News for September 2008

Barbara finds a rare vagrant moth

Barbara Lock, a member of Essex Moth Group, had a rare and exciting arrival to her Frinton-on-Sea garden light trap on August 25. It was a dark crimson underwing Cotacola sponsa, only the third confirmed Essex record for this rare vagrant. It is not a resident species in Essex but is found only in oak wodland in Hampshire and Sussex where it enjoys Red Data Status. Elsewhere it is considered a rare immigrant. The previous Essex records were Bradwell-on-sea in September 1951 and at Hainhault pre-1903.

Nature in North East Essex 2008

The new edition of Nature in North East Essex is now complete and will be winging its way through the letterboxes of all CNHS members in August. This is the first issue published in full colour throughout and contains a wealth of informative articles.

Joe Firmin (CNHS President and NNEE Editor) says of this issue:-

"This edition of Nature in North-East Essex again focuses on the practical conservation achievements and important species recording by our members which is playing a growing and increasingly important role.

The well-illustrated, informative articles and papers cover a broad spectrum of subjects and activities ranging from the aquatic life of the Roman River Valley by Pam and Peter Wilson, which is a model of intensive and accurate recording in a specific habitat, to a new look at the grasshoppers, bush crickets and their allies by our award-winning chairman Professor Ted Benton, who has a national reputation both as an author and photographer.

Another outstanding contribution is the comprehensive paper by Peter Winter on the invertebrate life of the Copperas Wood and Hogmarsh Nature reserves. There are also updated reports on major nature reserves and news of rare butterflies and moths including one moth species new to Essex discovered in the CNHS area."

We hope that you will enjoy this edition and that it will inspire you to get out into the countryside, and urban environment, and see what wildlife you can find.

Prestigious Award for Chairman Ted

Chairman Ted Benton has been awarded the Stamford Raffles Award for distinguished contributions to zoology by the Zoological Society of London. The award goes to amateurs or professional zoologists working outside their main area of specialism. He has been recognised for his work on bumblebees and other insects.

Ted is currently working on a New Naturalist volume on grasshoppers and crickets following his acclaimed New Naturalist book on bumblebees.

Society honours - Ian Rose

Ian Rose has been elected a Life Vice-President of CNHS in appreciation of his distinguished service to the Society over half a century. Ian, whose father Charles P. Rose, was also a CNHS Vice-President, is an award-winning wildlife photographer and lecturer like his father before him, and is also one of the best-known experts on fungi in the East Anglian region as well as having expert knowledge of lepidoptera (butterflies and moths); dragonflies and damselflies; and botany.

Ian leads moth lamp surveys in NE Essex and is the Essex Moth Group’s photographic editor. The annual autumn fungus forays led by Ian are highlights of the Society’s field programme.

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