Whoever it was, I would like to say 'thank you'. Another fascinating item showed a
Birch Polypore from Hatfield Forest and its total disintegration by small insects, some
of which had been caught and were shown as the little beetles. Charles Watson, whose
exhibit it was, was amazed when told that these little beetles were on the Red Data List!
Wandering in Belhus Woods Country Park a few days before Christmas I came across a
huge growth of fungi on an old heap of discarded grass mowings by a hedge. They were
the Clouded Agaric, which is very familiar as a stout greyish-capped fungus in woodlands,
but here they were in the open. But most remarkable was their size; most of them were
about 30cm across the cap, with stems 5cm wide and 25cm high. There were about 50
of them, all crowded together with their caps overlapping, so it was hard to count them.
My husband commented that it was a pity they were not considered edible. But it
clearly showed what could happen in an enriched growing medium.
As the solstice on 22nd December loomed ever closer I looked up the times for sunrise
and sunset on the internet. You probably knew that the times do not change in a steady
pattern all through the year, but change rather slowly close to the solstices and rather
fast around the equinoxes. Most of us think of the winter solstice as being the shortest
day and longest night, which indeed it is, but it is actually defined as when the sun is
furthest south of the equator, which means when it is at its lowest in the sky at midday.
But we do not so easily have access to figures for the height of the midday sun. But we
do have daily sunrise and sunset times in the quality daily papers, and on many internet
sites. These times change in an interesting way. Times of sunrise are latest for 10 days
in a row, at 8:06am, at Greenwich, to the nearest minute, from 26th December to 4th
January inclusive. So the latest sunrise is about midway between these dates at 30th or
31st December. Similarly, sunset is fairly constant from 10th to 15th December, at 15:51pm.
The earliest sunset is therefore about 12th or 13th December. So it could be quite
complicated from these figures to work out which is the shortest day! Actually, halfway
between these extremes makes the longest night the one of 21/22 December, which
indeed it is. But for several days before Christmas, the sunset time is getting later, as it
is past its earliest, but sunrise does not start to get earlier until 5th January. No wonder it
feels like dark days for ages! Naturally, a similar situation, but the opposite, happens at
the summer solstice, and we have early dawns and late dusks for several weeks. But at
the equinoxes in spring and autumn the times of sunset and sunrise are both changing so
fast that it is easier to pinpoint the exact day/night when day and night arc equal lengths.
Just after Christmas, on 28* December, 1 was in Eastbrookend Country Park, a flat area
between Hornchurch and Dagenham. After a brisk walk in the mild weather we noticed
a Hazel in full bloom, with the catkins shedding pollen. With global warming these
sorts of unseasonal events are becoming more common. I understand that many people
in southern England now mow their lawns all year round. We would here, if only it
would stop raining!
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 41, May 2003
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