Molluscs in Essex: a new Recorder for the Club
Simon Taylor 108 Rickstones Road, Witham, Essex CM8 2NB
simon.taylor@essex.gov.uk
Having been a lifelong 'molluscophile' I have been puzzled ever since developing a
specific interest in local natural history, and particularly since joining the Essex Field
Club, that there has been no county recorder for what is a fascinating and hugely varied
phylum of animals.
But a certain lack of confidence in my all-round knowledge of the various groups involved
held me back from poking my head over the parapet and volunteering. Once or twice,
articles in Club publications have touched on the mollusca - a new snail record for
Essex here, an unusual Cephalopod specimen found there - and each time I thought that
it would be interesting to be involved but, despite having a few articles of my own
published elsewhere and contributing to national records, nagging self-doubt held me
back, put into sharp focus by the superb body of work carried out on the land and
freshwater fauna of Suffolk in the recent past by Ian Killeen (some may be familiar with
his excellent 1992 book The land and freshwater molluscs of Suffolk: an atlas & history.
Ipswich: The Suffolk Naturalists' Society).
Inspiration can creep up on you unexpectedly though and in the spring, whilst on a
mineral and seashell study trip in Cornwall, I happened to visit Stella Turk, the iconic
Cornish naturalist. Despite her advancing years she maintains a very keen interest in all
natural history but especially in molluscs and county recording. Such was her spark that
I left her lovely cottage ('Shangri-La' - an amazing place) resolved that on returning to
Essex I should take steps towards offering my services to the Field Club. Ringing in my
ears was her advice that recording presents an almost unparalleled opportunity not just
to learn but to constantly use and reinforce the knowledge gained.
The offer was made and accepted, so here I am. I shall, of course, set about as much
field work as I can but would also urge all club members to utilise my position to increase
the focus on this much overlooked group, contact me with identification queries, send
me records, anything at all. One particular way members may be able to help is to let me
know if there is any dredging activity going on in the county, either in freshwater or
offshore, as the dredgings may contain species which are difficult to come across
otherwise. From a marine aspect, also of interest is trawled material, anything unusual
which is beach stranded and even large chunks of driftwood, as these may contain unusual
passengers. I aim to gather as many existing records as possible (land, freshwater and
marine, from local and national sources) in an effort to try to add some focus to activities,
whether that turns out to be on under-recorded species, areas, habitats or whatever.
Ultimately, if I can approach just a fraction of the quality of coverage achieved for
Suffolk, then the county will have a valuable resource for future use in conservation and
biodiversity monitoring.
10 Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 57, September 2008