260 THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
J.H.Johnson's letter to E. A. Fitch and then writes, "In 1877
"there were five nests." E. M. Nicholson in his "Report on the
"British Birds' Census of Heronries, 1928," states that this
colony was founded in 1872, when there was one nest. I wrote
in my" History of the Birds of Essex "that the St. Osyth heronry
originated a few years prior to 1877. I do not think there can
be any doubt that Christy made a mistake in writing 1877 and
that the true date of the origin of the heronry is 1882 or 1883.
The colony had increased to about thirty nests in 1899. The St.
Osyth heronry appears to have increased steadily since its for-
mation, perhaps by reason of its seclusion and feeding facilities,
for on 16th April, 1927, I counted sixty-one nests and when I
repeated the count a year later, on 6th April, 1928, this figure
had increased to seventy-five. The heronry has a very beauti-
ful setting, the nests being placed on trees surrounding a lake
of considerable size and also on an island. The trees used were
chiefly alders, but also chestnut, ash and oak. There is a large
rookery adjoining the heronry.
The remainder of the existing heronries, five in number, have
all been recorded in recent years, although some of them had
been in existence many years earlier. Rolls Farm heronry
was not recorded until 1934, but as it has been shown to have
been in existence on its present site for thirty-four years we
are justified in taking 1900 as the date of its origin. It is re-
ported, however, to have existed before this year, Dr. J. W.
Campbell, who visited the heronry in March and April, 1934,
states that the nests were in two elms in a hedgerow bounding
a field sloping down to a fresh marsh with the seawall and
Blackwater Estuary beyond. Across the field in the next hedge,
which is not part of Rolls Farm, were more nests also in elms.
Twenty-one nests were counted in four elms, the figures being
thirteen, five, two and one. Fifteen Herons were disturbed from
the nesting trees on 7th April, 1934. There were also twenty-
one nests in 1933. The heronry is situated in the parish of
Tollesbury, about one-and-a-quarter mile south-west of Tolles-
bury village.
The Mundon heronry was founded about 1913, although the
actual date is not known. It is situated in a plantation adjacent
to Mundon Church. The colony started with two nests and has
steadily increased, there being thirty-five nests in August, 1928.