London and is still spreading fast, as it lives in or on Plane trees, where it eats the dry
fruits but seems otherwise not to harm the tree in any way. We have Plane trees in
Upminster but when I looked today I could see lots of fruits, both last year's old ones
and the greenish new ones, but none had any beetles on, red or otherwise. Now the
NHM is mightily embarrassed by this beetle, as they have 28 million specimens of
insects from all over the world very close by, and numerous contacts with other museums
world-wide, but no-one can identify this one. Some Dutch scientists are analysing its
DNA, but I think it will be some time yet before anyone uses that to name it, as the DNA
of all the other millions of insects is not yet known. Neither does anyone know where it
came from, but presumably another country where Plane trees grow; however, that is
less than useful as Planes are found over almost the whole of the northern hemisphere.
Maybe this is new to science too, like the ghost slug?
Close to the end of July we were in Weald Country Park, near Brentwood, in scorching
sun at 26°C. To our great surprise, we found a plant of the Broad-leaved Helleborine
Epipactis helleborine in a small bit of woodland. There used to be a good number of
sites for this in Essex, but alas, rather few remain. Jermyn mentions a site of it in Mores
Wood, Coxtie Green, which is good enough the same spot we found it. But presumably
there was a colony, whereas we found just one feeble plant, in spite of much searching.
Such is the story of our times.
Out in the garden in the heat of the next day, I was mowing our 'lawn', better described
as rank meadow. Two Toads, luckily escaping the mower by the skins of their teeth (do
Toads have teeth? I think not!) crawled into shrubby bits just ahead of the mower. I
wonder if one of these is the one I saw in the spring?(see above) Meanwhile, judging by
the molluscs hiding in the long grass, they were indeed tucking into said animals, so I
hope they will return and continue their munching.
Please let me know of interesting finds that you would like mentioned in this diary, or,
even better, write an article yourself!
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 57, September 2008
7