CRRef YRC Committee (1960) Chippings. Yorkshire Ramblers’ Club Journal Volume 9 Number 30: pp85-88. Leeds: YRC.}
Chippings
GAELIC WHY NOT ? The curious unfriendliness of the Highlander is not surprising in view of the remarkable social position, but I trace much of it to the fact that no one will take any notice of the pronunciation of his place names. The ordinary Scotsman is the most fearsome John Bull of all us British in his attitude to other languages. It is true that the number of double vowels and gh’s make the place names look dreadful but after all the spelling stands for the pronunciation, not as in English for the almost certainly wrong pronunciation.
Sir Walter has made the Highlands only too fashionable. It is pathetic to read in ‘ The Scotsman’ appeals to name the clan to which names like Jones and Robinson belong. Yet I was horrified to meet a body of Scottish students, not one of whom knew the simple name of the hut at which he stayed. These are the youthful elite.
The following is a card I made out for one Y.R.C. Meet.
Gaelic. (‘A’ stands for Anglic, the Lowland Scottish and English language.)
(1) fh, dh, h are nil, sh, ch=h (A), mh, bh =V (A).
(2) Final g is k (A). Old Scottish books have Mallek for Mallaig Arkek for Arkaig. b is p; d in the middle of a word is t.
Forget all about Latin and French c and g.
C is c and G is g usually.
(3) Vowels a, e, i, are continental.
Practice kah, kay, kee for ca, ce, ci and the same for ga, ge, gi.
(4) ib, if, im, ip. The ee is distinct.
(5) Second vowels faintly heard, but ea, eo, ia, iu, ua, are two syllables. (Note particularly ea which the Scot insists on calling ee (A).
(6) ao =ur as in (A) burn.
(7) Before e and i; dchanges to j, s to sh, t to ch. After an; c is g, t is d. RT is rst or rsht.
(8) All = (A) awl; Ann= (A) awnn.
o// = (A) owl; onn = (A) oun, e.g. Fionn = (A) Fee-oun.
(9) GH at start of a word is Scottish mis-spelling otherwise consonant y.
(10) R is fully heard. Practice saying Harry, then Harr-k. Dearg will obviously be Je-arr-ack.
(11) The Gael cannot say the following without putting a vowel between:—
lb, lg, lm, lp.
nb, ng, nm, np.
rb, rg, rm, rp.
E. E. Roberts.
COLLOQUIUM INTERNATIONAL de SPÉLÉOLOGIE. BRUSSELS, 1958. The Fédération Spéléologique de Belgique made the year of the Brussels Exhibition an occasion to organise an international colloquium. The meeting lasted three days, the first two being devoted to the reading of eleven papers, the third to an expedition to the Grottes de Han in the Ardennes.
Unfortunately only about 25 people attended the meeting and several of the authors of papers were unable to be present in person, which meant that their papers were read for them and subsequent discussion was not possible. The Y.R.C. was represented by the Hon. Editor, who was asked to read the paper presented in English by Dr. G. T. Warwick of Birmingham University on ” Some by-passed Swallow Holes in the Meuse and Lesse Valleys.”
Many of the photographs entered for the photographic competition were excellent, especially a set showing formations in the caves at Scarisoara in Roumania, described in a paper by Iosif Viehmann of the University of Cluj.
Some of the papers were of a highly technical and scientific nature, but of particular interest to the potholer were the description by Professor Vandersleyen of the work, begun by Dom Anciaux de Favaux, a Benedictine Monk from the Abbey of Maredsous, and carried on by the Federation, of preparing a complete register, with maps and plans, of the caves in Belgium. The topographical section of the Federation publishes its own bulletin every two months; information and documents can be obtained from P. Vandersleyen, 182, Rue du Moulin, Brussels 3.
A paper of great practical interest was read by Jacques Choppy, Spéléo Club de Paris, who called for the adoption of an international set of conventional signs to be used in all cave maps. C. Queffelec of the Groupe Spéléologique de la Pierre St. Martin described the underground rivers in the chalk of the Paris basin.
Two bound copies of the papers read at this colloquium and several of the recent topographical bulletins are now in the
Y.R.C. library.
H. G. Watts.
BIRDS ON RHUM. Notes made during the Club’s Whitsuntide meet on the Island of Rhum in 1957.
The coast provided a magnificent opportunity for seeing many different species of sea-birds. One Universal Shag was found sitting on no less than 6 eggs, the normal number being three. Four were the usual chalky white colour, while the other two were larger, and green-blue in colour with marked brown spottings. Guillemots were nesting on nearby ledges and the suspicion was raised that this bird had in some way acquired its neighbour’s eggs.
A Whooper Swan was seen at Kilmory on June 13 th which seems to be a very late date although it is reported in ” The Handbook of British Birds” as being seen occasionally in May, June and August.
Golden Eagles were seen every day and pellets were found on the Askival Ridge and on the summit ridge of Traelval. Two of these were measured and proved to be 75 X 30 mm. and 95 X 24 mm.; they had all the appearance of being made up almost entirely of Manx Shearwater feathers.
The most exciting experience of all was provided by the colony of Manx Shearwaters on the Halhval-Askival ridge, when the birds flew in from the sea to feed their mates and their young in the burrows. The birds in the air set up an amazing hullabaloo of groans and squawks and half-strangled screeches, which were answered by the mates in the burrows. The best performances were put up when the nights were dark and overcast. A point specially noticed was the amazing speed of these birds as they flew to their breeding grounds; they sounded like miniature jets going overhead; they seemed to prefer to land below their burrows and then to scramble rapidly upwards to enter them. The colony must be unique on account of the long distance of the burrows from the sea, most of them occurring at about 2,000 ft. above sea level and at least 1½ miles from the sea.
Birds identified during the week were —
Red Throated Diver; Manx Shearwater; Fulmar Petrel ; Gannet ; Shag; Heron; Mallard; Eider; Red Breasted Merganser; Sheld-duck; Whooper Swan; Golden Eagle; Peregrine Falcon; Red Grouse; Ptarmigan; Corn-crake; Oyster-Catcher; Ringed Plover; Golden Plover; Snipe; Common Sandpiper; Redshank; Great Black-backed Gull; Lesser Black-backed Gull; Herring Gull; Kittiwake; Razorbill; Guillemott; Black Guillemott; Puffin; Cuckoo; Swift; Sky-lark; Raven; Hooded Crow; Blue Tit; Dipper; Song-Thrush; Ring Ouzel; Blackbird; Wheatear; Stonechat; Whinchat; Robin; Willow Warbler; Meadow Pippit; Rock Pippit; Pied Wagtail; Chaffinch; House Sparrow.
W. P. B. Stonehouse.