Enriching our landscape - an Essex success story
Plan (BAP) habitats such as cereal field margins and BAP species such as Yellowhammer Emberiza
citrinella. Grey Partridge, Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur. Skylark and Brown Hare.
Traditionally, statutory nature conservation initiatives have targeted only the very rare species.
The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended) is the principal mechanism in the UK for the
legislative protection of wildlife. It protects both species and sites of national importance. The
Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (CRoW Act 2000) is supplementary to the Wildlife and
Countryside Act, which it strengthens and updates. Now, for the first time, there is a statutory duty
on government departments to have regard to biodiversity conservation in general and to maintain
lists of species and habitats for which conservation steps should be taken and promoted. This
places Biodiversity Action Plans (BAPs) within a statutory context and is aimed at enforcing the
implementation of the principles of the Biodiversity Convention that was signed in Rio de Janicro
1992. Species on the Essex Biodiversity Action Plan include Skylark. Grey Partridge, Brown Hare,
Great Crested Newts Triturus cristatus. Sea Hogs-fennel Peucedanum officinale and Fisher's
Estuarine Moth Gortyna borelii lunata.
The impact of intensive farming on wildlife in lowland Britain
Farming remains the dominant land use across lowland Britain with approximately three quarters
of the 24.5 million hectares of land surface used for agricultural production. The traditional method
of farming has gradually been displaced by intensive monocultural systems, such as continuous
cereal cropping. The rate of growth for cereals is determined by such factors as the availability of
water and nutrients and the duration of growth depends on temperature and date of planting, e.g.
winter wheat requires a cold period over winter to ensure flowering.
Agricultural intensification occurred as a result of the 1945 Agricultural Act. Subsidies were made
available to replace unimproved grassland with arable crops or managed swards composed of
cultivated varieties, making the pastures more productive. As a result, it was no longer economic to
manage water meadows and unimproved pastures. Most old unimproved pastures were ploughed
out or converted to productive species-poor swards with the addition of nitrogenous fertilisers.
Furthermore, silage started to replace hay as a winter feed, resulting in two or three grass cuts a
year starting in mid-May after the application of fertilisers. This intensification of grassland
management had considerable impact on the botanical and entomological interest. During the 1980s
autumn-sown cereals became profitable. This and improved harvesting caused a substantial decline
in the area of weedy winter stubble, resulting in greatly reduced winter food supply for seed-eating
birds such as finches and buntings. Furthermore, the early ripening and harvesting caused the
abandonment of nests for late breeders such as Corn Bunting Miliaria calandra.
New initiatives at Abbotts Hall Farm
Capital works under the Countryside Stewardship Scheme include coppicing, hedge planting, creating
beetle banks and 2- and 6-metre field margins and opening up two neglected ponds. Over 4,000
trees have been planted and old neglected hedgerows have been coppiced. This is improving the
diversity of habitats and increasing structural diversity throughout the farm to provide more
ecological niches and micro-habitats for a variety of wildlife.
Ponds are an important wildlife resource, nationally supporting at least 3,000 species, with around
200 rare, endangered or vulnerable species within this number. Improving the ponds on the farm is
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Essex Naturalist (New Series) 21 (2004)