16
INTERESTING RECORDS FROM EASTBROOKEND, DAGENHAM CHASE
Eastbrookend is an area of Green Belt land in the "Dagenham Corridor" with the River
Rom running down the eastern edge. The most important area for wildlife has been
managed as a nature reserve (The Chase Nature Reserve) by the London Wildlife Trust
since 1988. Old workings of the River Terrace Gravels have helpedproduce a number of
lakes with marshy edges, low lying wet grassland as well as areas of dry grassland and
bare exposures. The gravel substrate together with grazing by horses maintains a short
sward but there are also areas of hawthorn, blackthorn and sallow scrub. In the eastern
and southern parts of the site the presence of plants such as Spiny rest-harrow Ononis
spinosa provide evidence of an unimproved flora, presumably surviving from before the
gravel working.
Although I had previously investigated the site for spiders, in 1994 I specifically visited
the area in search of hymenoptera. As expected the area proved of interest and a total of
sixtyone hymenoptera were recorded. This included nine Nationally Scarce species and a
single female of the RDB2 Philanthus triangulum the "Bee wolf, which was found
hunting along the riverside vegetation of the River Rom. This species has apparently
undergone a considerable expansion in range in the last two or three years, and in 1994 it
has continued to turn up in new sites in southern England.
Of particular interest earlier in the season was Andrena tibialis, a bee otherwise recorded
in South Essex from Linford Wood and Linford Sand Pit. This species gathers pollen
from a variety of flowers but Sallows are frequently referred to in British records.
In August a male Colletes halophilus was taken at Fleabane flowers . This Nationally
Scarce bee is usually found on the upper margins of saltmarshes and is widely distributed
along the coast of Essex. The females normally collect pollen from Sea aster Aster
tripolium, but I would think the nearest Sea aster to Eastbrookend must be some distance
and it would be interesting to know if there is an established population of the bee in the
vicinity. The closely related Colletes succinctus has been taken at Barking and this is an
even stranger find, since the females of this species are known to have an obligate
association with heather flowers.
Two cuckoo bees of special interest were found, Sphecodes ruficrus and 5. reticulatus.
Both are Nationally Scarce with only 20 to 25 known post-1970 sites. S. ruficrus is a
cleptoparasite on the bee Andrena labialis and is only otherwise known in Essex from
Mill Wood Pit in Thurrock. S. reticulatus, which was found during August in some
numbers on Fleabane and thistle flowers, is only otherwise known from Mill Wood Pit,
Broom Hill and Ferry Fields, all in Thurrock.
The area would undoubtably continue to repay further survey work on all groups. It is
another example of the increasing evidence that South Essex contains an invertebrate
wealth that will soon be lost without drastic action and the co-ordination of wildlife
groups.