7
GENERAL MEETING 1386, 12TH JUNE 1994
A pleasant day was spent recording the flora and fauna of the Old Water Works Site at
Sandford Mill near Chelmsford on Sunday 12th June 1994. The recorders were Tim
Pyner (Higher Plants and Bryophytes), John Bath (Birds), Alistair Wardle (Fish), Martin
Gregory (Fungi and Insects) and Tony Boniface (Higher Plants).
The weather was hot and sunny. The site provided good areas for observing fish from
above, waterside habitats, grassland and some dried-up, overgrown lagoons, which were
relics of the former use of the site. A wide range of species was observed . The rarest
flowering plant was the Birdsfoot Fenugreek (Trifolium ornithopodioides) in the small
field separated from the main site. One hundred and fiftysix species of higher plants,
eleven species of mosses, one species of liverwort, twentyeight species of birds, ten
species of fish, four species of insect and six species of fungi were recorded. Three of the
insects were gall forming species and five of the fungi were rusts.
Tony Boniface
Fish species observed in the Great tit
River Chelmer (TL739060) Heron
House sparrow
Anguilla anguilla (Eel) Jay
Abramis brama (Common Bream) Kestrel
Gobio gobio (Gudgeon) Magpie
Leuciscus cephalus (Chub) Mallard
Leuciscus leuciscus (Dace) Pied wagtail
Phoxinus phoxinus (Minnow) Sedge warbler
Rutilus rutilus (Roach) Song thrush
Esox lucius (Pike) Starling
Swallow
Fish species observed in the Swift
Meadgate Brook (TL737060) Turtle dove
Willow warbler
Noemacheilus barbatulus (Stone Wood pigeon
Loach) Wren
Melampsora epitea (rust on Salix
sepulcralis)
Phragmidium violaceum (rust on
Rubus fruticosus)
Puccinia punctiformis (rust
which smells of honey found on
Cirsium arvense)
Marasmius oreades (Fairy ring
mushroom)
Bryophytes (Mosses)
Bryum argenteum
Brachythecium rutabulum
Dicranella varia *
Hypnum cupressiforme
Leptobryum pyriforme *
Grimmia pulvinata
Fontinalis antipyretica +
Tortula muralis
Tortida intermedia
Tortula latifolia +
Cratoneuron filicinum
Bryophytes (Liverworts)
Aneura pinguis *
* Found in lime-rich areas.
+ Found on the weir.
Leuciscus cephalus (Chub)
Gasterosteus aculeatus (Three-
spined Stickleback)
Birds
Blackbird
Blackcap
Carrion crow
Chaffinch
Collared dove
Common tern
Common Whitethroat
Coot
Cormorant
Cuckoo
Dunnock
Insects
Adalia 2-punctata (2 spot ladybird)
Dasyneura urticae ("Nettle gnat".
Gall midge on Urtica dioica)
Andricus kollari (Oak marble gall,
gall wasp on Quercus robur)
Potania proxima ("Bean gall", gall
sawfly on Salix alba var caerulea)
Fungi
Puccinia malvacearum (Hollyhock
rust on Malva sylvestris)
Puccinia caricina (Gooseberry rust
on Urtica dioica)