Badger lovers see post below (This one is the Society's upcoming events for February.)

Thanks Bruce for flagging up our brilliant speaker Alison Tymon (at the top) who is travelling down from Berwick-upon -Tweed where she now lives to bring us one of her favourite talks with slides. Alison is still very much involved with the Yorkshire Geology Trust.

It will be of interest to gardeners, farmers and developers as well as geologists and naturalists.

Please note, the usual meeting room is needed for Calderdale Election meetings, so by kind arrangement with the library staff we will be in the Children's Library; first right after entering the front door of the Central Library, Northgate, Halifax.

All welcome; our meetings are open to the public, with a voluntary donation to Society funds. (Suggested £2, or £1 members.)
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February Walk: 22nd Feb at 1.30pm near Hebden Bridge.
Most of our walks and outdoor events are open to the public, but for reasons of conservation this one is for members only. Also to say thank you for being loyal members. Please email or call me on usual number(s) to arrange meeting-up.

Coffee and cake in Hebden Bridge after?

It is an easy walk of about 1 mile round trip along a green lane and through a wood to look at the White Butterbur, Petasites albus; only known from two other sites in Calderdale, and rare in Yorkshire.

It was  not originally a native, but is not invasive, and attractive, if fleeting in its flowering. It looks beautiful in this situation by a rill of water. I photographed it flowering on 3rd March, so given this mild winter, it should be out on this date. (See picture below.)

There is another Butterbur relative, Petasites fragrans, or Winter Heliotrope, even rarer in Yorkshire.
This is possibly still at the point of its introduction by some Victorian gardener at a church opposite the Fire Station at King Cross, Halifax. There has been some car park development, so it may no longer exist here.

It flowers with a gorgeous fragrance, but low to the ground, so is easily missed.

White Butterbur; rare in Yorkshire, three sites only in Calderdale.