The group leader for the time being will be myself and the group will be working closely
with David Scott (County Recorder) and the Essex Amphibian and Reptile Group
(recently re-established).
Our first task will be to encourage Field club members to send in more records for the
updated Herpetofauna Atlas, which will be completed and published hopefully at the
end of 2003.
It is hoped that regular field meetings, survey training sessions and talks will be organised
in conjunction with the EARG and other groups in the coming years. One particular date
that people should remember will be the Regional Meeting of the HGBI (Herpetofauna
groups of Britain and Ireland) for East Anglia, which is going to be hosted by the EARG
in Southend on the 25* October 2003. Please contact the EARG on 07769 644354 or
essex_arg@hotmail.coin for more details.
The next field meeting will be at Norsey Woods on the 24"' September 2003. The EARG
will be meeting at the visitor's centre. Before the start of the meeting a field visit will be
made to the wood to look for reptiles and possibly young amphibians. Please contact me
for more details jonathan.cranfield@btopenworld.com Tel: 07769 644354
A wildlife diary
Mary Smith 33 Gaynes Park Road, Upminster, Essex RM14 2HJ
April began with clouds and rain borne on a southwesterly wind, but only a couple of
days later we were back into the anticyclonic weather of March: clear skies, lovely
sunny days with a light east wind and night frosts. Although the spring flowers were
lovely, most plants were not growing very much. We did not need to cut the lawn at
weekly intervals, as we often do during April. The night frosts were checking the leafy
growth. Plants grow fast in the dark, as anyone who has forgotten a tray of seedlings left
in a dark place by mistake will know. Plants grow fast to reach the light, and when the
light is reached the growth slows. The same happens with the natural day and night
cycle, if the temperature is constant, so indoor plants can be seen to grow more in the
night than in the day. But, of course, outdoors the night is usually much cooler than the
day, and so the cold frost at night checks growth quite dramatically.
Gradually spring blossomed, but still with not much rain. This was looking like the
weather pattern we had experienced here in the 1990s, with very little rain between
March and October, giving a more Mediterranean type of climate. This is not all bad, as
it contributes to the 'specialness' of this area in south Essex where we live, variously
known as the Thames Terraces, the Thames Gateway, or the Benfleet Corridor. And this
bit of Essex really is special for its natural history.
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Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 42, September 2003