45
unkind, a biting east wind faced the ten
members walking along the towpath, so we were
qlad to turn south towards Little Baddow
church, following what a newly erected
fingerpost told us was 'Admiral Machardy's
Way'. It has to be admitted that nobody had
heard of the Admiral, but it transpires that he
was the first Chief Constable of the County in
1840 and the path had been walked only the
previous day by 200 uniformed policemen to
celebrate 150 years of the force! Perhaps
this explains why we recorded only 26 species,
all of which were residents, although one
Chiffchaff was heard during our stop for lunch,
before returning via the towpath with the wind
now behind us.
One sad note: a recently dead mute swan was
seen in the river.
JOHN BATH
BIRD GROUP MEETING - FINGRINGHOE, 6TH MAY, 1990
A glorious, hot, sunny day and one of the
finest venues in the County, yet only four
members were present. The Warden gave an
interesting introductory talk on recent
management schemes carried out, which include
the clearing of the far side of the lake and
the formation of a sand cliff which had already
attracted nesting Sand Martins and a
Kingfisher.