271 



YORKSHIRE NATURALISTS AT BUCKDEN. 



BucKDEX, in Upper Wharfedale, proved a most suitable place 

 for the 182nd meeting- of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union on 

 Aug-ust Bank Holiday week-end, and a large and representative 

 g-athering- of Yorkshire naturalists took part in the investigation 

 of that charming- district. The ten-miles' drive from Grassing-- 

 ton Station placed the members in a district but little ' improved ' 

 for the convenience of the tourist, and whilst the resources of 

 the one inn and the houses around were necessary for the 

 accommodation of the party, any little inconvenience there 

 might have been was more than compensated for by the natural 

 g-randeur of the hills and gills and streams and woods, where it 

 was possible to wander all day without being reminded of pills 

 and soaps and tonics. 



Most of the members having- arrived on the Friday night, on 

 Saturday an early start was made for Oughtershaw Hall, Lang- 

 strothdale, where the Rev. Trevor Basil Woodd acted as guide, 

 and conducted the members to the tarns on Oughtershaw Moor 

 (near to which the Cloudberry grows in unusual abundance and 

 perfection) ; and round the beautiful natural gardens along the 

 sides of Oughtershaw Beck, behind the Hall. The party was 

 entertained to tea at the Hall, and also inspected a collection of 

 paintings of the local flowers and fungi, by the Rev. C. H. B. 

 Woodd and the Misses Woodd. These received deserved praise. 

 The drawings of the fungi have already been referred to in ' The 

 Naturalist. '^ 



On the following day the members, young and old, ascended 

 Buckden Pike by way of the gill behind the village, under the 

 able leadership of Mr. Harold Wager, F.R.S., who piloted the 

 members ' o'er craggy ways ' and ' gentle slopes' to the summit, 

 from which a glorious view of the surrounding country was 

 obtained. 



Miss Crompton-Stansfield having given permission for her 

 estates to be visited, advantage of this was taken on the 

 Monday. The grounds proved to be most interesting from 

 all points of view, though the botanists probably were the most 

 fortunate in their discoveries. A brief glimpse was obtained of 

 the herd of Fallow Deer in the park — a reminder of the times 

 when all the district was famous for its ancient forest of Lang- 

 strothdale Chase, and Buckden got its name. 



1904 September i, 



*May 1891, pp. 140-142. 



