President's Page
Mark Hanson 3 Church Cottages, Church Road, Boreham, Essex CM3 3EG
I was recently walking in Writtle Forest with Graham Smith talking about his paper on
the history and woodland flora of this interesting and complex site, to be published in
the Essex Naturalist later this year. We both agreed how infuriating it was to be recording
the wildlife of such a site but to have no substantial evidence of what occurred there,
say, a hundred years ago.
There is much coppiced woodland in the forest, but presumably when it was actively
managed for its woodland products, it was regarded as just a timber/wood producer and
someone's place of work - the importance of its wildlife was probably way down on the
list of priorities. Hopefully Graham's paper will address this problem and be of some
use as a bench-mark for future recording schemes in the Writtle Forest area, a useful
conservation tool documenting the ebb and flow of various species of plant (and animal)
and possibly making an important contribution to the debate on climate change (and
other environmental factors such as pollution).
This is my second stint as president of the Field Club. I have also been a member for
about 30 years now and have been much involved with all aspects of the Club's
functioning, including the Club's natural histoiy archive. After nearly 10 years since the
closure of the Passmore Edwards Museum, there is still no resolution to the long term
storage of the Club's archive. I hope to be able to guide the Field Club into an acceptable
conclusion to this episode in our history and to spend much more time on this important
issue, publicising the importance of the collections and gaining support within the county.
Some very difficult decisions may have to be made - the Field Club cannot be discussing
what to do with the collections in another 10 years time. I hope to be able to report some
more positive developments in future issues of the newsletter.
The John Ray Rose
A piece in the Essex Chronicle for 21 st March 2003 reports a new variety of rose named
after one of Braintree's most famous residents, the famous naturalist John Ray. John
Ray was born in Black Notley in 1627. He died in 1705 and was buried in the churchyard
of Black Notley Parish Church. The John Ray Rose was planted around the Black Notley
village sign, close to a cottage where John Ray lived.
Winning war on bee pest
Ken Hill reports an article in the RHS Journal "The Garden", Vol. 128 Pt. 4 April
2003 about a fungus that acts as a biological control against Varroa destructor
(varroa mite), one of the greatest threats to the world's honeybee populations. The
mite itself reached the UK in 1992 and activates and transmits diseases while feeding
on honeybee pupae and adults.
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 41, May 2003 1