has created a reserve that is not only beautiful but of an importance far in excess of its
size, given the context of the intensively farmed land that surrounds it.
It is now high summer and I'm lazing on the Obs lawn with a cup of tea and a packet of
hobnobs to hand, constructing this article in my mind. Some friends are camped round
the Observatory pond, awaiting the return of two Scarce Emerald Damselflies Lestes
dryas seen there a little earlier in the day. Another - who has become a born again
gardener in middle-age - is busy mowing the back lawn of Linnet's Cottage. As much as
I detest tidiness - the curse of wildlife everywhere - I have to admit that he has done a
good job. The garden is ringed by fruit trees, planted by Walter Linnet in the first half of
the last century. Among them is a variety of greengage whose sun warmed fruit can
truthfully be described as the nectar of the gods, notwithstanding the small package of
protein many of them contain! The boughs are heavy with fruit this summer but, alas, it
may be their last. The trees have become infected with Phellinus tuberculosus (-
pomaceus) a fungus which causes a serious white rot and eventually kills its host. Already
many of the smaller branches on some trees arc dead. If the Bardsey Apple can be saved
for posterity why not the Bradwell Greengage? If anybody out there (and I live in hope
that a few people may be reading this) knows the best way to take a cutting from an
ageing fruit tree please get in touch.
Some interesting records for 2003
M.W. Hanson 3 Church Cottages, Church Road, Boreham, Essex CM3 3EG
So far 2003 looks has been quite an exciting year for me in Essex. I have seen Marbled White
butterflies (see plate 5) at Fenn Creek, South Woodham Ferrers (TQ 804958) - a species 1
have never before seen in Essex, although there is a long history of the butterfly in southeast
Essex, and recent years have seen an expansion in range. There were possibly nine to a dozen
individuals were involved, feeding on creeping thistle on a hot sunny day in early July.
Another nice Lepidopteran to see was the Hummingbird Hawkmoth. An individual visited
my garden in Boreham (TL 756095) on at least four occasions in June where they were
feeding on Red Valerian Centranthus ruber including the pink, white and red forms. I
also have records (all on red valerian) from Shellow Bowells (TL 615081) and from
Copped Hall walled garden on our field trip on the 21 June (TL 427016). Clouded
Yellows turned up in a lucerne field near Holybred Wood, Little Baddow, in early August.
Other notable records for me have been a number of flies, including the Red Data Book
(RDB3) picture winged fly Dorycera graminum and the lovely black, and golden-haired
Nationally Scarce robberfly Choerades marginatus, both from Hylands Park. The Essex
Saltmarsh tabanid Atylotus latistriatus (RDB3) was found at Fenn Creek, a male classically
feeding on sea lavender and also at the same locality, Volucella zonaria, our largest
hoverfly and a species I have not seen for some years now (but which is frequent in the
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 42, September 2003 13