8
saved from a similar fate by a late emergence,
in September. Conversely, the Molly Blue - a
species almost unknown in the area be-fore 1989
- enjoyed an excellent summer, thirty indi-
viduals being counted in the vicinity of the
Observatory one day in late August. A similar
number of Speckled Woods - a butterfly that did
not colonise the thicket until a few years ago
— were also present, together with a more than
usual number of Small Coppers, whilst a
Camberwell Beauty was reported from Tillingham
in July and 1-2 Clouded Yellows were sighted
along the Dengie seawall in mid-September.
The hot weather was much less to the liking of
dragonflies, perhaps because the seawall
borrowdykes in which they breed were severely
affected by the drought. Apart from a brief
appearance by a Broad—Bodied Chaser, a species
new to the area, all records referred to Common
Darters, Migrant and Southern Hawkers, the
first—named being especially numerous with at
least twenty individuals, mostly females or
dowdy coloured males, in October.
Despite its small size, the thicket often
harbours a good selection of fungi and although
the early autumn heat was hardly conducive to
their appearance, the rain in November remedied
the situation to some extent. Among those to
appear were large quantities of Clitocybe
gibba and Lepista saeva, otherwise known as
Blewits. Others included Aleuria aurantia,
which resembles discarded orange peel; the
bracket fungus Tremella mesenterica, looking
disgustingly like a particle of bloodied brain
putrefying in the sunlight on a butcher's