Your Forum

First, enjoyed your Writtle account Graham, a good read and since the Club covers much of this sizeable County, for many of us, there being no local group in our region to bring us regularly together, maybe we should increasingly use this Forum as a sort of 'meeting place' to air our views, images and to promote discussion.  Long ago I used to attend the EFC meetings in the College lecture theatre at Stratford. The days of relativ- ely cheap fuel for the car and reasonable bus and train fares if you preferred to use public transport to get to the monthly meetings and visit the Passmore Edwards Museum, but those times now far off and so journering all across Essex, to Romford, Basildon - Watt Tyler Centre a bit of a stretch, sure costly as well, for us living up in this north- east corner of the County. So having found this Forum, nice to hear what people have to say and maybe I can contribute my thoughts if I think some topic might be of interest to others.

So just a further note concerning the Harwich Stone Band.  I know this rock layer fairly well, but do not think it offers much in the way of habitat for fish, broken off pieces will provide a refuge for crabs and pools in the uneven and fractured layer are a place for small fry to hide whilst they await the tidal waters to once more envelope the shore. The granite armour rock that has been placed along much of the coast here, does of course create many voids in which fish can take refuge, search for food and deposit spawn, likewise similarly for the invertebrate community. Encouraged my Peter's remarks, it may be a useful project to contact those who run local angling shops to encourage them to let me know of any unusual catches. I even thought of dropping a baited hook (barb ground off) myself, close to the rocks to see if there are any takers.  The anglers seem always intent on casting their baits as far out as possible and this may preclude any chance of securing some rock loving species. So Peter I may eventually have some further news for your Forum