The Essex Naturalist 83
heath along the western edge in 1991; three places in Epping Forest at Pole Hill
Meadow (coll. by P R Mabbott in 1994 & 1995), Hill Wood (Hanson, 1992)
and a small nearby area of old grassland near the Robin Hood; acid grassland at
Middlewick Ranges Colchester (R Ruffell in 1991 & 1993) and a flower-rich
calcareous roadside verge at Heydon both in N. Essex.
Barrett (1979) shows post 1961 records for TQ 69, TL70, TL 42, TL43
together with records for TQ47 and TQ57 (which may be in Kent) and TL64
(which may be in Cambs. or Suffolk).
Although S. P. Hoy (in Edwards 1998) suggests that the shortage of recent
records in Britain is probably the result of low recording effort, particularly in
upland northern England and Scotland this cannot be said for our own county
and the species would seem to warrant an urgent revision of its present
conservation status, at least in southern and south-eastern England. It is
certainly rare in Kent with no recent records (Allen 1989) and Essex and the
species is only known in Dorset from a single colony (Mahon & Pearman,
1993). There is evidence that it is a good indicator species of unimproved
habitat and as such may have undergone dramatic decline in southern
England.
Habitat and Ecology
In northern Europe the species occurs on lowland heath and in open woodland
and although widely distributed it is not abundant and occurs in isolated single
queen colonies nesting in peat or under stones, and is commonly found as single
foraging workers (Collingwood, 1979). S.P. Hoy in Edwards (1998) states that
the species tends to occur in fairly undisturbed natural and semi-natural habitats
such as upland moorland, lowland heath, rough grassland and open woodland.
All the Essex localities are unimproved grasslands in some cases very small
remnants.
Threats
Pole Hill and the grassland near the Robin Hood are part of the Epping Forest
SSSI but the other sites do not have any statutory protection. All the sites are
vulnerable to inappropriate management, neglect and scrub invasion. There
have been past threats of gravel extraction at Orsett Golf Course and the future
of Middlewick Ranges only remains relatively secure whilst it remains in the
hands of the MOD. The consequences of privatised management at this site is
apparently giving rise to concern about the effect on the nature conservation
importance of the acid grassland.
Myrmica rubra (L.)
National status Common County status Essex Common
Frequency Ratio 2.8 Tetrad Percentage 11.4%
Recorded 1km sq. percentage 26.2%