98 The Essex Naturalist
Formica fusca L.
National status Local County status Essex Local
Frequency Ratio 1.5 Tetrad Percentage 3.3%
Recorded 1km sq. percentage 7.2%
Formica fusca L.
Distribution
Widely distributed in the county with confirmed records from over 30 localities.
Barrett (1979) shows post 1961 records forTL61 and TL73 together with post
1961 records for TL30 and TL42 which may originate from Hertfordshire; a post
1961 record for TL64 which may originate in Cambridgeshire or Suffolk and a
pre 1961 record for TQ57 and post 1961 record for TQ67 which may originate
from Kent.
Habitat and Ecology
Collingwood (1979) describes the species nesting variously in banks, under
stones and in tree stumps along hedgerows and woodland borders. In Essex it is
usually associated with heathy habitats such as acid grassland, heather heathland
or heathy woodlands. Records from other habitats have frequently been
misidentifications for dark forms of F. cunicularia which is often found in
disturbed sandy places.
However there is one most interesting occurrence at Barking (coll. by
S J Etheridge in 1994 and the author in 1998) where the species occurs in old
PFA lagoons which contain dune-like areas and also directly across the Thames
on sand at Thamesmead in Kent (1987). The Barking PFA lagoons are also of