Natural History.
Our limits will not admit of extended observation on this subject, but it is our duty to direct the attention of our readers to the feathered tribes in the district, which include many of the more remarkable and beautiful of British birds. Mr. Cross, of Oswestry, has, in the last few years, made collections of rare and valuable birds, some delightful songsters, including the nightingale, the piping bullfinch, with birds of prey, those of the passerine order, and a large variety of water birds. The following list, formed more than twenty years ago, the names given according to Bewick’s history of birds, will show that the neighbourhood has long abounded with fine specimens of the feathered creation:—
Kites.—Ring-tailed eagle, osprey, common buzzard, honey buzzard, kite, goshawk, sparrow-hawk, hen harrier, kestrel, and marten.
Owls.—Great-eared owl, white owl, and tawny owl.
Butcher Birds.—Great ash-coloured shrike, red-backed shrike.
Pies.—Raven, carrion crow, hooded crow, rook, jackdaw, magpie, jay, starling, ring ousel, ousel cock or blackbird, missel thrush or storm cock, fieldfare, throstle or thrush, redwing, cuckoo, and wryneck.
Woodpeckers.—Green, greater spotted, lesser spotted, nuthatch, and creeper.
Grosbeaks.—Grosbeak or hawfinch, green grosbeak, bullfinch, pine grosbeak.
Buntings.—Brown, yellow hammer, blackheaded or reed sparrow, and snow bunting.
Finches.—House sparrow, mountain sparrow, chaff, or pied-finch, mountain-finch, gold-finch, linnet, and lesser redpole.
Larks.—Sky-lark, field-lark, grashopper-lark, wood-lark, and tit-lark.
Wagtails.—Pied, or water wagtail, grey, and yellow.
Flycatchers.—Pied, or gold-finch, spotted, or house linnet.
Warblers.—Robin redbreast or ruddock, redstart or brantail.
Fauvette.—Lesser fauvette, winter fauvette or hedge sparrow, reed fauvette, black-cap, white-throat, yellow willow wren, willow wren, least willow wren, wren, golden-crested wren, white rump or wheat ear, win-chat, or gorsehopper, stonechat, and nightingale.
Titmice.—Greater, blue or tom-tit, cole, marsh, long-tailed, or can-bottle.
Swallows.—Chimney swallow, marten, sand marten, swift or deviling, night jaw or fern owl.
Doves.—Wild pigeon, ring dove, turtle dove, and small black rock pigeon.
Gallinaceous.—Domestic cock, pheasant, turkey, peacock, pintado or guinea fowl, wood grouse, black grouse, red grouse, partridge, quail, corncrake or landrail.
Plovers.—Great plover, pee-wit or lapwing, golden plover, and grey plover.
Water Birds.—Long-legged plover, water crake, or rail, water ousel, and kingfisher or haleyon.
Herons.—Heron, bittern or bog-boom, and curlew.
Snipes.—Woodcock, great snipe, common snipe, and judcock, or jacksnipe.
Godwit.—Brown sandpiper, common sandpiper, water, or moor hen, coot, greater coot, great crested grebe, little grebe, or jack doucker.
Terns.—Common and lesser.
Common gull.
Ducks.—Wild swan, swan goose, grey-lag goose, tame goose, mallard, or wild duck, shieldrake, widgeon, and teal.
Pelicans.—Cormorant,—pelecanus graculus, or the shag.
The district has occasionally other aërial visitants, including the peregrine falcon, the bird which furnished the ancient amusement of falconry, the colymbus troile, or guillemot, and the corvus caryocatactes, or nutcracker.
