14
As well as the woodland flora which one might hope to find (especially our treasured
oxlip), we found a lot of "weeds" such as Willowherb and thistles although C. palustre is
quite a handsome plant. This is a wet plateau wood, so the Meadowsweet is not a
surprise. Could it be the wetness which results in so little Wood anemone? and no-one
recorded Bluebells!
Although this is not a full NVC survey, I know that this wood is classified in the NVC as
woodland type W8 - Fraxinus excelsior - Acer campestre - Mercurialis perennis
woodland. If you can find a copy of the British Plant Communities - Woodland volume,
there is a good description of this type.
Finally, although access to Hales Wood is limited, the nearby Essex Wildlife Trust owned
Shadwell Wood is freely accessible, and a similarly interesting Ancient Coppice Wood.
A springtime visit is recommended.
References:
British Plant Communities - John Rodwell, Cambridge University Press, (separate
volumes on woodlands, grasslands, wetlands, etc.).
Ecology and Conservation Studies Vol. 14, No. 3 - Hales Wood Survey, Tony Morton.
(The Bulletin of the Ecology and Conservation Studies Society).
Tony Morton.
A VERY RARE TACHINID AT MILL WOOD PIT, THURROCK
In recent weeks two female specimens of the very rare Tachinid fly Gymnosoma nitens
Meigen, have been sent to me for identification. They were both captured at Mill House
wood pit near Grays in South Essex., TQ 5978. The first was taken by Peter Harvey on
the 1/8/94 and the second by Colin Plant two days later on the 3/8/94. They were both
captured on open chalky ground with scattered Birch scrub. The "Harvey" specimen
being swept on a sparsley vegetated west facing bank. These two records are only the
second and third for Britain the first being recorded near Boxhill in Surrey on 8/7/56.
The fly which is only about 4mm long is parasitic on the shield bug Sciocoris cursitans
(Fabricius) which occurs in dry warm localities usually on chalk or sand in southern
England. Sciocoris has been recorded from Purfleet as well as Boxhill.
These two records appear to indicate that the fly is established in the area and further
work will be undertaken this year to confirm if that is the case. Sadly the whole of this
site is under threat of development and outline planning permission has already been
given for housing development. Chalk habitats in southern Essex are extremely limited
and it would be tragic if a site such as this were to be lost without a thorough
environmental appraisal.
My thanks go to Peter Harvey and Colin Plant for permission to publish this note and to
Roger Payne for bringing to my attention the Purfleet record of Sciocorus.
References.
Belshaw, R. (1993). Diptera. Tachinidae, Handbk. Ident. Br. Insects.
Southwood & Leston. (1959). Land and Water Bugs of the British Isles. Warne, London.
Groves, E.W (1938). Hemiptera-Heteroptera of the London Area, Lond. Nat. 43, p51.
Del Smith