Algae

Lack of expertise means that the tables below only represents of some of the species that are present, and in some cases uncertainty is indicated by brackets and a question mark.

Below is a list of Algae, presented in alphabetical order. A photograph (where available) of a specimen found somewhere in the area may be viewed by clicking on the scientific name.

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Slime Moulds (Myxomycetes)

Quite recently this intriguing group of organisms - the Mycetozoa (Myxomycetes) or slime moulds (molds) - have been classified as an entirely separate class of living thing. Gulielma Lister's classic work on the Essex Mycetozoa The Mycetozoa. Lister, G. 1918. (Essex Field Club Special Memoirs vi. Essex Field Club; Stratford, Essex.) listed 19 species specifically occurring in Wanstead Park. Below my listing are those species recorded from Wanstead Park extracted from the on-line reproductions on the Essex Field Club website.

Below is a list of Slime Moulds that I have found locally.  Those species where a photograph is available of a specimen found somewhere in the area may be viewed by clicking on the scientific name. Photographs of slime moulds are included preceeding the photographs of fungi. Lack of expertise means that the table below only represents of some of the species that are present.

Notes on Mycetozoa or slime moulds

Gulielma Lister's work on Mycetozoa - A Short History of the study of Mycetozoa in Britain, with a list of species recorded from Essex. (read as a Presidential Address at the thirty-sixth Annual Meeting on 31st March 1917) - listed nineteen species present in Wanstead Park. These are listed, with her comments, below.

Badhamia populina Lister - usually in autumn and winter, in Wanstead Park and in the surrounding district where poplars have fallen.

B. foliicola Lister - First identified as a distinct species in September 1896, when it occurred in vast abundance in Wanstead Park on turf under elm trees and on heaps of dead sycamore, elm, and bramble leaves, and also on twigs. It usually reappears every autumn.

Physarum pusillum (Berk. & Curt.) - A robust form, with both stalked and sessile sporangia, occurred on a stump in Wanstead Park in October 1904.

P. nutans Pers. - It has been abundant in recent years … on elm trunks in Wanstead Park.

P. compressum Alb. & Schwein – Not common in Epping Forest, found abundantly some years...in Wanstead Park, on the bark of fallen poplars and elms.

P. sinuosum (Bull.) Weinm. - Frequent on twigs, and on dead elm and bramble leaves, in autumn and winter, especially in Wanstead Park.

Didymium complanatum Rost. - Found in Wanstead Park in summer on dead leaves, developing from lemon-yellow plasmodium.

Didymium nigripes Fries. - Very abundant on dead leaves, especially holly leaves, from autumn to winter. The var. eximium with orange brown stalks and columellae has been found in Wanstead Park.

Didymium anellus Morgan – This species occurs, often in great abundance, in autumn on heaps of dead sycamore leaves in Wanstead Park.

Stemonitis fusca Roth. - the var. confluens Lister, … has been found several times in the Forest and Wanstead Park.

Comatricha fimbriata G. Lister and Cran. - The first gathering of this elegant little species was made in November 1913, by Mr. Raymond Finlayson, who found the growth of nearly forty sporangia on a decorticated bramble stick in Wanstead Park.

C. pulchella (Bab.) Rost. - var. fusca Lister was described from specimens found in Wanstead Park in September 1896.

C. rubens Lister. - Not common ; it has been found on dead leaves, chiefly in winter, both in the Forest and in Wanstead Park.

C. typhoides (Bull.) Rost. - very frequent on decayed wood throughout the summer and autumn ; var microspora Lister was abundant in Wanstead Park on dead bramble leaves in the autumn of 1896-7, but has not been found there since.

Brefeldia maxima (Fries) Rost. - not common ; between the years 1887 and 1896 this species continued to appear on certain stumps in Wanstead Park in autumn and winter. (postscript : A large growth has again appeared in Wanstead Park in the summer of 1917)

Cribraria argillacea Pers. - Not common ; it appeared in July 1888 and 1894 on a Spanish chestnut stump in Wanstead Park.

