A FIELD DAY AT ALDBOROUGH AND 

 BOKOUGHBRIDGE. 



By W. Dbnison Roebuck. 



Encouraged by the success wliich attended the August Bank Holiday 

 Excursion to Riccall Common, in 1875, in concert with the Societies 

 at Goole and Hull, the council of the Leeds Naturalists' Club and 

 Scientific Association determined to repeat the experiment. In 

 conjunction with the Richmond and North Riding Naturalists' Field 

 Club, the Huddersfield Naturalists' Society, and the York and 

 District Field Naturalists' Society, and supported by numerous 

 members of other Naturalist Societies ia the West Riding, an 

 excursion took place on Monday, the 7th of August, 1876. 



The excursionists numbered over a hundred in all, and included a 

 number of the principal members of the Natural History Societies of 

 the West Riding, from Goole, Barnsley, Halifax, Bradford, Wakefield, 

 &c. The district embraced by the excursion included the Roman 

 station of Isurium, the woods at Copgrove, the watery dykes and 

 willowy " carrs " of Staveley, the " Devil's arrows " at Roecliffe, and 

 all the country around these places, and between them and Borough- 

 bridge ; the whole district being within the drainage-basin of the 

 river Ure (here not far from its junction with the Swale), and lying 

 entirely to the south of the river, and within the boundary of the 

 West Riding. In connection with the natural history, it may be 

 well to record that the York members having to wait two hours in 

 the morning at Knaresborough, some of the observations were made 

 in the Nidd Valley. 



The forenoon was mainly devoted to the investigation of the 

 natural history of the district round Copgrove and Staveley, but on 

 account of the unfavourable weather, and the great distance which 

 some of the party had to travel, rendering the time at disposal very 

 limited in its duration, not much was done that is worth the record- 

 ing ; and the chief interest which attaches to the lists given at the 

 end of this paper arises from the fact that the district is comparatively 

 virgin ground. 



The members who visited Staveley were very courteously received 

 by the Rev. Percival Hartley, Rector of Staveley, who showed them 

 over the church, and other objects of interest in the vicinity. 



N. S., Vol. ii.—Oct., 1876. 



