

 lively appearance, whilst at the bottom 

 meanders the pellucid waters of the Wharfe. 

 The different geological formations are also 

 most marked. The limestone hills about 

 Applewick are clothed with green verdure 

 to their summits, on which can be distinctly 

 seen traces of a once higher state of agri- 

 culture having obtained ; the demand for 

 milk and mutton, from the great worsted 

 centres such as Bradford and Leeds, having 

 contributed in no small degree to the bring- 

 ing about this result in the condition of 

 land, combined with the pressure which has, 

 of late years, being brought to bear by the 

 importations of foreign cereals. The grit- 

 stones which underlie the tops of the hills 

 lower down the valley, on both sides of the 

 Wharfe, near Barden, being covered with 

 "withered moorland." Another half-an- 

 hour's walk from the top of Barden Moor— 

 an extensive tract of undulating moorland — 

 in the foreground of which is Barden reser- 

 voir (which belongs to Bradford Corpora- 

 tion), which we leave to the left, and we are 

 at Barden Tower, around which cluster 

 associations of great historic interest, but 

 with which we shall not trouble the readers 

 of this paper. We may here add that it is 

 this locality which supplies the inspiration 



