'5 



YORKSHIRE NATURALISTS' UNION 

 AT MAS HAM. 



THOMAS GIBBS, 

 4j, St. Ronan's Rood, Sheffield. 



The fourth excursion of the season 1901 was the popular 

 August Bank Holiday meeting-, and was held this year at the 

 quaint little town of Masham, situated near the junction of 

 the river Burn with the Ure, just within the southern boundary 

 of the North Riding-. 



The district marked out in the programme for exploration 

 was Colsterdale, the valley of the Burn, Birk Gill, and Arnag-ill, 

 but time allowed only of a portion of this district being visited, 

 members finding that the examination of Birk Gill and Colster- 

 dale was enough for a good day's work on the Monday, while 

 the rest of the time was profitably spent in the woods and fields 

 in the immediate vicinity of Masham and Swinton. 



A previous excursion of the Union to Tanfield and Hackfall 

 in April 1896 very nearly approached the ground worked on this 

 occasion, but the later party did not reach quite as far south 

 as Hackfall, the western-most limit of the earlier excursion. 



The area proposed to be explored was therefore practically 

 virgin soil to the Union, and the programme rightly drew 

 attention to this fact, so that its little-known fauna and flora 

 might be as thoroughly investigated as the time would allow. 

 This was especially desirable, as some of the most interesting 

 of the river valleys are to be submerged as part of a new water 

 scheme of the Leeds Corporation. 



Work commenced on Saturday morning, 3rd August, when 

 a few members under the guidance of Mr. William Forbes, 

 Lord Masham's head forester, had a pleasant ramble in the 

 neighbourhood of Swinton Park and the well-wooded banks 

 of the Burn. The estate nurseries were also visited, and 

 here, under the guidance of an expert, the visitors could see 

 how the rearing and care of timber can be carried on by men 

 conversant with the best methods of scientific forestry. Other 

 short rambles by the week-end visitors were southwards to 

 Nutwith Cote and the woods in the vicinity of Hackfall, and 

 northwards along the bank of the Ure towards High Burton. 



With Monday morning's train came a considerable addition 

 to the party, bringing up their number to nearly thirty, including 

 representatives of several sections previously unrepresented. 



1902 January i. 



