Wildlife and conservation review 2003
SSSI land is reported as being in good condition, as against a Government target that 95% must be in
good condition by 2010. In (non-Metropolitan) Essex, the figure for the SSSI area in good condition
is only 53% (out of a total SSSI area of 36,449 hectares), but this single figure masks considerable
variation across habitats. More than 90% of our grassland, inland wetland, and geological SSSIs are
in good condition, and 70% of our woodland sites, some of the main problems here relating to the
impacts of unsustainably high deer populations. But more than two-thirds of our SSSI land is coastal,
and of this only 43% meets the required standard. The reasons are many and varied, but include
inappropriate coastal management, coastal squeeze and dredging - to tackle these in a meaningful
way, sufficient to meet the 2010 target, will indeed be a huge challenge for us all.
Literature Review
This section provides a brief digest of some of the published papers relevant to the wildlife of
Essex which appeared during the year. It is not comprehensive, relying solely upon me chancing
upon the papers, or the authors sending copies to me: I would welcome any further offerings for
inclusion in future reviews.
Turning first to British Wildlife, although a purpose of this review is to guide readers to important
publications I would hope that this is not necessary. Every naturalist really should subscribe to this
accessible and well-produced journal, its bimonthly issues without fail packed full of useful and
interesting papers and snippets of wildlife news. The February 2003 issue contained a review by
Sheila Macdonald and Chris Mason on the recent history of Otters in Essex; whilst this covers
similar ground to that in their paper in the last Essex Naturalist, it does so in a more summarised
(and to some, perhaps more easily digestible) form.
MACDONALD, S. & MASON. C. (2003) Essex Otters - struggling in a hostile environment? British
Wildlife 14(3): 153-158.
And again addressing a familiar theme, Ray Tabor in the October 2003 issue provides a useful
summary of salt marshes, their value for wildlife and other attributes, the challenges they face
(especially as a result of sea-level rise), and our opportunity to do something about it. He then goes
on to present an overview of our experience of managed realignment to date, leading to a celebration
of the Abbotts Hall project.
TABOR, R. (2003) Turning the tide for saltmarshes. British Wildlife 15(1): 10-19.
Turning now to published entomological research, Malcolm Greenwood has been studying the
brackish water beetle fauna of a pool on the edge of the Colne Estuary at Brightlingsea since 1997.
Whilst his work concentrated on the nationally scarce Enochrus bicolor, the pool also supported a
range of other scarce and rare beetles, most notably Paracymus aeneus, an endangered species
(RDB1) otherwise known only from two UK sites, including Steeple Marsh. Enochrus was found
throughout the year, with peak numbers being recorded in August and September. During the four-
year study, salinity values ranged from 4.7 to 62.6 parts per thousand (seawater is about 35 ppt),
reflecting the environmental variability such species must be able to tolerate; perhaps surprisingly,
Enochrus abundance showed only a weak relationship with salinity, its numbers reflecting more
strongly the water temperature.
GREENWOOD, M.T. & WOOD, PJ. (2003) Effects of seasonal variation in salinity on a population of
Enochrus bicolor Fabricius 1792 (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae) and implications for other beetles of
conservation interest. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 13: 21-34.
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 21 (2004)
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