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investigate its status at the site. Workers were again seen during a brief visit on the 19th August.
All flower visits observed were to Red bartsia Odontites verna except for very brief visit to Wild
Basil Clinopodium vulgare. Ted Benton reported a brief visit to Wild basil and one on Creeping
thistle.
At Benfleet Downs the author discovered two workers on the 7th August flying amongst Red
bartsia at the eastern end of the south-facing scarp slope at TQ801858. A subsequent visit on
the 18th August resulted in sightings of three individuals all at Red bartsia flowers, one male at
TQ797861, a further male seen by Eric Steer of English Nature at TQ798859 and one worker in
a winter horse grazed field at TQ787857. During a subsequent visit in August Ted Benton
reported seeing single workers at the western end at approx. TQ788857 and the eastern scarp
nearTQ801858 apparently exclusively on Lotus (Lotus tenuis and/or corniculatus) although Red
bartsia was present. During another visit on the 18th September one male but no workers were
seen This year Ted found one female in the late afternoon on the 27th May 1999 (see cover
illustration). Apart from a brief visit to White clover this was feeding systematically from Red
clover, its behaviour suggesting it was collecting both pollen and nectar (E. Benton pers.
comm.).
The Wat Tyler Country Park site was used from 1880 until 1928 for the manufacture and
storage of gunpowder. In the 1930s the MOD stored troopship equipment and many of the
buildings present date from that period. After the Second World War the site fell into disrepair
or was used for light industry. Basildon District Council rescued the site in 1980, creating the
Country Park. Scrub invasion along the edge of paths, rides and several small clearings is
managed by cutting in the autumn and sometimes winter/early spring. These edges have a rich
flora and provide the forage sites for B. sylvarum.
It is a compact site on silts edged by Saltmarsh to the south and west and Phragmites marsh
along Pitsea Hall Fleet to the cast. The bulk of the area consists of mature hawthorn scrub with a
network of paths and wide rides and small clearings. There are some areas which are mown to
the edge of the scrub and improved grassland areas but many of the paths and rides have very
flower-rich edges 2-3 metres wide with areas of containing abundant Trifolium pratense and T.
repens (both almost over by at the time of the visits), Lotus tenuis. Odontites verna and
Clinopodium vulgare. Other species present include Agrimonia sp., Ballota nigra, Centaurea
nigra, Cirsium arvense, C vulgare, Dipsacus fullonum, Galega officinalis, Lathyrus pratensis,
Lotus corniculatus, Prunella vulgaris, Pulicaria dysenterica, Rubus spp., Senecio jacobaea,
Vicia sepium.
Benfleet Downs (Hadleigh Castle Country Park) is a large site, mainly on clays overlying
gravels used as a country park. There is a south-facing scarp consisting of grasslands with areas
of scrub and trees. The western scarp is mainly scrub and wooded. Below the scarp are grazing
marsh grasslands and dykes divided by the Fenchurch Street-Southend railway line. There are
areas, particularly along the scarp with large numbers of rabbits. The grazing marsh below the
scarp has historically been grazed by cattle although this ceased for a couple of years several
years ago. The C.P. now has a grazier again and apparently also intends to start grazing the
scarp grasslands during the winter. One field at the western end has been horse grazed during
the winter, with the horses being moved to the grazing marsh in the summer. This field has a
reasonable quantity of Odontites present especially along the edges of the path with nearby
scrub, and is one site where B. sylvarum has been found. To the east the scarp has several bands
of scrub which have been managed by cutting along their edges and by removal of scrub at
several places through the bands. These edges are the site of quantities of Odontites and where
B. sylvarum has been found foraging. Unfortunately mowing of large areas of grassland along
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 16 (1999)