Lakeland Natural History!
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LAKELAND NATURAL HISTORY! iFJi kpity'j :::—•. ’}:~ . : : : ! r; . M r. : CARLISLE MUSI c? <■ QALl£RY, •TULUri JHO-L SE, C AS ■ LE STREET, CARLISLE. CA3 8TP. MUSEUM LIBRARY No: 1*0*1 ra m TRANSACTIONS OF THE CARLISLE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY VOLUME VII PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY ARBROATH Printed by T. Buncle & Co. Ltd., Market Place 1946 W c. LAWRIE. LAKELAND PEREGRINES. LAKELAND NATURAL HISTORY COMPILED BY ERN EST BLEZARD F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. n V CARLISLE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. F ounded 1893. Past Presidents. The R e v . H. A. M acpherbon, T. Scott Johnstone. M.A., M.B.O.U. John W. Branston. E. C. Stowell. E ric B. D unlop. G. B. R outledge, F.R.E.S. W. R . Robinson. L. E. H ope, F.L.S. R obert L eighton. D. L osh T horpe, M.B.O.U. M iss S. M ounsey-H eysham. F rank H . D ay, F .R .E .S . The R e v . H. D. F ord, M.A. B enjamin Johnston. Tom L. J ohnston. J ames M urray. R itson Graham, M.B.O.U. H arold Carr. M ajor W. J. M. Gubbins. The R e v . Canon R. B ower, M.A. O FFIC ER S FOR 1945-46. President. Captain T. H . H odgkin son. Vice-Presidents. M ajor W. J. M. G ubbins. Tom L. J ohnston. R itson Graham, M.B.O.U. Council. W. A. B orshell. T. Gray, F.L.A. J. T. COULTHARD. M rs W. J. M. Gubbins. Captain P. S. D ay, R.A. E. Steel. E. Glaister. M rs T. R. Stewart. Hon. Treasurer. F rank H. Day, F.R.E.S., 26 Currock Road, Carlisle. Hon. Recorder. M rs E. Blezard, Blackwell, Carlisle. Hon. Secretary and Editor. E rnest B lezard, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U., The Museum, Carlisle. - ■ . ’ . ■ > ' ■ ■ * •: ■ ' i’ : 1 ^ ■ ■■ ■ , _l ■ vii PREFACE. HE varied contents of this the seventh volume of the Transactions of the Carlisle Natural History Society are T bound together in several respects. Collectively, they are representative of Cumberland, Westmorland and Lan cashire North of the Sands which, united as the land of the Eng lish lakes, are Lakeland. All the accounts have been put together by members of the Society, several having been read as papers at Ordinary Meetings. They combine to give some idea of influences and changes in Lakeland affecting the structure and appearance of the area it self, the wild life within its bounds, and the gain of directly re lated knowledge. A brief consideration of them in their turn may help their common purpose. Developments in aviation as they affect birds, and the ad vantages of the aerial observer, instanced in the wider grasp of certain bird activities, enter into an ornithological topic of great moment. The subject of ice action in glacial times concerns a mighty moulding of the face of Lakeland, a remote process still being interpreted. Its effects can well be read into other sections of the book. Windermere, the largest of the lakes, is treated as a bird haunt, with considerations of its general formation and ecology. Changes in the composition of its winter-visiting birds are shown. On an orchid of limited habitat, the wholesale disappearance of colonies is recorded as the result of the extensive felling of pine woods. The Grey Lag-Goose, illustrative of continually altering bird distribution, here has its local expansion shown to be coincident with the formation of haunts attractive to the species. The Badger, as described, is an interesting example of a mam mal which, all in modern times, from near extinction in the area has become very firmly established. A regional scan devoted to part of the Pennines associates birds with other forms of life and with natural and artificial features of the country covered. The same region is represented in the succeeding moorland paper. viii The narrative of progress traces the part of individual natur alists and societies of naturalists in working up the knowledge of a county. Finally, the bird supplement includes further evidence of movements in the feathered population, some having become more pronounced in the time since the publication of The Birds of Lakeland in 1943. In acknowledgment, the paper on the Ice Age has been gone over by Dr F. M. Trotter of H.M. Geological Survey, the two maps have been drawn by David Dalton of Carlisle, the frontis piece and Raven picture are the work and gift of W. C. Lawrie of Workington, and the production of the volume has been helped in different ways by other non-members of the Society. The frontispiece has special interest in showing an old Buzzard nest annexed by Peregrines in a site which, to Mr Lawrie’s know ledge, had previously been used by Buzzards for thirty years. Furthermore, while the bird to the left in the picture is definitely known to be the falcon in possession, the bird to the right is not the tiercel, which was afterwards