Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club. JUNE 19TH, 1884. THE BACH CAMP AND BERRINGTON. "Ye field flowers! the gardens eclipse you 'tis true, For ye waft me to summers of old; When the earth teemed around me with fairy delight, CAMPBELL. THE June meeting of the Naturalists' Field Club has always a special interest for the botanists. It is the meeting of the year for the abundance of wild flowers. Nature is in full luxuriance; the meadows teem with blossoms that the scythe has not yet lowered, Daisies, Oxeyes, yellow and purple Trefoils and Clover, with now and again a gorgeous display of Buttercups, that tint the field with gold. The hedges have all the graceful irregularity of their fresh and unpruned spring growth, varied by the blossoms of the Dogwood and Guelder Rose, of the sweet Honey Suckle and the lovely sprays of the Dog Rose that hang so charmingly about. If a deeper colour is wanted, at intervals the "Purple tassels of the tangling vetch Hang elegant.' and give it in perfection; indeed Vicia cracca would deserve special cultivation in our lane hedgerows, if the wild birds did not kindly sow the seed for us, to shame our carelessness. The arable fields have all the freshness of the growing crops, too, and the trees are all in full luxuriance and beauty. A full attendance of members met at the Barrs Court Station, when the pleasure of meeting, and so fine a morning, put everyone in spirits. The first botanical observation was made at the Dininore station, where the steep banks near the tunnel are occupied with a large growth of the Wood Vetch, Vicia sylvatica, with its drooping sprays of whitish blossoms, so beautifully veined and streaked with blue. Sir Walter Scott was very fond of it. He well describes this elegant climber, which for the beauty of its foliage, flowers, and general habit of growth is scarcely exceeded by any of our summer flowers "And where profuse, the Wood Vetch clings Round ash and elm in verdant rings; Its pale and azured pencil flower Should canopy Titania's bower." The Wood Vetch happily ornaments many of our Herefordshire woods. On the present occasion it was quickly lost to sight by the train entering the tunnel. At Leominster the two large carriages waiting were insufficient to convey the members, and several gentlemen, in the exuberance of a youthful energy that overbalanced their patience, could not wait for others to be brought, and set off to walk the four miles to the Bach Camp. On the carriages the ride was very enjoyable, and as the high ground of the district in which the camp is placed was gained, the views were extensive on all sides. THE BACH CAMP (pronounced Bayche) is not on very high ground itself since it is commanded on two, if not on three sides, with still higher ground, within easy rifle range. It is oval in shape, with a double entrenchment of considerable strength, and occupies altogether a space of about eleven acres. It has three entrances, one on each of the southern and northern ends, and one on the western side. The position of the camp is most exposed towards the north, and here the embankments are very bold and strong; with a broad internal ditch which would hold many men or huts. The southern entrance is also well guarded and seems only to have admitted of approach in single file from each side, with a triangular vallum, hollowed out to receive special guardians of the entrance. The camp within has been cultivated as arable land and the inner embankment for two-thirds of its circumference ploughed down, but it is now laid down in grass. On the east and west sides, the small streams which flow through the valley have wet and boggy margins, which must have added greatly to the strength of the position. Tradition says there was a well within the camp, and it is quite possible that there may have been, but the western entrance with curved and well guarded sides would give a ready approach to the stream below and was probably used as a water gate. The more the strength of this position is considered, and the vast labour taken to fortify it, especially with the stockade in addition, the more probable it seems that it was occupied for some considerable time, and was rather a British fortified village or town than a simple encampment. It lies nearly two miles east of the Roman road from Blackwardine to Bravinium. The camp is entirely without history, and all that can be said of it must be gathered from its position and entrenchments. Within a mile and a half to the east there is a tumulus of some size, and another one still larger about four miles to the north, beyond Ashton Camp, which bears sad and silent testimony to the battles fought there. The camp was occupied on the present occasion by the Rev. Thomas Hutchinson, with Mrs. and Miss Hutchinson and a large party of their friends, and the arrival of the Club was welcomed by butterfly nets waved in the act of mothcatching. Mr. Hutchinson was one of the earliest members of the Club, and to Mrs. Hutchinson the members were greatly indebted so far back as 1866, for a list of the Lepidoptera of Herefordshire, published in the volume of Transactions for that year. They gave the Club a hearty greeting on the present occasion. After the transaction of some little business, the members dispersed to botanise, examine the entrenchments or admire the scenery, as severally pleased them. The first search was made for the flowering fern, Botrychium lunaria, Moonwort. It was soon found, growing sparsely within the camp on the eastern side, but with greater abundance in the field just outside the northern entrance. Here, too, the Rev. Augustin Ley gathered a frond of this fern with two panicles of blossom instead of one. The plants were smaller than they otherwise would have been in consequence of the dry weather during the last two months; but they were there, and every botanist present who had not gathered it before, will ever connect it with the Bach Camp, for none feels more forcibly the influence of local circumstances than plant lovers : "Objects which least inspire delight Take pleasing tints from thee, In the field outside the north entrance too, the Adder's Tongue, Ophioglossum vulgatum, grew side by side with the Moonwort. Neither of these small flowering ferns is rare in the district, but they are often overlooked. At the sound of the whistle the members and visitors assembled under the shadow of the trees on the inner entrenchment, to listen to the Woolhope Club's version of the Magpie, the Jackdaw, the Rook, and the Raven in Herefordshire. This paper we shall shortly present to our readers to speak for itself; but before the Bach Camp is left, the Badgers, for which it is noted, must be alluded to. Near the western entrance, a Badger's earth has been broken into, but whether by accident or design was not known. It was covered up by flat stones above it. Badgers are sometimes caught by putting a sack in their holes in the night time, when they are away, and driving them hurriedly home by dogs. If a sack had not been put in this earth it might have been, but it does not follow that it would catch the Badger, for this, the only English representative of the bear family, is a very clever knowing fellow, and is not to be caught easily in any other way than by following him home and digging him out. The Badger, Meles vulgaris, is a slow, clumsy animal. He walks on the soles of the feet, without using his long-clawed toes, and rolls so akwardly in his gait that at dusk of evening he might easily be mistaken for a pig: "Upon the plain he halts, but when he runs From time immemorial Badgers have existed in this district, and "from information received" they exist here still. On the brow of the adjoining hill, within half-a-mile of the camp, its old Anglo-Saxon name of "Brock" is preserved in the hamlet of Brockmanton, and there is a mill of the same ilk on the stream below. Badgers are becoming more scarce in Herefordshire as they are elsewhere, but they still exist in some localities of the county. The following account of the capture of a pair this year in Herefordshire has been obligingly sent by Mrs. Ley, of Sellack, to the Club : |