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in the British Isles which are still not subject to light pollution, and to minimise
unnecessary spread of light elsewhere. English Nature's 'Species Conservation
Handbook' contains a note that light-trapping could badly affect the long-term population
of scarce species, and lighting close to sites of high conservation value, or known
populations of rare species, could cause problems.
I sit here looking out over the Lea Valley, at the apparent blackness of the reservoirs, the
jewelled string of sodium lights along the roads and the tall, brilliant white-light sports
standards. It was 'fairyland' when my children were small but we need to re-think the
need for light at any cost. Some of the Lea Valley is SSSI, and the SSSI of Epping
Forest, with its more than 350+ Red Data Book species of invertebrates, is not far away.
On holiday last year I was appalled at the installation of high sodium lamps on 'improved'
roads in rural hamlets near Snowdonia. A campsite in a fold of the Welsh hills was
invisible during the day but aglow at night. In the north of Scotland, coastal, morrland-
edge Durness has had similar monstrosities imposed on it. OK (?) for human safety (?)
BUT what is lost that could have been retained with a more thoughtful approach?
Particularly obtrusive lighting appears to be the fashion on golf driving ranges, where
lights are blue-white, horizontal, with conical display. Football and sports grounds are
often over-well lit. Pubs, new housing developments and out-of-town shopping centres
use unshielded, inefficient globular lights. Once planning applications are approved
external lights attached to a building arc not subject to regulation.
The Millenium celebration suggestions include 'Light up the town'. Evolutionary millenia
have ensured that living forms occupy different niches. Surely it is important that people
do not, unthinkingly, rapidly reduce the number of niches by lighting up the countryside
too.
If we wish to retain a diverse wildlife we need to ensure that artificial lighting is used
sparingly.
RARE VISITOR TO WRITTLE
Whilst manning the door at the Writtle Sale of the Chelmsford group of the EWT on
Saturday 7th October 1995, Stan Hudgell noticed a fungus growing under the railings
between the pavement and the Parish Hall. He drew it to the attention of Tony Boniface,
who collected the specimen and identified it as Leucoagaricus macrorhizus Locq. ex
Hora. This member of the parasol group of fungi was shown to Geoffrey Kibby, who is
the Essex Field Club recorder for fungi. He suggested it could be unusual, and that it
should be sent to Alick Henrici, who is the expert on this group. He confirmed my
identification and told me that it had only been found twice before in Great Britain, once
in 1983 in a grennhouse in Bangor, and once in Kent just a week earlier than our own
specimen. The fungus is more common on the continent, and favours warm, dry sites.
The dried fungus is now residing in the herbarium at Kew. So don't ignore specimens on
the grounds that they must be common. Examine them carefully, make notes, and have
their identity checked. They can be dried over a radiator or a hot-water tank. Remember
collecting fungi in small numbers does not make them rarer as the fungal threads are still
in the soil or wood on which they grow.
Tony Boniface