seen, but, as might fairly well be judged, another falcon. At rare times there are three ap parently adult Peregrines about an eyrie, and here three were seen several times, the intruder or hanger-on in this instance seemingly being a female. The Raven family, pictured in illustration of another dis tinctive Lakeland bird, are in one of five nesting sites variously used by both Raven and Peregrine in the particular locality. James Storey, that grand old man of the Solway, who is pro minent in the account of the Grey Lag-Goose, died on 9 June 1946, in his eighty-second year. The felling of the last-known wood in the immediate Carlisle district, one at Stoneraise, to shelter Creeping Lady’s Tresses has been begun in the month here appended. T he E d it o r . Carlisle, August 1946. IX CONTENTS. Page PREFACE, .......................................................................... vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, ...................................... xi 1. AVIATION AND ORNITHOLOGY IN LAKELAND, 1 By Flight-Lieutenant R. A. Carr-Lewty, A.F.C., M.B.O.U. 2. LAKELAND AND THE ICE A G E , .......................... 29 By T. W. K. Skelly, L.C.P. 3. WINTER BIRDS ON WINDERMERE—A RETRO SPECT.................................................................. 49 Together with a List of the Water-Fowl, Waders and Gulls of the Lake. By Marjory Garnett. 4. CREEPING LADY’S TRESSES IN CUMBERLAND, 71 By Dorothy Blezard. 5. THE GREY LAG-GOOSE IN LAKELAND,.............. 75 By Tom L. Johnston. 6. THE BADGER IN CUMBERLAND............................. 88 By Ritson Graham, M.B.O.U. 7. THE LAKELAND PENNINES AND THEIR BIRDS. 100 By Ernest Blezard, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. 8. A ROUND ON WESTMORLAND M OORS,............... 116 By Walter Thompson. 9. THE PROGRESS OF NATURAL HISTORY IN CUMBERLAND, ............. .• ............... 118 By F. H. Day, F.R.E.S. 10. THE BIRDS OF LAKELAND: A SUPPLEMENT, 131 By The Editor, XI ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS. LAKELAND PEREGRINES, ............................. Frontispiece From a photograph by W. C. Lawrie. Facing page CREEPING LADY’S TRESSES AT BROADFIELD, CUMBERLAND, ...................................... 71 From a photograph by Ernest Blezard. LAKELAND RAVENS, .................................................. 131 From a photograph by W. C. Lawrie. MAPS in end pocket to illustrate , AVIATION AND ORNITHOLOGY IN LAKELAND AND WINTER BIRDS ON WINDERMERE. ' . LAKELAND NATURAL HISTORY. 1 AVIATION AND ORNITHOLOGY IN LAKELAND. By Flight Lieutenant R. A. Carr-L e w t y , A.F.C., M B.O.U., Royal Air Force. OBSERVERS, AIRCRAFT AND AERODROMES. The very great increase in the activities of the various flying services since 1939 prompts an examination of its possible effects on ornithology and its influences on the birds themselves. These aspects are being assiduously studied by a small number of pilots, navigators, air-gunners and others who, by virtue of their service duties have, or have had, ample opportunity of making aerial observations. There is no doubt that birds have been affected in many ways by this super-invasion of their own natural medium in various directions and to varying degrees. They have suffered in many respects, and some things connected with aviation have been to their benefit. The science of ornithology is, however, only the richer, although the time has not yet arrived when the full measure of this increase in our wealth of knowledge can be pro perly assessed. It will come when all those ornithologists who have been able to make observations in the course of their flying duties during the war, and before, in Britain and abroad, have had the time and opportunity to publish their notes and findings. Before the war, the number of ornithologists able to make aerial observations appears to have been very small, and but little has been published of what they saw of birds from the air. In the last five years, however, with the vast expansion of the Royal Air Force, there has naturally been at the same time a very considerable increase in the numbers of ornithologically minded members of air-crews, with a correspondingly large increase in interest taken in this new angle on bird watching. Many mem bers of air-crews who are not ordinarily interested in ornithology have been taking pleasure in noting many interesting features of bird life as seen from the air, such as unusual methods of flight, flocks on migration, birds at unusual altitudes, flight patterns and speeds of flight. The pilot is, in many respects, in an excellent position for observing birds, although aerial bird watching is not without its disadvantages. For instance, the speed at which the aircraft is travelling is not always such a great asset. Under some circum stances it makes observation very difficult, if not altogether im possible.