CHIPPINGS
THE DEEPEST GULFS. – France now has the deepest gulf known in the world (see Y.R.C.J. VII, p. 169). Chevalier’s parties in 1947 succeeded in working up by aid of a mast from the Trou de Glaz to the plateau of the Dent de Crolles at two points. The depth from the higher through the Trou de Glaz to the exit of the Guiers Mort was well over 2,100 ft., beating the Italian Spluga detta Preta.
COMPASS BEARINGS. – The magnetic declinations given in the last Journal appear to be slightly too low, the rate of decrease having slowed. In the middle of March, 1949, the Colliery Guardian statistics gave the declination at Abinger as minus 9° 30′, to which an extra 1° 32′ has to be put for Ingleborough. The tables show that about once a week there is a range of ½° in a single hour, and that over a single week there will be the same range in the mean hourly figures.
The magnetic declination in 1949 at Settle is about minus 11°.
SURVEYING. – A few words may help those enthusiasts who take up the surveying of caves, to avoid the misfortunes of others. Compass bearings to 5°and tape come out surprisingly well as against chain and prismatic compass, errors cancelling out. The point is that no single line can be safely relied on but must be checked by a closed circuit or a return or second survey.
Draw on the standard scale, 
, not according to the size of your paper. Find the declination, and make your frame N.S.E.W., if possible. If the frame has to be askew, draw some N. and S. lines across it. It is not a serious matter in caving, but those who have climbed in the Mont Blanc Range with its skewed maps, know what dreadful blunders can be made.
If you are a stern John Bull and desire to perpetuate an eccentricity other than spelling and measurement, by the use of magnetic north, put on the date and give the man who uses your plan 30 years hence a chance.
WARNED OFF AGAIN. – It is not a joke but a fact that last year Marshall entered White Scar Cavern wearing his helmet with lamp and was compelled to go out as soon as the guide noticed he was a man of experience underground. See Y.R.C.J. Y.R.C.J. Vl, p. 345.
The British Speleological Association owns the underground rights of Lancaster Pot, the entrance to which has a man-hole in a concrete cover. The Yorkshire Ramblers’ Club has been refused permission to enter the cavern.
NATIONAL PARKS AND ACCESS TO MOORLAND. – The new Bill may not be entirely satisfactory to the Friends of the Lake District who continue to struggle for the carrying out of the formal undertaking to remove the factory, etc. on Windermere. Few have any confidence in the Minister, but at least it seems that we may tramp over the enormous wastes of the Highlands without anticipating unpleasantness, and ascend a hill without being told we were seen from the big house, or even land on the island of Rhum.
WOODCUTTING AND DRAINING. – Yorkshire seems to have suffered more than commonly from the cutting down of small woods and copses, completely altering the scenery. Nidder-dale above Pateley is quite changed for instance.
An enormous area of moorland extending into the remotest places has been closely trenched by mechanical means. It will be interesting to watch for changes in vegetation. Also the more rapid drainage and the concentration of flow may have effect in opening out sink-holes in the limestone districts.
A NOTE ON LAKELAND NAMES. – Even before the war of 1914-18 writers tended to repeat errors once made. Possibly the gap caused by the 1939-45 war has accentuated this by breaking continuity of usage. This note will, it is hoped, cause others to follow up and even to contest one’s conclusions.
Wind Gap, Pillar. Old 1-inch sheets omit this, but the 6-inch O.S. gives Wind Gap. Haskett-Smith (C.C.J. 17 & 19), quotes from old Close Rolls about 1300 A.D. Windyate, Windyatrigg. His plan in Climbing in the British Isles shows Wind Yatt whilst for the Gables Gap he has Wind Gap. Reference to Wasdale prefers Wind Gap, and considers the name for the Gables Gap a mere Borrowdale term “never heard in Wasdale Head.”
Obviously the ” y ” of Yatt has tended to make Wind into Windy. The Pillar one has priority, and it is suggested both forms should be discarded for Gable Gap. For Great Gable the Close Rolls give Mykelgavel.
Aron. Haskett-Smith in Wales gives Aran as meaning high place or alp, as it is to the farmers of Seathwaite. Ford and Mrs. Lynn Linton describe the Sty track as mounting over Aaron End above Stockley Bridge. Aaron has nothing to do with “Moses.”
Great Doup is the cove you come up from the Pillar Rock past the Patriarch’s memorial (if it still exists) to reach the ridge of Pillar Fell without going over the top. Opposite is supposed to be an easy scree run into Mosedale. Some recent books misplace this well-known hollow.
Haystacks Tarn. In the Lake Country, 1864, the Lintons give this as Loaf Tarn and Rastall and Smith, Geol. Mag. Vol. Ill, and Marr Geol. Lake District describe the peculiar eroded peat masses as “mushroom like,” indicating the shape a loaf of bread takes in baking. Unfortunately Innominate (!) seems to be fashionable.
Patterdale, Boardale House. The 6-inch O.S. gives 1,320 ft. for the true top, usually given as 1,260, and recently as 1,400.
St. Sunday Crag. This is the name used in Patterdale for the fell top. The O.S. maps all give “The Cape” for the top, but it has been impossible to trace who used this name or what it means. – W. Allsup.
THE BLACK-HEADED GULL NESTING ON COTTER END TARN. – The widespread distribution of the Black-headed Gull, Larus ridibundus (Linn.), is familiar to most, but despite the inland peregrinations of large numbers of these birds in search of food, the actual setting up of a colony of nests for breeding is perhaps not so common. That breeding may occur inland in the Pennines, given a suitable and renote habitus, was well illustrated in mid-June of 1946 by the finding of a small colony established on Cotter End Tarn (W.Lon. 2° 17′. Lat. 54° 20′. Sheet 20, 1″ O.S.) at 1,650′ on Abbotside Common, above the Upper Ure.
The tarn is about 35 miles from the W. coast at Morecambe Bay and lies in a shallow, marshy depression between the heather-covered tops of Tarn Hill and Cotter End. Unsuspecting approach to the tarn aroused the birds, and whilst still a quarter of a mile distant, two scouts from the colony were quickly joined by a noisy caravan, wheeling and screaming overhead. The clamour became more insistent and the wheel ing lower as the lake was approached, and the nests spotted. The nests were in two groups of approximately eighteen and thirteen, built of grass and reeds, and were set in clumps of reeds well away from the tarn’s edge, the intervening water being nowhere less than a clear two feet. The majority of nests had two or sometimes three olive-brown eggs visible. The male gulls had brown summer head plumage.
The excitement of the birds was extreme. Meanwhile, Dunlins were happily swimming on the tarn, or standing by their shallow, laterally opening nests in the reeds and grass on the shore, close to our feet. To examine the gulls’ nests more closely would entail a good wetting; also the limits of endurance of the unhappy parents overhead were strained to breaking point. So they were left again in possession of their lonely home. Still their fears were not allayed, and we were followed down the slope towards Cotterdale by the whole noisy brood for several hundred feet, and thereafter the two more silent but watchful scouts were still to be seen high above the skyline. – J. C. White.
NYLON. – Kelsey has sent me an interesting article showing that the stretch of the very strong nylon rope is such that a man can be held after a fall of 150 ft. Experimental rope ladders of this otherwise ideal material have a stretch of 1 in 17, 6 in 100!
KINDRED CLUB JOURNALS AND REVIEWS. – The Editor has found it impossible to review these and can only thank the other Clubs for their courtesy in sending them.
Thornber’s Pennine Underground is a great asset to the modern caver, and digging is going on furiously according to the keepers.