2004 Mersea Island Essex 1st may One Day Meeting
A rather anxious Stephen Clarkson greeted nine of us (there should have been ten but fair weather Gareth B cried off'its going to rain' - we did not feel a drop!) at Cudmore Grove Country Park, Mersea Island with 'This is the first official WFS walk I have led'. He need not have worried, we were given excellent information, site details, species lists and travelling instructions between sites; some superb flowers were seen plus other wild life.
We started off round the car park, plenty of Smyrmium olusatrum (alexanders), an early coast-loving plant, looking carefully at Crataegus monogyna (hawthorn) which was compared later with C. laevigata (midland hawthorn), before moving on to the 'hibemaculum'. Sadly no adders appeared but Steve did find a sloughed off adder skin complete with head! A huge Quercus petraea (sessile oak) was just coming into flower. There were two beginners in our group, a joy to introduce them to new plants and excellent practice for others to hone their identification skills. Geranium molle(dovesfoot cranesbill) and Erodium cicutarium (common storksbill) were growing side-by-side plus Aphanes arvensis (parsley piert) with its minute flowers. We found one flower of Potentilla argentea (hoary cinquefoil) and in the large meadow examined a small tare, Vicia hirsuta (hairy tare). The warden appeared and asked for a species list, Peter F was deputed to oblige. By the sea wall we found Anthriscus caucalis (bur chervil) and, yet to flower, Suaeda vera (shrubby seablite), Inula crithmoides (golden samphire), and on the beach Seriphidium maritimum (sea wormwood) where we also found in flower Honckenya peploides (sea sandwort), Cochlearia officinalis (common scurvygrass) and Cerastium diffusum (sea mouse-ear). Terns and dunlins with their black bellies provided a diversion. In the dyke Ranunculus baudotii (brackish water crowfoot) was just coming into flower, and on the sandy ridge we had a good look at Stellaria pallida (lesser chickweed).
After lunch we visited two Essex Wildlife Trust sites, Oxiey Meadow, Tolleshunt Knights with masses of Orchis morio (green-winged orchids) with various colour ranges and incredible numbers of Ophioglossum vulgatum (adders tongue fem), a joy to behold, then on to Roman River Valley between Layer-de-la-Haye and Colchester. This is a fragment of traditional river valley landscape, the Roman River a narrow stream meandering through marsh and woodland, abounding with woodland flora such of Adoxa moschatellina (moschatel). Lamiastrum galeobdolon (yellow archangel) and the true bluebell Hyacinthoides non-scripta growing alongside its hybrid. We found one delicate flower of Oxalis acetosella (wood sorrel); four of our group had seen the leaves before, but never the flower (Isn't this what the WFS is all about?) whilst I was equally thrilled to hear a nightingale for the first time (a May day birthday present). Steve showed us how the flowers of Aesculus hippocastanum (horse chestnut) develop red markings once they are fertilised and so insects do not waste their time visiting them.
Finally a bonus for Rita and me, we visited another Essex WLT site suggested by Steve, Waterhill Meadows, Little Baddow where we found Saxifraga granulata(meadow saxifrage) and the last of the Fritillaria meleagris (fritillary).
Thank you Steve, for an excellent, enjoyable and informative ('well, I never knew that') day.
PRISCILLA NOBBS