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HALF-A-DAY'S RAMBLE AT MABLETHORPE. 



ARTHUR SMITH, F.L.S., F.E.S., etc., 

 Hon. Secretary and Curator, Grimsby and District Naturalists' Society. 



Mablethorpe is situated in Div. 9 of the Lincolnshire Division 

 Map. It is generally known as a quiet, healthy spot for a sea- 

 side holiday, and its surroundings are those which lend them- 

 selves to the pleasures of the many visitors who wish to avoid 

 the more advanced, consequently the more busy, boisterous 

 Cleethorpes. The sea bank is a series of sand-hills rising out 

 of the sands to a great height ; these hills are covered in places 

 with Sea Buckthorn {Hippophae rhamnoides) and other shrubs 

 which tend to hold the blown sand and retain the sand dunes 

 against all weathers. These hills shelter the town very much 

 and add great comfort to visitors. I have been there when, 

 although a bright, sunny, spring day, a bitter east wind has 

 made things most unpleasant on the shore side of the hills, 

 whilst the land side has been equal to a summer's day. The 

 sands themselves are the finest I have seen, long stretches of 

 beautiful hard sands on which to wander for a few miles is 

 a pleasure to visitors, or a delight to the young folks who can 

 build up all kinds of imaginary castles and fortifications without 

 the fear of a collapse. Above the water-mark there is the usual 

 powdery, soft, clean sand in which we love to recline during the 

 hotter days. Below the water line are extensive mud flats so 

 common along the Lincolnshire coast, and when the tide retreats 

 some fine, clear mud pools are happy hunting grounds for the 

 keepers of marine aquaria. Access to Mablethorpe is quite easy, 

 excursions frequently running from all parts of the country and 

 from Lincolnshire towns two or three times a week. 



This paper is the result of a half-day's ramble, starting from 

 Grimsby after dinner, arriving by train at Theddlethorpe, and 

 then wandering about the sand-hills to Mablethorpe. The party 

 consisted of the following: — G. Marris, A. E. Wilson, A. Smith, 

 and A. Smith, junior, who are working up registers of the Fauna 

 and Flora of the Grimsby district, and though the locality in 

 question is out of that district it is easily worked from Grimsb} , 

 being readily reached by train. 



About 60 species of plants were noticed in bloom, chic: 

 amongst them being : — 



Echium vulgare. Orchis pyrainidalis. 



Marrubium vulg-are. 

 iqo2 September i. 



