Wildlife and conservation review 2003
In the depths of winter, naturalists of a non-birdy persuasion tend to be rather inactive, which no
doubt explains why the Winter Stalk Puffballs Tulostoma brumale found by Stephen Wilkinson at
Colne Point were the first confirmed Essex examples since 1849. And a similar period of time
has elapsed between Essex records of the Satin Beauty moth: its most recent occurrence in 2002
was confirmed from Ian Rose's photo shown at the annual meeting of the Essex Moth Group.
Continuing the theme from 2002, problems with spilt oil resurfaced this month. A spill from a
fractured oil pipe at Felixstowe Dock affected a large number of Mute Swans in the Harwich
Haven, many of which were taken into care for cleaning by the RSPCA. Then two weeks later, a
spill in the Thames resulted in oil coming ashore on Mucking Flats. While there were few reports
of oiled birds on this occasion, it could have been very serious, coming as it did only a day after a
record Avocet count in the area of more than 1150 birds.
For a considerable time now, Defra has been searching for a suitable site to implement compensatory
measures for the destruction of Lappel Bank (Medway) and Fagbury Flats (Orwell), as required
by a ruling of the European Court. This month, the preferred site was announced - Weymarks, an
area of low-lying farmland near Bradwell on the Dengie coast. This seemed an ideal solution,
admirably suited to intertidal habitat creation through managed realignment, but it was eventually,
and regrettably in my view, scuppered by the force of local public opinion. So back to the drawing
board for Defra; after much further investigation an alternative scheme on Wallasea Island was
proposed, and it is to be hoped that this scheme comes to fruition, to restore a key part of our
biodiversity. Also in this month, a Public Inquiry into the proposed development of a container
port at London Gateway (Shellhaven) opened. It ran for much of the year, and completely
dominated the working lives of those, like me, with a professional interest in the case; we still await
the outcome of the Inquiry a year later.
Spring
After a changeable start, rising pressure in mid-March soon ushered in spring-like weather, although
the coastal areas were plagued by fog rolling in off the North Sea. Temperatures soared rapidly to
25°C, and it ended up the sunniest March ever (an average of 5.4 hours per day) with only half the
average rainfall, setting the scene for much of the summer. What rain did fall was patchy, so that
some places received virtually none at all, and this led to some of the lowest soil moisture levels
ever recorded at this time of the year.
The weather conditions resulted in a distinct and rapid arrival of some of our earlier summer
migrants: Blackcaps were in full song by the 10"', and Chiffchaffs arrived in force around the 16th,
at the same time as a remarkably early blooming of Wood Anemones in our ancient woods.
Several Garganey arrived during the last week of the month, and, remaining with the wildfowl, a
drake Lesser Scaup (an increasing Nearctic vagrant) put in its long awaited first Essex showing in
the Lee Valley. Part of a significant early spring influx nationally of more than a hundred birds, 3
Common Cranes were seen over Southend on the 14th. At the Naze, up to 6 Mediterranean Gulls
provided a contrast to their surprising near absence over the preceding winter months in the Harwich
and Dovercourt area. Otherwise, the notable birds were largely ones remaining from February,
including Tundra Bean Geese at St Osyth, Black-throated Diver at Ardleigh, and Dartford Warbler
still at Rainham.
On Canvey Island, the saga of the former Occidental Refinery site (now referred to as Canvey
Wick) continued. The East of England Development Agency, under pressure from English Nature
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 21 (2004)
29