It is increasingly being noted that most of the open countryside has become intensively
arable, and farmers are forced, by government and EU policies, to farm this way, getting
high crop yields but leaving little or no room for wildlife. There are a number of traditional
'weeds' of fields, such as Corn Cockle, Corn Marigold, Cornflower and many others
that are fast disappearing from Britain. They need the disturbance of the plough, but not
the selective herbicides that kill all plants except the crop. A campaign by Plantlife,
English Nature and others is being launched to locate and save those that remain. Even
set-aside is usually sprayed with herbicides to keep down 'noxious weeds'. Instead, the
relatively undisturbed and unmanaged brown field areas are now havens for wildlife
and need conservation. Particularly distressing in our special area are the government's
plans for extended new housing developments alongside the Thames, and this is supposed
to be on the very same brown field sites that so much need conservation! I do not intend
to be political in this little article, but I wish the government was a bit more conservation
minded! The EU have already rapped Britain's knuckles several times for not paying
enough attention to biodiversity with respect to planning applications allowed in special
wildlife areas.
I went to Southend recently to give a wild flower talk, and I was told about the plant
treasures in marshy land in SW Canvey. This land is scheduled for industrial and retail
development, which would cause this special area to be quite ruined. I do hope the
various authorities will stop this sort of thing on precious wild land.
On 17 June we had some big thunderstorms, that helped to ease the drought. Soil that
had become like rock suddenly crumbled under the deluge, and wilting plants recovered,
or were beaten flat on the ground. We ate our first raspberries and new potatoes of the
season. Three days later the ground was again bone-dry, and near desert conditions
resumed. There have been incredibly few slugs in the garden this year; I have not lost
any of my tomato plants or other crops. Perhaps they don't like dry conditions, but that
did not stop them in the drought-stricken nineties.
On 24th June in the evening a few EFC members and friends gathered, under the leadership
of Ken Adams, to explore Jill's field in Aveley. Its real name is not Jill's field, but it was
Jill Ireland, who lives nearby, who alerted me to its wonderful and different plant
community. I wrote about it in this column a year ago (EFC Newsletter 39: 4-5), so you
may remember reading about its very light sandy soil, not excavated for its sand, so
more or less in its natural state. I had only visited it in May before, which is when its
rich collection of Pea Family flowers are at their best, albeit only 2cm high. But in late
June we found some other plants, notably Fiddle Dock and Divided Sedge, both quite
uncommon, particularly the Divided Sedge. This is another example of these Thames
Terraces, with dry well-drained soil, with many tiny plants and also some interesting
invertebrates. Local lads use this space for tearing around on motorbikes or sometimes
stolen cars, and they love making clouds of dust as they slam on the anchors and spin
round. Some disturbance is helpful in this habitat, but it does not need this much.
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Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 42, September 2003