males? I have now leamt, thanks to Peter, that the even larger females sit by the webs,
and the males go hunting for them. Now, I wonder, where are all these webs with
enormous black hairy females? They sound like Shelob in The Lord of the Rings and I
am quite glad that I never find them!
In mid-September when fungi were coming up all over the place after some more rain,
we saw some new ones in Belhus Woods Country Park. These seemed to be growing out
of a root, a dead root by now, of a Lime. 1 took a bit home to identify and it was
Blushing Rosette Abortiporus biennis (sec plate 5), which I had never seen before though
it seems it is not uncommon in southern England. Speaking to some friends a week or so
later, several of them had found this same fungus in their areas, and later on we found
some more in Bedfords Park. Clearly, Blushing Rosette is This Year's Fungus.
A day or so later 1 joined a fungus foray led by Graham Smith in the woods near Fryerning
to the west of Ingatestone (see separate report). On the heights of south Essex it was
quite damp, and we found lots of fungi. So, encouraged that things were really moving,
my husband and I went to Weald Park, west of Brentwood, less than 10km from the
Fryerning woods and similar altitude. We found a few common ones, but mostly this
area was as dry as a bone. The old wood pasture and climax woodland bits of Weald
Park have been almost undisturbed for centuries, whereas the Fryerning woods are
relatively young (roughly post-war) though with a few large trees on old field boundaries.
So we would expect a wider variety of fungi in Weald Park, but actually the reverse was
what we found. I wonder why?
In the last few days of September we had a fair bit of rain, mainly overnight. To our
surprise, the River Ingrebourne was full, brown and rushing like it sometimes is in
February but never before in September that we could remember. The water meadows
were under water, though not from the river overflowing but rather from the fact that the
clay soil held the rain water and the river banks are slightly raised so the water could not
drain out.
A few days later a friend rang to say she had a caterpillar and could I come round to
identify it? I get all manner of 'nature' enquiries, even though my friends know perfectly
well that I do things that don't move, not things that do. Anyway, I went round armed
with 2 insect books, and sure enough, it was easi ly identified as an Elephant Hawk Moth
caterpillar. I do not recollect seeing one of these monsters before, but the book said they
are nocturnal, both as caterpillars and as adult moths, and, since I do not often hunt
plants at night, I had not met one. Very impressive it certainly was.
The next day, 1st October, we went fungus hunting in Belhus Woods Country Park to see
if the extra rain had made the Running Water Brook into a torrent, or had encouraged
the growth of fungi. The Brook was still empty, ie no water, but the ground was quite
damp. I suppose the alluvium that lines the Brook and its banks is more porous than the
6 Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 49, January 2006