St Osyth to Point Clear, 19" August 2006
Ken Adams 63 Wroths Path, Baldwins Hill, Loughton, Essex IG10 1SH
This, the fourth of our coastal surveys around the Tendring peninsula, was intended to
map the uncommon plant species between St.Osyth, right round to Colne Point. That
however proved to be too ambitious! - and participants were glad of the shuttle back to
St. Osyth, made possible by leaving a getaway car at Point Clear bay. Making our way
across the Mill Dam causeway, the substantial colony of Golden Samphire, Inula
crithmoides along the western side, a Vcl9 speciality, was noted, as was an extensive
fringe of Sea Wormwood, Seriphidium maritimum. On the other side, Peter Wilson
spotted Ruppia maritima on raised areas of mud in the dried up boating lake. Then.
starting off along the sea wall, we were soon distracted by a wide swathe of rather
weedy Quinoa, Chenopodium quinoa that had been planted around a cornfield,
presumably as pheasant cover, that yielded a good range of arable weeds, including
both species of Fluellen, the hastate-leaved species Kicksia elatine, being especially
abundant. Earlier in the year this field had rosettes of the liverwort Riccia glauca, but
none were refound. On the sea wall itself, two small alien Quercus ilex. Holm or
Evergreen Oak, were thought to be worth the record, prompting flie suspicion that in
another 50 years they may well have formed a thicket. [This species has blanketed many
of the chalk cliffs along the south coast of the Isle of Wight, forming impenetrable
thickets that would need an army of abseiling goats to eliminatel. Shortly afterwards
Shirley Watson diverged from the main party and just escaped from her first female
Wasp Spider at rather close quarters! A small wood immediately behind the sea wall
soon drew our attention, as an old gnarled oak tree with some lichen cover, was smothered
with Red Admiral butterflies alighting on the Parmelia covered boughs, presumably to
obtain salty moisture. Just west of the wood a small area of cut-off area of saltings on the
inside of the wall yielded a clump of Juncus maritimus, and just a few metres further
on. a small colony of Bupleurum tenuissimum. Slender Hare's-ear was encountered,
actually on top of the wall, flie only one seen all day. About half way between the wood
and the northward bend in the sea wall a sizeable colony of Thrift, Armeria maritima
was noted on the saltings. Rounding the next bend, Tim Pyner spotted large colonies of
the single flowered Sarcocornia perennis, Perennial Glasswort (see plate 5), and
demonstrated its horizontal rhizomes that interconnect the plants. Remarkably, we found
several plants of it high up on the sloping sea wall, its horizontally growing stems having
penetrated under the pitch used to seal the square concrete blocks used to face the wall
(see photograph). Growing with it were several plants of Tripleurospermum maritimum.
I don't think any members of the party will now forget how to separate it from T. inodorum
(see Fig. 1). Most of the sea wall from then on had been flailed, but a small clump of
Spiny Restharrow had managed to survive. Somewhat further on, we were confronted
by two small apple trees, growing on the outer edge of the sea wall. The first had twenty
or so virtually full-grown caterpillars of the Eyed Hawk Moth, (see plate 6) that had
eaten themselves out of food and cover, so, feeling sorry for them, we transferred some
of them to the second, which also had quite a few caterpillars, but hopefully enough
leaves to fatten them all up for pupating. At intervals along the inside of the wall, isolated
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 52, January 2007
25