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May 17th. General Meeting No. 1161. Hylands Park, Chelmsford.
This meeting was organised as a joint effort by the
Essex Naturalists' Trust and the Club as one of the events
for European Conservation Year 1970. Over 40 members
attended on a cool but dry day.
The flora and bird life of this fine Park were studied.
During the day, members were fortunate in being able to see
and hear blackcaps and garden warblers, two birds more often
heard than seen, and also difficult to distinguish by their
song. In addition to these, herons, great-, coal-, marsh-
and long-tailed-tits were seen and heard. In the woods,
wrens, robins and chiff-chaffs were in full song.
One group studied the magnificent trees and other
flowering plants. Amongst interesting trees recorded were
walnuts, horse chestnuts, laburnums, sycamore all in flower,
and elms in fruit. Two interesting flowering plants recorded
were Veronica serpyllifolia and Ranunculus auricomus (wood
goldilocks).
By the end of the day, 38 different species of birds
and 27 species of plants had been recorded, a good total for
such a well-attended meeting. (Mike Parker)
May 31st. Danbury Common (Birds) The morning was rather
overcast, but dry. Thirty members and friends attended the
meeting.
In the morning a search was made for red-backed shrikes,
a scarce bird which regularly visits the Common. Members
also watched a willow-tit busy feeding its young, the nest
being in a hole of a small oak tree. Nearby, willow warblers,
chiff-chaffs, linnets and yellow-hammers were in full song.