Fallow were seen with 100 of them being inside Hylands Park grazing. So the numbers
change according to the weather, available food and the gun. The grand total of 5299 individual
deer sightings includes 60 Muntjac (all Essex) one Roe, one Red and the rest being Fallow
in an area bordered by the M25, A12, M11 and to the north of a line from Colchester
through Halstead, Finchingfield to Saffron Walden.
Many of the deer would have been counted two or three times in a year. With all the coming
and going it is difficult to get a true idea of the numbers in an area at any one time, such as the
group that hangs around the Hylands Park. On most days you can find deer in the King Wood
area. As it gets dark they move to Chapel and into the park. The number can be anything
between just a handful and 100+, and the big bucks are just as unpredictable. You could go
a year without seeing a good buck in the Writtle Forest, and then one day 12 will be laying
out on corn in full view of me, the man and his dog and the two horse riders. All they do is
chew the cud, twitch their ears and wave their enormous antlers about. Perhaps that's it, they
are waiting for the antlers to drop off before they can move.
Essex Field Club website records
Peter Harvey 32 Lodge Lane, Grays, Essex RM16 2YP
Since 2002 we have included information and pictures on the Essex Field Club website
at www.essexfieldclub.org.uk about a number of species that are reasonably easy for
non-specialists to recognise, with forms for people to submit their records or observations.
I have been gradually adding to these, and for example have added forms this year for
the Stag Beetle Lucanus cervus, Lily Beetle Lilioceris lilii, Dark-edge Bee Fly Bombylius
major, Hairy-footed or Spring Flower Bee Anthophora plumipes and Slow-worm Anguis
fragilis to help with surveys currently being undertaken in the county or nationally.
Our front cover this issue shows a wonderful picture submitted by Brian Wadie with his
Hampshire record for the Hairy-footed Flower Bee. He has very kindly given permission
for its use here and also provided the montage for plate 3, top right. Brian was helped in
the identification process by Paul Rules, who made the first guess and put him in touch
with our website. From the pictures Brian submitted, I was able to confirm his
identification. Another picture submitted by Steve Tollett (Plate 3 top left) shows the
Lily Beetle he found on his ornamental lilies in Sussex. I am very grateful for his
permission to use it here.
There has been a very encouraging response to the website forms, with the Lily Beetle
being by far the most popular and well-used - to date over 240 forms have been submitted.
One of the most interesting features of the results has been the varied location of records
submitted. Only 40 of the Lily Beetle forms have originated from Essex, with the
remainder coming from all over the country and even 9 each from the USA and Canada!
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 45, September 2004 15