Hood's Bay and managed to unearth some fossils from rock face.
the eroded coastal
On some evenings through the term, dusk watches were kept from the trees above the badger's sett at Moorlands, Skelton. It was fascinating to watch the young playing "hide and seek" like a litter of energetic puppies, and the very young closely guarded by the large, suspicious mother. B.P.
MALHAM TARN FIELD CENTRE On the 19th April a party of eight boys left for Malham, a small village in the Pennines near Settle. The purpose of the trip was to study various botanical and zoological aspects of the area, including the Tarn and the Cove, for which Malham is well known. We stayed at the Tarn Field Centre, a large country house set on a wooded slope on the northern side of the Tarn. Many other naturalists were also staying at the house on courses ranging from early morning bird watching to geology. The house was very comfortable and the food good, though the joys of having to wash up for about 50 people were not fully appreciated. The deciding factor on the amount of work done was the weather, with Robinson a close second. A good deal was done, as most of the rain fell during non-working hours. The first three days were spent as a group studying the animal life of the Tarn, and also the flora of the limestone scree slopes which are abundant in this region. The remainder of the time was given over to definite ecological problems, which were tackled either individually or in pairs. P. S., A.B. S.
THE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY This has been our most successful term from a ringing point of view. Over 600 birds have been ringed at or near the School, the majority being nestlings. P. Stuttard, during the Easter holidays and the term, has ringed over 250. The individual totals are tabled at the end. The species new to our ringing list are: grey wagtail, lapwing, sand martin, magpie and carrion crow. Besides the ringing, nest record cards have been filled in for all nests found, and several boys have contributed cards for nests discovered during the holidays. Last year's total of cards will be exceeded when all are complete. Regular weekly visits were made to Strensall early in the term, but it was impossible to keep these up later. Many nests were found, but the black-headed gull colony was robbed early on and only about five pairs finished breeding. To make up for this disappointment C. R. Barton had found a large colony on the moors near Haworth. Although it takes two and a half hours to reach it, one and a half by car and then a one hour walk, we visited it three times. It was a very impressive sight, as the colony contains approximately 3,000 pairs of birds. On our last visit 93 young birds were ringed and more could have been done had time permitted. Other birds seen on our visit included redshank, dunlin, golden plover and one short-eared owl. 29
