WOOD WARBLER
A male Wood Warbler was heard in the Beech Woods of
Thorndon Park on 12th, 13th and 14-th June 1972, A tape
recording was played back to the bird, which responded with
its plaintive alarm calls. Thorndon Park provides a suitable
habitat for this local migrant to Essex. This bird was seen
in exactly the same area in 1970.
Mike Parker
BOTANICAL DRAWINGS
The Concise Flora of Britain in Colour, by the Rev.
Keeble Martin, has become a firm favourite of many people,
and, with minor reservations, is one of the better buys in
the bookshops at present. The book, which is a little large
for the field, has now been issued as a paperback, at a
price of £1.25. The size is now more manageable out-of-
doors, but the reduction in size of the drawings makes the
plates appear even more overcrowded than they do in the
bigger book. Also, no longer do picture and description
face each other on opposite pages. Nevertheless, I believe
this book will be found useful, and some may even prefer it
to the Collins Pocket Guide.
For those who simply like drawings, the late Reverend's
wife has now allowed many of her husband's original sketches
for the Flora to be published as a collection. From these
pencil and ink preliminary drawings one gets a wonderful
impression of the meticulous care and observation of detail
that went into a production of the main work. In many
cases, I think the sketches are more useful, diagnostically,
than the finished paintings. Keeble Martin has a beautifully
sensitive line, and this comes over well in the nicely
printed litho plates.
I was talking about botanical drawing with Bernard
Ward, and he put forward some highly personal views. I
asked him to write these down, and the following article
is the result.
Roy Masefield.
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