scales. It is apparently edible, but presumably this judgement is based on young specimens -
the older ones are very tough, strong smelling and usually full of insects.
Reference
Phillips, R. (1981) Mushrooms and other fungi of Great Britain and Europe. Ward Lock.
6) Birds. Mr. M. W. Hanson
The prevalence of elm in the Essex landscape has caused it to be much used as a nesting site
for a number of species.
Most obvious, perhaps, is the Rook. In Essex some 65% of rookeries were in elms (Cox,
1984) and the destruction of elms by Dutch Elm Disease has greatly reduced the available
nesting sites. Rooks, however, will quite happily use other species. Rooks have greatly declined
in Essex. A survey in 1945 estimated 22,300 nests; in 1975 just 9,738 were recorded. The
decline, however, is not directly related to Dutch Elm Disease, but more probably the destruction
and outright loss of some 95% of old grassland in Essex in favour of arable fields.
Herons also used elms for nesting in. Most notable was the former heronry in Wanstead
Park (Christy, 1890). Christy also records Herons nesting in elms at Walton's Hall, Mucking.
Old hollow elms were a much favoured nesting site of owls. The Rev. J. C. Atkinson, writing
about barn owls (Christy, 1890) - 'My favourite boy-acquaintance, however, was with the
nesting-place and habits of a pair which nested for many consecutive years in a slight hollow
in the crown of a large pollard elm tree in my father's churchyard (at Layer Marney) in Essex'.
Alan Parker (1968) in a study of owls at Gobions Farm, Collier Row near Romford found three
species of owl - Tawny, Little and Barn, all nesting in elms in the vicinity of the farm. The
Tawny Owls were nesting in one of a group of about thirty 60-70 ft. elms and some 200 yards
away a pair of Little Owls were nesting in a hole in an elm about 70 ft. high and 200 yd. away
from this site in an elm stump the Barn owls were nesting in a hole about 20 ft. above ground
level, the hole being due to a broken off lateral branch which led into a chamber in the centre
of the tree. The elms were virtually the only large trees in the immediate landscape; the few
nearby hedgerows were of elm and hawthorn.
I have seen Kestrels nesting in a decaying English Elm trunk. A pair nested in such an
ivy-clad trunk by the entrance gates to North Farm in Epping Forest. Jackdaws, Stock Doves,
Starlings and Sparrows will also nest in holes in elms (Christy, 1921). I have also seen
woodpecker holes in well-decayed elm and Tree Creepers will quite happily nest behind the
peeling bark of dead elms. Wrens hide their nests in the ivy-wrapped trunks of dead elms.
Perhaps the most interesting association of birds with elms in Essex were the 'Raven Trees'
of the Essex coast. The Raven was formerly a widespread but uncommon breeding species in
the county, becoming extinct as a breeding bird in the late nineteenth century. Only a handful
of records of this species have been made this century. Miller Christy in his 'Birds of Essex'
published in 1890 provides all the information below.
'The Raven was once a common bird, breeding frequently in Essex, and there
are still many trees known as 'Raven Trees', from the fact of their having once
been regularly occupied by a pair of birds for many years; but it is now almost
extinct... The species lingered on the coast some time after becoming rare inland.'
Lieut. Legge, writing from Shoebury in 1866:
T was surprised to find three pairs nesting within a distance of six miles of the
station. They seemed to have preferred the lowlands, probably on account of the
large trees growing in the hedge-rows, as all three nests were built in tall elms so
situated .... The first nest found was on the 16th March, and was built high up
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