2005 - Whitby Naturalists
2005 - Whitby Naturalists 2005 - Whitby Naturalists
gafden in slcights, where radpoles remaincd undeveloped al1 summer aod .,,-,t until October did a few of them develop itrto frogs. I can offcr no explanation and know of no precedent for ti-ris; perhaps anothcr mernber can help. I hope X can persuade more mernbers t1; repolt sightings of rcptile s and rrnphibio. I am sure therc must hre rnorc than one newt in North Yorkshire! If reporteC sightings Co incrcase ilcxt ye;ir (ptreasc make an effort!) it will nct mean that mrmbers of animals have necessari-ly increased but it wili be interesting to l1ote the hahitars of varicrus com"mon creiltures anri important to notc any disastcrs as weti as reccrding the existence of ;rny rarities. SUE EVANS
THE GEOLOGICAL RECORDER'S REPORT Nodules And All That The grey nodules (morc properly called concretions) that we find sticking out of the Jurassic clifrs that buttress Whitby are often rhc source of our best fossils. If we look up at the sea cliffs we can see bands of thesc oval grey shapes running alorig the exposure. These nclduie beds must extend some distancc inland, for they formed on the floor o{ the vanished Tethys Ocean in the da-vs before the Atlantic and North Sca were rwinkles in the Earth's eye. Thc Tethys was a wann sea, for it once occupied that part of the globe whcre the Indian Ocean now sits: the continents which bordered the Tcthys have also brokcn up and re-formed into what we have today. Somc scraps of the Tethys rcm:lin; The Black Sea, The Caspian and the Aral Sca are all said to be remnants. But I wander ofr the pointl Concretions build when elements set free by thc decay of organic matter react rvith minerals in the deposited mud of the sea floor. Layers of new compounds grow .slowly around the organic 'seed'. The 'seed' may be a chunky ammonite or a group of trny molluscs or a mere scrap of she1l and flesh. Usually it is the hydrogen sulphide set free from decaying proteins which, by reacting with free ferric ions in the warer, begin to form thc concretion. The nodule will continue to grow until the right chemistry is availablc. Eventually that layer of seafloor will be buried and subjecred to pressurc. Fossils which havc not given rise to nodule growth will be crushed flat whilst those fossils within nodules are protected because of the great hardness of the concretion. Cliff erosion drops them onttl the shore; the sea wears thenr down and brcaks them open so that we find thcrn in various statcs of decay scattered around our feet; we pick thcm up, tum ttrem over and over and may notice the trace of a fossil. They are heavy because they are rich in Iron Pyrites. Strike them with a hammer and you might smell LO
- Page 1 and 2: Whitby I{aturalists' Club @-btthy s
- Page 3 and 4: President Vice President Chairman V
- Page 5 and 6: THE CHAIRMAN'S REPORT I find it ver
- Page 7 and 8: The Annual Report relies on the rec
- Page 9 and 10: 2404 Ocrober 9d October i6'l' Octob
- Page 11 and 12: SUMMER PROGRAMME 2OO5 Malr /'h Full
- Page 13 and 14: THE COACH ORGANISER'S REPORT The su
- Page 15 and 16: we could see out to sea, whcrc some
- Page 17 and 18: WHITBY NATURALISTS' CLUB INCOME ACC
- Page 19 and 20: THE TREASURERS REPORT As rhis is my
- Page 21 and 22: undisturbed or unridy parts of the
- Page 23 and 24: GENERAL INFORMATION ON AMPHIBIA' On
- Page 25: In late August during an evening of
- Page 29 and 30: Preparations for a successful relca
- Page 31 and 32: FIELD VOIE (Microtus dgresris) one
- Page 33 and 34: Mavis Rei-rdman took the club to 6n
- Page 35 and 36: n \< Xio 6-l -o
- Page 37 and 38: Dryad's Saddle fungus - polyporus s
- Page 39 and 40: THE BOTANICAL RECORDER'S REPORT Spr
- Page 41 and 42: ENTOMOLOGY RECORDER'S REPORT This y
- Page 43 and 44: It rnay be illustrated in this repo
- Page 45 and 46: BEETLES Early this year I had a few
- Page 47 and 48: from June 5.h some slimy black larv
- Page 49 and 50: ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORDERS R'EPORT So
- Page 51 and 52: o l8th May, Bullfinches at Upper Es
- Page 53 and 54: Nightjar Our evening visit to Harwo
- Page 55 and 56: magically calmed the weather and th
- Page 57 and 58: The researchers fear that ecosystem
- Page 59 and 60: which so many sea bird coionies rel
- Page 61 and 62: It is not crften possible to meet u
- Page 63 and 64: ASCS|ltYCCr'FtA HEMIASCOMYCETES Tap
- Page 65 and 66: I COb{I}LG ATTRACTIONS ANNUAL LLINC
gafden in slcights, where radpoles remaincd undeveloped al1 summer<br />
aod .,,-,t until October did a few of them develop itrto frogs. I can offcr<br />
no explanation and know of no precedent for ti-ris; perhaps anothcr<br />
mernber can help.<br />
I hope X can persuade more mernbers t1; repolt sightings of rcptile s and<br />
rrnphibio. I am sure therc must hre rnorc than one newt in North<br />
Yorkshire!<br />
If reporteC sightings Co incrcase ilcxt ye;ir (ptreasc make an effort!) it<br />
will nct mean that mrmbers of animals have necessari-ly increased but<br />
it wili be interesting to l1ote the hahitars of varicrus com"mon creiltures<br />
anri important to notc any disastcrs as weti as reccrding the existence<br />
of ;rny rarities.<br />
SUE EVANS
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