Mr. Cross’s specimens are of recent date, many of the birds named having been taken during the last twelve months. We subjoin his list, which will be read with interest by all lovers of natural history:—
Peregrine falcon, kite, buzzard, goshawk, blue hawk, merlin, hobby, sparrow hawk, kestrel, large butcher bird, small butcherbird. Tawny owl, white owl, long-eared owl, short-eared owl, night jay or goat sucker-cuckoo. Green woodpecker, great spotted woodpecker, lesser spotted woodpecker, nuthatch, creeper. Wood pigeon, rock pigeon, coblard turtle, turtle dove. Rook, crow, jackdaw, magpie, jay, starling, black bird, wood thrush, thrush, fieldfare, red wing, stone chat, whin-chat, yellow hammer, mounting finch, red finch, gold-finch, bull-finch, robin, reed sparrow, hedge sparrow, common sparrow, green linnet, grey linnet, yellow wagtail, pied wagtail, red start, black cap, pied flycatcher, spotted flycatcher, white throat, black cap titmice, small black cap titmice, blue cap titmice, long tailed titmice, willow wren, common wren, golden crested wren. Swift, barn swallow, house marten, sand marten. Woodlark, skylark, meadow pipit, tree pipit. Pheasant, grouse, partridge, black grouse, corncrake. Heron, bittern, cormorant, eared grebe, goosander, smews, curlew, widgeon, silver widgeon, magpie widgeon, golden eye widgeon, pintail duck, coot, moorhen, jack curlew, teal, seagull, woodcock, solitary snipe, common snipe, small grebe, lapwing, grey plover, golden plover, jack snipe, water rail, ring ouzel, water ouzel, marsh sandpiper, common sandpiper, knot, and kingfisher.
ANGLING.
Oswestry has no rivers immediately contiguous to it, but at short and easily-approachable distances are several, namely, the Severn, the Vyrnwy, the Tanat, the Dee, the Ceiriog, the Perry, the Morlas, and the Morda. The Severn has its rise from a small lake, on the eastern side of Plinlimmon, whence it flows in a devious direction, under the Welsh name of Hafren, to Newtown, whence it assumes its English name of Severn, and pursues its circuitous route to Shrewsbury. From its source to fair Salopia it runs nearly one hundred miles, receiving the waters of several tributaries. From Shrewsbury it continues its winding course, and receives the Tern, at the foot of the Wrekin, about which it describes a semi-circle; then curving repeatedly, it flows towards Coalbrookdale, whence it flows in a north-west direction to Tewksbury, and eventually to the British Channel. Blakey, in his recently-published volume on “Angling,” says, “The best bottom-fishing for carp, perch, roach, chub, and eel, is within those portions of the river appropriated to navigation. Grayling are to be met with in many parts of the Severn.” The Vyrnwy and Tanat abound with fish; the former so much so that it has obtained the title of Piscosus Amnis. The Tanat falls into the Vyrnwy at Aber-Tanat, and the Vyrnwy into the Severn at a place called Y Cymmerau (the Conflux), at the lower end of Guilsfield parish, not far distant from the Breiddin, Moel y Golfa, and Cefn y Castell mountains. The scene in this district has been sung in rapturous and beautiful strains by a Welsh bard and warrior, of the 12th century (Gwalchmai):—
“Rise orb of day! the eastern gates unfold,
And shew thy crimson mantle, fring’d with gold;
Contending birds sing sweet on every spray,
The skies are bright—arise, thou orb of day!
I, Gwalchmai, call—in song, in war renown’d,
Who, lion-like, confusion spread around,—
The live-long night the Hero and the Bard,
Near Breiddin’s rocks, have left a constant guard,
Where cool transparent streams in murmurs glide,
And springing grass adorns the mountain’s side,
Where snow-white sea-mews in the current play,
Spread their gay plumes, and frolic through the day!”
Blakey furnishes some practical information on this branch of our notice. He says:—
“The Vyrnwy has a great number of dependent feeders, the principal of which are the Eunant, the Afon, the Gedis, the Afon Gynnan, the Glasgwn, and the Cown. These undoubtedly constitute a considerable range of the waters, and are well adapted for the fly, and some for trolling as well. After the main river receives all these tributaries, it flows a south-eastern course for twenty miles, and then receives the waters of the Twrch, which flows a distance of twenty miles, through a very interesting section of the country. This tributary itself has good angling feeders, capable of affording fair sport with the rod. The Vyrnwy likewise receives the Cain, and, a little farther down, the Tanat, both of which contain good fish. The Tanat itself is fed by several good streams, as the Rhaiadr, the Afon Harrog, and the Ymrch. Here there is good fly-fishing. All these waters, large and small, are bright, sparkling, and flowing, and have that peculiar form of stream which indicates good sport. As to the colour of the fly requisite in these mountain streams, little need be said; in fact, when the fish are in humour, and they are not here capricious, they seem to snatch at anything in the shape of an insect. Very large flies, however, will not answer well.”
