Charles Watson 1934 - 2005
Tragically, our member of Council and past president Charles Watson passed away on
the 7th October. A long-standing member of the Stortford Natural History Society, and
the Essex Field Club, Charles was our foremost authority on the natural history of north-
west Essex and north-east Herts. He spent a lifetime recording the lepidoptera of the
Bishops Stortford area, and in recent years had branched out into the recording of
hymenoptera and diptera. With wife Shirley he was responsible for a huge amount of
tetrad recording for the forth coming Flora of Hertfordshire, and for the monad recording
of a large section of north-west Essex, for our 3rd Flora of Essex. It was Charles who
suggested and instigated our highly successful Annual Exhibition and Social, that has
done more than anything, to bring together the naturalists of the county.
This little poem written by grand-daughter Hazel (11) for his funeral service on the 20th
October at Thorley Church sums up his passion for natural history:
Shadows darting through the sunlit grass,
Specks of colour flying around,
The butterflies of all sorts and colours,
Decorate the air and the ground.
A faint buzzing by a bush,
A sight of a yellowy orange bee,
The buzzing gets nearer and longer,
As the bee collects pollen for honey.
A full appreciation of Charles' life and natural histoiy accomplishments will appear in
the 2005-2006 Essex Naturalist.
An unusual ascomycete Morchella elata
Ken Adams 63 Wroths Path, Baldwins Hill. Loughton. Essex. IG10 1SH
This unusual ascomycete (sec plate 3) appeared on buried timbers after the demolition
of my former Lab. at the University of East London, Stratford, in April 2005. Note the
cap merges smoothly into the stipe which separates it from M. conica. We think there
were around 6 in a cluster but the rest were taken for cooking before we got there!
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 49, January 2006
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