Review of the Wildlife of Epping Forest 1999-March 2000 53
danae), which was last recorded by Andy McGeeney in 1987 in the Forest, also turned up at the
same small pond as the Skimmer and again it was probably only a temporary visitor (see Plate 6). It
is hoped that eventually through management the habitat conditions will be favourable enough for
the species to breed again as it did, at its only site in Essex, until about the middle of the 20lh century
(Benton 1987). A new pond was dug out in 1996 at the nearby heath on Deershelter Plain with this
as one of the objectives in mind.
Moths and butterflies
No moth trapping was carried out within the Forest, although there were some very interesting
records from Jean Green nearby at Theydon Bois (see Recorders' reports). It is hoped that from
2000 moth trapping will start again in the Forest and cover a variety of habitats during the course of
the year.
Meanwhile, the main concern again was the Gypsy Moth (Lymantria dispar), which was found in
increased numbers in both the Forest and surrounding gardens. In July 1999 5 adults were taken in
the Forest and 12 in the garden traps, compared with 3 and 8 respectively in 1998 (see last year's
Forest report for more details and also Koerper 1999). The most notable observation, however, was
the very early appearance of the moths, with the first capture being on 27th July at least 2 weeks
before the usual date.
Bees, Ants and Wasps
As a result of Peter Harvey's 1999 work in the Forest the list of aculeate Hymenoptera, a very under-
recorded group, currently includes 139 species (Harvey 2000). Over one third of these are Nation-
ally Local or rarer, and two thirds are rare or scarce in an Essex context. It is a significant fauna
which needs much more investigation.
Flies
The Forest Insect Survey continued into its second year with some great finds, most spectacular of
which was the unique sighting of no less than eight Ctenophora flaveolata crane-flies, a species
currently given RDB2 status. These striking flies are large shining black insects with bold yellow
stripes (see Plate 4), presumably in mimcry of an ichneumonid wasp, one similar-looking species of
which was seen during the same week's fieldwork. Ctenophora flaveolata was first seen in Epping
Forest before 1875 by the great naturalist Henry Doubleday; the first recorded fly species for the
Forest (Hanson 1992). Since then it has only been seen on 3 previous occasions here and in the UK
as a whole only around a dozen times in the 20th Century (Dagley & Ismay 2000). The most reward-
ing side to the sightings was the chance to see some behaviour because very little is known about the
species' biology. I observed one female searching up and down an old Beech pollard trunk, which
fits the assumptions that the species prefers Beech. A few minutes later, whilst I was describing this
to John Ismay, more dramatic confirmation came as behind his shoulder I could see another female
searching for an oviposition site in a Beech rot-hole!
As the larvae have never been described and their habits are unknown, John, David Henshaw and I
returned to this rot-hole in March 2000 and to our pleasure and some surprise found 7 large crane-
fly larvae along with 10 or more hoverfly 'rat-tail' larvae within the first few centimetres. John
carefully preserved two of the crane-fly larvae for description and we retained two others for rear-
ing. The remaining larvae were returned to the rot-hole. We shall wait, with great excitement, to see
if the larvae we are rearing prove to be those of the elusive C. flaveolata.
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 17 (2000)