easily able to cut the trunk at water level, but did count the growth rings and assumed the
germination date to be during the Great War. A tree not far away, felled some years ago,
gave me a date of 1918.I had been told long ago that timber was taken from the wood
for the war effort; the weather, presumably in the summer, was very wet and they lost
two horses whilst drawing the timber to a hard road. A long straight narrow meadow, on
the extraction route, was turned to deep mud.
The position of this Oak was unusual because it was so close to the very large Ash
coppice, several times older than the Oak. I take it for granted the only likely time for an
Oak to grow among the large Ash roots was when it was cut and the canopy shade was
absent. This would have been the winter of 1917/18 to allow the extraction of the coppice
standards. From what I was told about the timber extraction in a wet summer I can see
how this would have been the only year for a young Oak to survive in this position.
There were no roots on the side closest to the Ash, nor on the stream bank side and the
tap root position was strangled by the surrounding Ash roots. The only roots of any size,
which could not be seen clearly, must have been on the stream and which allowed the
trunk to regain its upright position when cut.
I take it for granted the tree was unfortunate in that it had such a full foliage so late in the
year, whilst the other trees upwind to the south west were leafless. The one-sided root
anchorage was also very unfortunate and it was obviously only a matter of time before
the tree fell.
Scarce hawkmoths turning up on Langdon Hills
Rodney Cole Elizabeth Cottage, Bells Hill Road, Vange, Essex. SS16 5JT
Email: rlcole@fish.co.uk
Two of the more unusual species of hawkmoth have turned up on Langdon Hills during
the course of 2006, and in both cases it could well be that resident breeding populations
exist.
On 2nd July a day-flying hawkmoth with semi-transparent wings, flying across a woodland
path in Great Sutton Wood, was probably a Broad-bordered Bee Hawk Hemaris
fuciformis. Both this woodland and some of its neighbours have considerable amounts
of honeysuckle, the principal foodplant for the larva. The relative remoteness of this
particular wood might well mean that a resident breeding population exists, albeit hitherto
escaping attention.
Waring and Townsend (2003) give this species as Nationally Scarce B, and Brian Goodey
in The Moths of Essex (2004) indicates that it is a nominated species for the Essex Red
Data Book. The distribution map given in the latter volume indicates that precious few
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 53, May 2007
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