A wildlife diary
Mary Smith 33 Gaynes Park Road, Upminster, Essex RM14 2HJ
At the very end of March, after the long winter, the weather warmed up and the wind
went to the SW, instead of all these nor-easters we have had all winter. The temperature
change was truly dramatic: 5°C one day, and 15°C only 48 hours later, and we had some
real rain!
A few days later, into April, Tim Pyner and I went hunting in Kenningtons Park, Aveley,
looking for mosses and liverworts. Tim is an excellent bryology teacher, handing me lots
of bits to check for myself at home and pointing out characters to look for. No real
excitements with bryophytes, but we did find a patch of round green leaves on a small
islet of mossy surface with assorted willows curling up, making walking difficult, and the
surrounding swamp was made worse when my wellies sprung a leak giving me a wet foot
for the rest of the day. Tim soon decided the leaves were a Wintergreen and probably
Round-leaved Wintergreen, which also grows in Grays Chalk Quarry not many miles
away. This proved to be the most exciting find of the day.
Later on in the month we noted that spring had started late but was accelerating to catch
up. I noticed the first Bluebell out on 12th April, which was almost the usual time, whereas
the really early plants such as Hairy Bitter-cress, Early Forget-me-not and Colt's-foot
were all nearly a month late. Buds burst on trees and shrubs, and insects such as butterflies
and bumble bees were all appearing at once.
There was another dramatic change in the weather in early May: the last weekend in April
was bitterly cold and it rained on the bank holiday which was lst May, but the Met Office
said 4thy was the hottest day so far in 2006, at 25°C.
On Friday 5th we had a field meeting of the Club at Jill's field, near Aveley, which was
another lovely day with loads of spring flowers to see (see report on pp. 21 -22). The next
day Mark Hanson told me he had seen about 2,000 Meadow Saxifrage plants in flower in
a mead as he walked along by the Chelmer and Blackwater. These are stunning flowers
when lots are out at once.
Still early in May some of us walked in Warwick Wood and found things of interest. The
first was a large growth of Dryad's Saddle Polyporus squamosus on an old Ash stump
(see plate 1). Now this particular fungus is common, but it is autumnal, not vernal. So
we were very surprised, and I hope you can see enough of the surrounding greenery to
appreciate that this was genuinely a spring photo. Several people of the group asked if
it was edible, and being told yes, but worthless, they promptly tucked in to the raw fungus.
It was very young growth, and therefore not as tough as some older ones, and they declared
it quite tasty. I think I would have preferred it cooked! You will notice the photo shows
4 Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 51, September 2006