116 THE ESSEX NATURALIST
The first factor is the shortage of agricultural labour and the competition
offered by more attractive jobs in the nearby towns. The farmers cannot
easily compete so far as wages are concerned but they can attempt to retain
their existing workers by overcoming some of the disadvantages of life on
the land. One such method is to switch from dairy farming, with its early
and late hours seven days a week, to the more regular hours and mechanical
aids of arable farming. An alternative or complementary way round the labour
difficulty is to change from dairy cattle to beef cattle, thus employing less
labour. The arable method will clearly lead to an increase in arable laud at
the expense of grassland, while the alternative (sometimes known as "dog and
stick" farming) may well result in the deterioration of grassland.
A second and more local factor relates to the 1953 floods. Grassland which
was flooded for a period of several weeks was usually damaged to the extent
that the herbage was completely killed; as a result many farmers, taking
advantage of Government rehabilitation grants and bearing in mind the
improved sea defence works that were aimed at preventing further flooding,
decided to turn the situation to advantage and to convert their flooded pasture
land to arable. By contrast other pasture land which was flooded for only
a few days did not suffer complete destruction of the herbage. There was,
however, selective destruction of the finer grasses and interference with the
drainage, with the result that any pasture land that did not receive careful
restorative treatment has tended to deteriorate into the rough grazing category.
It is understood that the eastern side of the island, i.e. the arable side, was
in fact under water for a considerable period in 1953, while the western, or
rough grazing side, was cleared of water in a few days.
Returning to the general picture of changes in the land use since 1934,
another obvious change is the extension of the gravel workings in both the
north-west and the south-east of the island. The area around Colchester is
well known as one of the principal sources of gravel for London and S.E.
England, and there is no doubt that the extension of the pits in Brightlingsea
is typical of post-war developments in this part of Essex to meet the increased
demands for this valuable raw material of the building industry.
The growth of the town of Brightlingsea since 1934 is probably only
moderate by comparison with other seaside resorts. There has been some
infilling north of High Street and an enlargement of the built-up area along
Chapel Road and Bell Green. As a result there has been some loss of
agricultural land. There has also been a considerable increase in the area of
allotment gardens. A feature of the town which was not shown on the 1934
map and for which there is no separate Land Utilisation Survey symbol is the
chalet and caravan site near the railway station. This is a development which
is obviously associated with many pleasure resorts and for which a new
symbol would seem to be justified if another national land utilisation survey
ever becomes possible.