sloped up to the trees at the wood edges, of the wet and marshy northern entrance with
sallow trees and giant marsh thistles, of wide clear sunny rides and high brown and
silver-washed fritillary butterflies nectaring on the abundant flowers of marsh thistles
and white admirals gliding throughout the wood. This is in sad contrast to the wood
today, the farm a one-field prairie monoculture, the heath gone, no hedges and the plough
up to the boundary of the wood.
The book has sections on current residents, migratory species and lost species, but
frustratingly no index, or even chapter headers - which makes it difficult if you want to
read about a particular species. It is also odd when one of the book's aims is apparently
to cater for beginners. Nevertheless this book is an interesting account of butterflies in
our county and, although it concentrates on the butterflies of northeast Essex, it covers
the great majority of butterflies to be found in southeast England and East Anglia. It will
be of interest to many naturalists and is well worth having on your bookshelf.
Peter Harvey
Book review: Hedgerow Survey Handbook
This thorough and extremely helpful handbook is available free from Defra, Conservation
Management Division, Area 4D, Ergon House, 17 Smith Square, London SW 1P 3JR, or
the document and survey forms can be viewed and downloaded from www.english-
nature.org.uk/pubs/publication/pub_search.asp keyword search: hedgerow.
Its availability is especially useful bearing in mind the concerns raised by Charles Watson
in the President's Page of this newsletter on the condition and management of hedgerows
in our county. The handbook is intended for all those involved with surveying hedgerows,
and it provides a standard procedure for local surveys in the UK that should allow the
identification of hedgerows with wildlife value, as well as those that are simply ancient
by virtue of their number of woody species.
Identification is the first step towards effective action, and help is given by the provision
of information on possible sources of funding, the legal protection of hedges, criteria
for important hedgerows, species listed in Hedgerows Regulations (1997), and UK
Biodiversity Action Plan priority species which may be associated with hedgerows, as
well as regional lists of frequently occurring hedgerow plant species. There is also very
practical information given on health and safety issues when surveying hedges.
All in all this is a handbook many of our members should not be without.
Peter Harvey
22
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 40, January 2003