Essex Field Club Exhibition
The current work of the Fungus Group was demonstrated by Tony Boniface, and illustrated with a
preview of the data from the Group's survey of the Boletes of Essex. The latest results of the 'fungi
in Essex churchyards' survey were also displayed, and dried specimens, photographs and a selection
of books helpful in the identification of fungi were available for examination. The various activities
of the Botany Group were illustrated by Ken Adams with a draft, in paper format, of the Group's
website; outlines of two proposed books, the Third Flora of Essex and the Scarce Plants of Essex;
higher plant checklists for Vc18 and 19 for Prof. Clive Stace's Vascular Plant Vice Commital Flora
Project; and sets of drawings being accumulated for an eventual book on the Hieracia of eastern
England. He also displayed the three recently published National Red Data Books for vascular
plants, bryophytes and stoneworts, and had sets of the BSBI identification handbooks for sale. Ken
also ran a bookstall with second books, mostly mycological, donated by Irene Finch. Charles Watson
put on a display of live Essex Lemna (duckweeds), comprising Lemna minor (common duckweed),
the alien but now very common Lemna minuta, Lemna trisculca (ivy-leaved duckweed), Lemna
gibba (fat duckweed) and Spirodela polyrrhiza (greater duckweed) together with a few fronds of an
alien Spirodela recently found in Britain "borrowed' from the recent BSBI Annual Exhibition meeting.
Jane Woodliffe had a collection of pressed plants and an exhibit demonstrating the alien plants
from Chase Nature Reserve, Jonathan Tyler had magnificent prints of orchids, oxlips and primroses
for sale, and Barry Kaufmann-Wright brought along his 'Nature Through the Eye of a Camera'
photographic record of Essex wildlife. Tim Gardiner and Robin Field very ably demonstrated
their work on wildlife at Writtle College with photographs and transects of their on-going research
on butterflies, dragonflies and grasshoppers. Graham Ward put on joint display for the Field Club
and the Essex Rock and Mineral Society of igneous erratic boulders brought into Essex by the
Anglian Glaciation, nearly half a million years ago. The rocks, collected over the last 28 years, [but
principally between 1973 and 1982 during the construction of the Ml 1 and M25 motorways], included
material from the Whin Sill of northern England, from Scotland and possibly southern Norway. The
boulders form the basis of an important project to trace the source areas and pathways that the
Anglian ice followed en route to Essex. Peter Allen had a display showing the progress of the Essex
RIGS (Regionally Important Geological and Geomorphological Sites) Group in identifying potential
sites for notification. It is hoped to proceed with the notifications in the coming year.
The Exhibition and Social is now established as an important event in the Field Club's calendar and
it is hoped to expand it further in future years.
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Essex Naturalist (New Series) 19 (2002)