EFC Exhibition and Social 7 December 2002
PETER ALLEN
The third Annual Exhibition and Social continued the success of the previous occasions with 110
people attending and over 20 displays illustrating the diversity of interest within the Field Club and
its scientific prowess. Again the atmosphere was purposeful but relaxed.
The Botany Group was represented by Jane Woodliff with a display covering the alien plants of
Essex, the mallows of the county and the diversity of the Chase Nature Reserve at Dagenham and
by Ken Adams with sets of D-map plots and data sets for our Essex BAP species and a display of
the new Algal Flora of the British Isles. Brian Ecott had a photographic display of some of the 72
species of plant galls recorded and photographed during the year in Hainault Forest. The Essex
Wildlife Trust provided an informative display highlighting the re-creation of saltmarshes at Abbotts
Hall Farm, the largest scheme of its type in Europe. A further photographic display was provided
by Tony Boniface and the Fungi Group of waxcaps, supported by dried and fresh specimens. He
also had examples of late fruiting fungi from Little Leighs churchyard and from Pentland Avenue,
Chelmsford.
Jerry Bowdrey displayed beetles and other insects associated with a sap run on an oak at Thorpe-
le-Soken and made an appeal for Essex records of the Green Tiger Beetle while Nigel Cuming
displayed some notable Coleoptera from north Essex and made an appeal for county records of the
Black Oil Beetle Meloe proscarabaeus. Tim Gardiner had a display on Orthoptera recording
and provided details of uncommon Essex Orthoptera, including a list of nine rare species.
Photographs and text detailed the ecology of Omocestus viridulus, Myrmeleotettix maculatus,
Tettigonia viridissima and Conocephalus discolor in the county. Ray and Kay Thompson, on
behalf of the British Dragonfly Society, provided a video recording of macro-dragonfly behaviour
and slides and photographs of British species of dragonflies and damselflies. Michelle Pye exhibited
the work of the Butterfly Conservation. The display included literature about the work of the
organization nationally and illustrated the work of the Essex and Cambridgeshire branch on a
survey of the Buttoned Snout Moth. The survey is part of a three year project funded by English
Nature. The survey methods, preliminary results, distribution maps, and photographs of the larvae
were presented as well as details of how the survey will be developed next year. David Corke had
two photographic displays, one of extinct butterflies in Essex and the other comparing butterflies
found at Saurat (France) by Nabokov in 1929 with those present today. All the species at Saurat
still survive. This work is due to appear in the Entolomologists' Record. Andy and Karen Bennett,
representing the Essex Beekeepers'Association, had a display of bees, beekeeping artefacts and
information and hive products. Readers were encouraged to visit www.ebka.org for more
information. Mark Hanson, in a wide ranging display, showed a representative collection of 75
species of hoverflies from Hylands Park, with an assessment of their conservation status. Mark
also displayed two drawers from the Club's collections, one of moths from the Cole Collection and
one of butterflies from the Mera Collection. Peter Harvey provided text and photos about recent
work on the ecology and nesting of the endangered wasp Odynerus simillimus at Alresford,
Brightlingsea and Shoebury in Essex and Hickling Broad in Norfolk. Recent discoveries of the
spider Steatoda grossa by Field Club members Iris Cotgrove and Peter Furze were shown. The
remarkable abundance of the UKBAP Red Data Book picture-winged fly Dorycera graminum at a
site next to Lakeside in Thurrock was illustrated.
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Essex Naturalist (New Series) 20 (2003)