The Dee has its origin in Merionethshire, by the junction of two small streams rising about four miles to the north-west of Llanwchllyn, and two miles below that village enters Pimblemere, or Bala Lake (Llyn Tegid); issuing from that, beneath Bala, it flows under the bridge, takes a north-easterly direction through the Vale of Eideirnion, and turning to the east in fine meandering curves, waters the Vales of Glyndwrdwy (Vale of the Dee), and Llangollen, where it receives the tributary Brân. Thence, passing through Llangollen Vale, beneath Pont-y-cysyllte Aqueduct, and the Great Western (Shrewsbury and Chester) Viaduct, both of which span the Vale, it curves below Wynnstay Park, emerges into the Vale Royal of Cheshire, and finally, after passing through Holt, and skirting Eaton Hall, the magnificent seat of the Marquis of Westminster, glides past the Church of St. John the Baptist, in Chester, beneath the ancient and new bridges and railway viaduct there, and finally, at the estuary of the Dee, enters St. George’s Channel. The portion of the Dee running through Denbighshire and Flintshire (not far distant from Oswestry,) is an excellent locality for trout-fishing, as the well-supplied dinner-tables of the two hotels in Llangollen (the Hand and the Victoria) can amply testify. The Ceiriog, the Perry, the Morlas, and the Morda, are each well stored with fish, and can supply the angler with tempting rewards for his patience and skill. The Lake of Llynclys, near Oswestry, has not only a poetical, but a piscatory celebrity also. It is the scene of a clever ballad, from the pen of the poet Dovaston, who, as a prefix to his metrical tale, has given the following description of the Lake:—
“Llynclys Pool is a small but beautiful lake, of extraordinary depth, on the Welsh border, near Oswestry. The name in the Welsh signifies Sunk Palace, and the vulgar have a firmly-believed superstition (in which the neighbourhood abounds), corresponding with the catastrophe of this ballad; nay, some even at this day go so far as to affirm, that when the water is clear and the surface smooth, towers and chimneys may be seen in it at a great depth. In the summer months fishing parties of ladies and gentlemen frequently spend the day on it in a boat with music and refreshments; on one of these occasions this ballad was hastily written.”
The Lake is situated near the turnpike-road from Oswestry to Welshpool, only a short distance from Llynclys turnpike-gate. It is bordered on some of its sides with reeds and rushes, and a few years ago the flower of a white water lily was pulled up, not far from the shore, the stalk of which measured nearly fourteen feet. The fishery is the property of the Earl of Powis, and the water abounds with pike, bream, perch, and dace. R. H. Kinchant, Esq., of Park Hall, near Oswestry, has also an interest in the fishery.
The Ceiriog, a picturesque and romantic river, winds among the rocks behind Oswestry, forming deep glens and dingles, and falls into the Dee below Chirk. The Perry and Morlas are two bright rivulets arising in the mountains near Selattyn; the former passes Whittington and falls into the Severn, near Fitz, whilst the latter unites with the Ceiriog, near Pont-y-blew. The Morda, no inconsiderable stream, finds its rapid way between the rocks at Llanforda, immediately above the town of Oswestry, and, sweeping its course to the south, falls into the Vyrnwy at Pentreheylin.
The following metrical instructions to the student angler, although the lines are quaint, may not be deficient of interest to the younger disciples of Isaac Walton:—
“In deep the silver Salmon loves to rove;
And marly swifts allure the Barbel drove;
Sharp streams delight the Trout, still deep the Bream;
The fearful Chub, he loves the shaded stream.
In shady holes and hollow banks, the Perch he dwells,
And, for his boldness, the finny race excels;
Roach and Dace the sandy bottom choose,
And Carp the weeds, and Tench the muddy ooze.
In streams with gravel bottom Gudgeons do delight,
The wanton Bleak will ever sport in sight;
The Pike, the tyrant of the finny brood,
Near weeds and ledge lies lurking for his food.”