white by the sun. I counted just 28 (of Shenstone's 50) left - in actual fact 3 were just
showing signs of leaf, but not much and shortly these 3 will follow the other great ghosts
into eternity. I calculated the average girth of the trees to be about 15 feet. (The largest
would have been about 18 feet, the smallest 11 feet.) The trees were virtually completely
bark-less. I suspect that generations of cattle have gnawed away at the tree bark eventually
ring-barking and killing them. One of the oaks has a double trunk.
Shenstone thought the trees were remains of a park, but 1 am not so sure. Morant writing
in 1768 makes no mention of a park there, but the trees arc probably around 300 - 400
years old and would have been present then (they are the trees shown on the Chapman
and Andre map, but they are not that regularly spaced). Oliver Rackham in his book The
History of the Countryside (1986) on plate XVI, following page 216, shows a similar
field of pollard trees at Risby, Suffolk stating that such fields with many trees are a
speciality of the Breckland edge. Whatever the origin of the Mundon trees I suspect
they are unique in Essex, and I have never seen a group of trees like this outside a forest
or park. It greatly saddens me that they are all dead or dying and I feel perhaps a little
positive custodianship in the past would have been helpful.
The site is probably well known to pilgrims on St. Peters Way and I would urge anyone
interested in veteran trees to make a pilgrimage to the site. I actually felt quite privileged
to have seen them while they were just about still alive (perhaps permission should be
sought to gather leaves for DNA analysis). I also found the tiny mainly 14"' Century
church of St Mary, Mundon open (It has been a redundant church since 1970, now
leased by the Friends of Friendless churches) and opening the door is like walking straight
back into the medieval period - it is noted for its aisled timber belfry made of imposingly
massive tapered beams some 13ins square at the bottom end.
Reptile refugia - a new survey method for Glow-worm!
Jon Cranfield 14 Wiltshire Road, Eastleigh, Hants S053 3EZ
Yes you did read right, it is Glow-worm not Slowworm in the title of this article. Tim
Gardiner and co have recently undertaken a Glow-worm survey in the county in 2001
and 2002 (EFC Newsletter No 38). There is an urgent need for further survey work on
this species in the UK (Gardiner & Tyler, 2002). The main method used in the Essex
survey is to count glowing females along chosen transect routes. These transects are
walked on occasions during July and August which is the peak glowing period. The
amount of time to get data on this species is quite a small window of opportunity. If
methods can be found to extend the survey season of the species then this would help
with its conservation.
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 42, September 2003
17