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Wharfedale Naturalists Society

GOLDEN CURLEW

A Celebration of fifty years of Natural History 1945 - 1995

Drawings by John Busby
Cover Photograp by Freda C Draper
Printed and bound by Bradford College Print Centre
Published by the Wharfedale Naturalists Society, Autumn 1995 Price £2
The Society acknowledges generous help given by Bolton Abbey Estate

CONTENTS

President's Foreword
A Personal Retrospect, Joan E Duncan
The Delights of the Dales, Olwen & Doug Middleton
Crossbills in Yorkshire and Ilkley, Michael Densley
Discoveries among the Rocks, David Leather
A Ramble through the Records, Jenny Leach
Foraying in Grass Wood, Audrey Gramshaw
Hartley's Happenings, Chris Hartley
Winged Immigrants into Wharfedale, Freda C Draper
Fifty Years of Weather, John Ward
Adders in Wharfedale and Washburn, David Alred
Revegetation of the Main Gas Pipeline on Ilkley Moor, Alistair Headley
Bird Ringing in the Society, Edward S Skinner
Where are they now?

• Jenifer Baker
• Michael Bell
• Stephen Baines
• John Busby
• Pete Ellis
• Alistair Headley
• Dave Pullan

President's Foreword

Congratulations to the Wharfedale Naturalists' Society on reaching its Golden Anniversary. As a junior member in 1945 when we met in the Bluebird Cafe on the Grove, little did I realise that I should be writing the Foreword as President fifty years on.

In the early days, at the beginning of each meeting members were asked to report on anything of note. I mentioned finding a Pied Flycatcher's nest in Bolton Abbey woods: this was greeted with some scepticism. However, the site was checked by Walter Flesher and Will Fearnley who were delighted to verify it at the following meeting.

My interests since then have widened to cover most aspects of Natural History. Our society has given me the opportunity of being out in the field with many enthusiasts, all due to the foresight of our founder members.

The Society continues to flourish due to a small group of dedicated people. My sincere thanks are extended to the contributors and to the editorial staff of this Golden Jubilee Publication.

Nevil Bowland

Fifty Years of Weather

The English always talk about the weather. Indeed, according to some of our Continental neighbours we talk about nothing else. But we do have something to talk about; we have some of the most variable weather in the world. An American once said to me that he could drive 600 miles in any direction on any day of the year and know exactly what the weather would be. From Ilkley one can drive only a few miles to Skipton or Harrogate or Grassington and can find totally different weather conditions. In his book Upper Wharfedale, Harry Speight gives an average rainfall for the Otley area of about 30 inches, about 35 to 36 inches for IIkley and about 60 inches for Arncliffe In what follows I shall concentrate entirely on Ilkley. Continuous weather records were kept by the local authority right up to 1984 but from then on there are records for working days only, a rather foolish practice that is no use to anyone. From 1987 members of the Wharfedale Naturalists Society have maintained continuous records of rainfall and temperature but there are gaps in the records for 1985 and 1986. Nevertheless, the gaps are not thought sufficient to invalidate comparisons and conclusions based on the 50 year period from 1945 to 1994. For sunshine, the position is different. There are no continuous records after 1984 and my comrnents have necessarily been based on the 50 years ending in 1984. I hope and trust that the difference is of no great importance.Let's start with temperature. The 50 year average for each month of the year together with details of the maxima and minima for each month are as follows:

The yearly average temperature over the half century is 47.90F (8.80C) and the average for each of the seasons is as follows:

• Spring (Mar, Apr, May) 46. 1°F (7.8°C)

• Summer (Jun, Jul, Aug) 58.4°F (14.7°C)

• Autumn (Sep, Oct, Nov)48.9°F(9.4°C)

• Winter (Dec, Jan, Feb) 38.1°F (3.4°C)

As might be expected, July is usually the warmest month and January the coldest but that is not always so. In the 50 year period, June has been warmest three times, July twenty-nine times and August eighteen times, while the coldest month has been somewhat more evenly distributed. December held the record thirteen times with January and February holding it twenty-seven times and ten times, respectively. The annual totals of hours of sunshine show a remarkable range. While the average is 1,276.7 hours, or approximately 3½ hours per day, the dullest year provided only 1,048 hours in 1954 and, in the sunniest year, 1943 gave us 1,497 hours. Seasonal variations are even greater. The sunniest summer, 1975, with 659 hours had nearly double the sunshine of 1972. In that year the three winter months produced only 77 hours of sun - a dismal record indeed. It is perhaps rainfall rather than temperature or sunshine which makes us decide whether a year is good or bad. The best year of the last 50 was, in fact, 1964 with only 25.64 inches (651mm) and the worst, 1980 with 43.78 inches (1 112mrn) though 1986 very nearly took the record.The average over the half century was 35.84 inches (910mm) and for each month the details are as follows:

The seasonal averages were:

• Spring 7.65" (194mm)

• Summer 7.95" (202mm)

• Autumn10.02" (265mm)

• Winter10.22" (260mm)

While it is relatively easy to guess which months are most frequently the hottest or coldest, it is not at all easy to decide the wettest and driest.
The record is as follows:

Having looked at the bare facts of the 50 year period, it is now important to consider trends. The experts speculate about global warming while the layman talks about what he perceives as colder springs and warmer winters. Which of them can derive support from Ilkley's weather? First, looking at temperature, I have calculated the seasonal and yearly average for each of the five decades in the 50 year period. The results in Fahrenheit only, are

It would require a statistician to determine the true significance of these figures but they certainly do not support any theory of global warming. Nor is there much support for those who claim that our springs have been cooler and our winters warmer. What can be said is that autumns have recently been substantially cooler and that this has been the main factor contributing to a small overall reduction in the yearly average.
Rainfall figures for the five decades are:

• 1945/54 36.9 inches

• 1955/64 32.2"

• 1965/74 36.5"

• 1975/84 37.0"

• 1985/94 38.7"
  

So in Ilkley the weather has not only been slightly cooler but much wetter over the last decade than formerly. That this is contrary to the ideas of the global warming school should cause no surprise. After all, England's weather is very local and inevitably very variable and Ilkley's weather even more local. It is also important to remember that it is not long since talk was mainly of colder weather in Britain being the cause of the southward advance of northern species such as goosander and fieldfare and the retreat from this country of such southern species as nightingale and red-backed shrike. Perhaps local features in north-west Europe will, for a long time, be more influential than global change: we may have to wait for a few more decades before we know.

John Ward

This page maintained by Alan Drew. Last updated 11th Oct, 1998