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EFC Centre at Wat Tyler Country ParkOur centre is available for visits on a pre-booked basis on Wednesdays between 10am - 4pm. The Club’s activities and displays are also usually open to the public on the first Saturday of the month 11am - 4pm.

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The weblog below is for naturalists to use to report interesting sightings, ask questions, report on field meetings and generally post pictures and any information or questions generally relevant in some way to the wildlife and geology of Essex. You will need to register and be logged-on to post to the forum, and you need to upload pictures first, for use in posts. Find out more


Thu 8th September 2011 20:07 by Graham Smith
Fungi Bonanza
What a difference a little rain makes. When I visited Fryerning Churchyard last Friday (September 2nd) there were few fungi to be seen, just a scatter of Blusher Amanita rubescens and Brown Roll Rim Paxillus involutus, many of which had bee kicked over by visitors. Today there were fungi everywhere! Virtually all the birch trees were ringed with Leccinum sp., all of which keyed out as Brown Birch Bolete L.scabrum in Geoffrey Kibby's new guide, while there were clusters of Xerocomus cisalpinus (no English name as yet) at the base of many of the oaks. Several of the Churchyard's regular crop of Brittlegills (Russula) were on view, the Green R.aeruginea, Primrose R.sardonia, Coral R.velenovski, Purple R.atropurpurea, Bloody R.sanguinaria, and Variable R.versicolor plus the delightfully named Charcoal Burner R.cyanoxantha and The Flirt R.Vesca, the last so named because the cap has a habit of raising the edge of its cap cuticle (skirt)!! There was also an addition to the churchyard list in the form of the Crab Brittlegill R.xerempelina, this one named after its smell, probably long overdue given the number of pines in the churchyard. The pines had also produced a large crop of Slippery Jack Suillus luteus and Weeping Bolete S.granulatus while the Genus Inocybe was represented by two common species, the Star Fibrecap I.asterospora and Fleecy Fibrecap I. flocculosa and the Genus Agaricus by the Scaly Wood Mushroom A. langei, which turns blood red in the frying pan, and the as yet to be named A.impudicus. Other regular species were the Russet Toughshank Gymnopus driophila, The Wood Woolly Foot G.peronata, Pink Domecap Calocybe carnea and The Miller Clitopilus prunulus. Potentially, the best find of the day was a large Bolete (pictured)found at the base of a Silver Birch. It looked like a pale version of the familiar Penny Bun Boletus edulis but I normally associate this species with oak and there were none within 60-70 yards. Reference to Geoffrey Kibby's new key, though, suggested that it might be B. betulicola, still treated as a variant of edulis by some authorities but considered by him and others to be a good species. The unusually pale colour of the cap, frequently inflated end cells to the otherwise long cells in the cap cuticle, and the tree associate all point to this species. The specimen has been retained.Boletus betulicola Copyright: Graham Smith

Outside the churcyard there were several of the chunky, red staining, fish smelling, salt loving Agaricus bernardii growing in the splash zone on the roadside verges while the large oak on nearby Fryerning Green had a cluster of Scarlatina Boletus erythopus and Summer Bolete B.reticulatus in the shade of its branches along with two of its specialities, Boletus moravicus and the beautiful Chalciporus rubinus. At this rate we should be able to put on a good fungi display at the Grand Opening of the Club's new HQ on Saturday week.

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Tue 6th September 2011 21:46 by Brian Ecott
Red veined darter
On Saturday 3rd September, a very warm sunny day, I noticed a Darter dragonfly perched on a flower head in the garden pond, in Clayhall, Ilford, Essex. Like all Darters it flew off and returned many times enabling me to get the camera and photograph it. I assumed it to be a Ruddy darter until I looked at the image on the computer screen and noticed the red pterostigma on the wings and the red veins I identified it as a Red-veined darter Sympetrum fonscolombii.

Red veined darter Copyright: Brian Ecott

In Benton T., Dobson J., (2007) The Dragonflies of Essex. Pub. Essex Field Club / Lopinga books It is described as a Continental species with large migrations into UK on several occasions within the last two decades with with corresponding sightings in Essex.

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Sat 3rd September 2011 21:09 by Mary Smith
Fungi on the South Coast area
Yes, indeed, we have fungi coming up in all sorts of places. In our garden we have The Deceiver Laccaria laccata, Pale Brittlestem Psathyrella candolleana, Fiery Milkcap Lactarius pyrogalus, Orange Bonnet Mycena acicula and the shiny Silky Pinkgill Entoloma sericeum. In Purfleet there were lots of Suede Bolete Boletus subtomentosus, with a few Grey Puffball Bovista plumbea and some Agaricus species that I failed to identify with certainty but looked like the familiar Horse Mushroom Agaricus arvensis. In Weald Park with two of our grandchildren we found lots of things, including a number of Plums-and-Custard Tricholomopsis rutilans and huge numbers of old and fresh Birch Polypore Piptoporus betulinus and even huger numbers of Honey Fungus armillaria sp. And all these before the 1st September!

Maybe this year we will have a good variety all through a long season, which is easier to handle than a huge rush all at once.

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