REPORTS OF MEETINGS.
35
VISIT TO WATERMEADS, MITCHAM, SURREY,
(490th MEETING),
SATURDAY, 6th JULY 1918.
Just over twenty Members and friends journeyed to Mitcham on the
above afternoon to inspect under the conduct of Dr. H. G. T. Major and
Mr. W. Whitaker, B.A., F.R.S., the nature-reserve known as "Water-
meads."
"Watermeads" consists of two enclosures of the river Wandle and
its banks, the property of the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest
or Natural Beauty. The larger enclosure was purchased for £1,050 by
the River Wandle Open Spaces Committee and handed over by them to
the Trust in 1914; the smaller (known also as the "Happy Valley"
or "Ravensbury Park") having been presented to the Trust in 1913 by
Mr. Richardson Evans in memory of the late Miss Octavia Hill. The
larger portion comprises some twelve acres, and includes two arms of
the river, with bordering meadows, and a jack-pond. Some fine tall-
grown trees are upon the land in the smaller enclosure, and constitute
a charming and characteristic feature.
The Wandle rises by numerous springs at Carshalton and Beddington,
and is essentially a chalk-stream, its clear limpid water and strong current
being remarked upon by the visitors, accustomed as they were to the more
sluggish and turbid rivers of our Essex clay-lands.
Some three hours were spent in a leisurely ramble through the Trust
domain, noting the wild and semi-wild flora, and collecting (in moderation !)
the beetles and other insects which occurred abundantly on the plants
of the river-banks, and the galls on the leaves and petioles of the bordering
trees. A growth of the water-moss Fontinalis antipyretica upon the
sides of the old weir was found to be infested with colonies of the beautiful
Florideous alga, Batrachospermum moniliforme, in fine condition, together
with the filamentous alga Cladophora.
Tea was taken in the nursery gardens close by.
A short formal Meeting of the Club was held after tea, when the follow-
ing were elected Members:—
Miss Agnes M. Wire, 5, St. John's Terrace, Buckhurst Hill.
Mr. Ernest C. D. Wire, 5, St. John's Terrace, Buckhurst Hill.
Miss Younghusband, 3, Buckingham Gate, S.W.I.
Miss Gertrude B. Jenkinson, 26, Palmerston Road, Forest Gate, E.7.
Votes of thanks were cordially passed to our Conductors.
The majority of the party hurried off to the station to catch the 6.18
o'clock train to town, but a little band of enthusiasts elected to walk
to Mitcham Common, where many heath-plants were noted, including as
a rarity the grass Koeleria cristata.
At. 740 a fast train was caught at Mitcham Junction station, and
London Bridge was reached at 8.10 p.m.
VISIT TO WARLEY PLACE, GREAT WARLEY.
(491st MEETING).
SATURDAY, 5TH OCTOBER 1918.
A fifth visit to Warley Place was paid by the Club on the above after-