REPORT OF THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB FOR 2003-2004
Administration
The Council of the Essex Field Club held five meetings during 2003/4. The first was held at the Red
Cross Hall, London Road, and the remainder at the new venue, the Hall of The Church of the
Blessed Sacrament, Melbourne Avenue.
Items discussed included: charitable status and the new rules required for compliance with the Charity
Commissioners, the sale of antiquarian books from the Club's Library, publications in addition to
the Naturalist and Newsletter, the Essex Biodiversity Partnership and the setting up of an on-line
data base and biological record centre. Club finances were reviewed and a subscription rise was
introduced to go some way towards balancing the books.
Meetings
Forty-five meetings were listed on the programme. Field meetings included: Moths (1), Botany
(11), Geology (4) including a joint meeting with the Essex Rock and Mineral Society, Birds (10),
Invertebrates (2), Fungi (10), along with six general meetings numbers 1445-1450. Indoor general
meeting 1450 on 18th February 2004 was a break from the tradition of an invited guest speaker; this
time members were invited to bring slides and specimens for viewing and discussion. In general all
meetings were well attended, with non-members attending in small numbers. The 124th AGM was
held in March 2004 at Melbourne Ave and the Annual Social and Exhibition meeting took place on
4th December 2003 in the Red Cross Hall.
Publications
November 2003 saw the publication of the Essex Naturalist No 20 new series. Peter Harvey is to be
congratulated on the very high presentational standard we have come to expect; this edition was the
largest to date containing 248 pages, including 17 colour plates.
Several major papers were presented: Lichens in Epping Forest, Essex Erratic Boulders and The
Woodland Flora of Writtle Forest. As ever Chris Gibson's Wildlife Review of the Year was a very
readable synthesis of the major seasonal wildlife events of the year. An important overview of the
development threats to Essex Wildlife habitats was set out with a depressing catalogue of threatened
developments. Some examples were: Stansted Airport, Port expansions at Harwich, the Thames
Gateway along with major housing developments, and a proposed tidal banage in the Colchester
Hythe area. All of these projects are likely to have a severe impact on the County's wildlife. Brownfield
sites also got a mention, such as the development proposals for the old Occidental Site on Canvey
which have concerned many biologists; it seems that this Thames Gateway site has major conservation
status.
Newsletters
Newsletters numbers 41-43 were produced to a high standard with a great variety of subject matter,
ranging from news of the new Herpetofauna group to Green Tiger Beetles and Veteran Oaks at
Mundon. Regular columnists Mary and Graham Smith (unrelated) played their usual part.
Issue No 43 was dominated by the publication of the new set of proposed Club rules. These rules
will be recommended for adoption at the 2004 AGM. The rules are essential for us to attain charitable
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 21 (2004)
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