would like to take the opportunity to ask if anyone has any more updated records for
herpetofauna (native and non native) for their areas. This would be much appreciated.
We need the basics - place/location, dates, numbers and what species etc. We would be
interested in seeing any monitoring counts over a number of years or just single sightings.
We also wish to thank those members who have sent us records for 2004. Please continue
to send your records however insignificant they may seem, to help us to produce a really
comprehensive atlas of the Essex Amphibians and Reptiles.
Fungus foray to Stoneymore & Deerslade Woods, Mill Green on 5th
October 2004 led by Tony Boniface and Graham Smith
Graham Smith 48 The Meads, Ingatestone, Essex CM4 0AE
These two woods stand atop a ridge of acidic sand and gravels overlaying the London
Clay. They are coppice with standards, the former being mostly Sweet Chestnut Castanea
sativa and Hornbeam Carpinus betulus, the latter oaks - both Pedunculate Quercus
robur and Sessile Q.petraea. There are also large quantities of Silver Birch Betula
pendula. During the Victorian era an attempt was made to convert them into a mixed
oak/coniferplantation, hence the high density of standard trees compared with coppice.
Most of the Scots Pine Pinus sylvestris and Douglas Fir Pseuolsuga menziesii were
felled during the last war - although stumps remain numerous - only European Larch
Larix decidua persisting in reasonable numbers
After two of the driest autumns on record it was hoped that 2004 would turn out to be
third time lucky. So it proved, but only just. After heavy rain in early August, which
produced good numbers of the larger Agarics, especially Boleti, a prolonged dry spell
set in and was only broken a few days before the foray was due to take place. Even
though these two woods are among my favourite foray sites in the Writtle Forest I was
hopeful that we would find a few species new to the area. Such was the case and all ten
of those present managed to see a few fungi that they had not encountered before.
One of the first species we found on entering the woods was Suillus grevillei, a fungus
macrohizal with Larch while two of the other boleti seen during the afternoon, Leccinum
scabrum and the much scarcer L. roseofractum are usually associated with birch. Larger
agarics like these were a little thin on the ground, with only a few fruiting bodies of each
species, but Tony managed to identify six different Russula using Geoffrey Kibby's new
key, among them R. pseudointegra, a not uncommon species but one which had eluded
me previously using Rayner (1985). There were also five species of Lactarius, four
Collybia and three Amanita. Lignicolous fungi were well represented, showy species
such as Gymnopilus junonious, Pholiota squarosus and Griffola frondosa among them,
while the more humus rich areas produced three new species for the area from widely
divergent families, namely, Lycoperdon foetidum, Cantharellus tubaeformis and the Earth
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 46, January 2005 23