Dictydium cancellatum (Batsch) Macbr. - Not common ; occurring in abundance on a stump in Wanstead Park for two years in succession. Var. fuscum Lister was also found in Wanstead Park on the same stump as the typical purplish-red form. This species usually appears in summer and early autumn.

Tibifera ferruginosa Gmel. - Occurring in summer and autumn on dead wood. Rare in this district ; I know of one gathering only, which was made by Mr. T. Perch, in Wanstead Park, in October, 1904.

Liceopsis lobata (Lister) Torrend. - This species was described from specimens found within a big hollow stump of Spanish chestnut in Wanstead Park in July 1887-8.

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Lichens

Lack of expertise means that the tables below only represents of some of the species that are present, and in some cases uncertainty is indicated by brackets and a question mark.

Below is a list of Lichens. A photograph (where available) of a specimen found somewhere in the area may be viewed by clicking on the scientific name.

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Molluscs, Annelid Worms and Crustaceans

Our most common - or at least most obvious - molluscs are probably the Garden Snail Helix aspersa, together with Brown-lipped Snails Cepaea nemoralis in gardens and areas such as the Aldersbrook Exchange Lands. A very uncommon snail was found in 2024 between Aldersbrook Exchange Lands and Wanstead Park - a Roman Snail Helix pomatia. These are usually associated with chalky areas, and this area certainly isn't that. It is more usual to find just the shells, but this one - although not exactly kicking - was quite alive.

Slugs will be familiar to most people from their gardens, and perhaps the most recognisable of these will be the Arion species, either A. ater ater the Large Black Slug, or its variety A. ater rufus the Large Red Slug, which is far less common in this area. There will be other species easily found, but I don't profess to be knowledgable about these. One distinctive species I have been seeing is the Leopard Slug - or Great Grey Slug - Limax maximus, and more recently an invasive species known as the Three-band Garden Slug, which I believe to be Lehmannia valentiana.

Pond-living molluscs are particularly under-represented in this list, many were identified by Derek Mckewan after a pond-dipping exercise during a Wren Group "bio-blitz" on 5th October 2014. After the installation of a new pond in my garden, two species of snail spontaneously arrived: the Common Bladder Snail Physa fontinalis and the Wandering Snail Lymnaea peregra. The Swan Mussel Anodonta cygnaea has for long been known from the Ornamental Waters in the form of shells of dead animals, but during a period when the waters of the Heronry Pond became very low in 2009, live specimens were found.

Apart from a couple of garden worms, Annelid Worms have only been investigated during a pond-dipping exercise carried out under the leadership of Derek McKewan by the Wren Group. He identified three species of the Family Hirudinea - the freshwater leeches - from Perch Pond, Wanstead Park on 5th October 2014.

As for Crustaceans, an American Signal Crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus was found by Heronry Pond in August 2001, and more have been seen since. In August 2004, a number of dismembered crayfish were found in rough grass just to the east of Alexandra Lake on Wanstead Flats. Is it possible that these had been taken from the lake by predators - perhaps gulls? In 2008, a representative from the angling club that fishes the Basin in Wanstead Golf Course reported that over 50,000 (!) had been caught there over the last few years. Chinese Mitten Crab Eriocheir sinensis have been reported from the River Roding as far north as Redbridge roundabout. The local Guardian Series Newspapers on 23rd October 2008 reported that the Environment Agency had found these crabs at Wanstead and further north. The freshwater shrimp Gammarus lacustris, and a water slater Asellus sp. was found in Perch Pond, Wanstead Park during a bio-blitz exercise and identified by Derek McKewan. The common Water Slater Asellus aquaticus is found in my garden pond. Land-based crustaceans are perhaps more familiar and finds so far are the Common Pill Bug Armadillidium vulgare, the Common Shiny Woodlouse Oniscus asellus, which was found in Wanstead Park, the Common Striped Woodlouse Philoscia muscorum, and the Common Rough Woodlouse Porcellio scaber, both present in my garden in Capel Road.

The species are listed in alphabetical Family order, within which the species is alphabetical.

In addition the following species have been reported, although not personally seen:

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