Saturday 12th October, Gills to the south east of Oscar Park Farm, led by Norman Thompson

Saturday 12th October, Gills to the south east of Oscar Park Farm, led by Norman Thompson.

A specimen of the snail Oxychilus alliarius with a colourless shell (rather than the usual brown) was found at the Western end of the conifer plantation (SE579881). The snail Monacha cantiana, which is at the Northern limit of its range in NE Yorkshire (Kerney, 1976), was found together with Cernuella virgata on the grass verge on the east side of the B1257 road (SE5786).

Freshwater species noted in the summary section below were located in a stream by a footbridge (SE598853).

The Trees of Hardwick Hall

and 1758 to a design by the architect James Paine (1716-1789). Originally it had a serpentine lake constructed to give the appearence of a river, and this flowed into a twenty acre lake. In the park were extensive woodlands, tree-lined walks and a variety of ornamental buildings or follies in the Palladian style. The original plans for the area were never completed and the main lake was drained at the end of the eighteenth century.

Many of the conifers now in the park were planted by the Forestry Commission after the Second World War, but the more unsual trees were planted in the 1970’s when Durham County Council acquired forty acres of the park. This is now maintained by them for the public to enjoy.

The following species were recorded on a Club visit led by Ian Lawrence on the 30th September 1996. Many of the trees are arranged in groups so that different species of the same genus can be compared. There are now over eighty species in the park.