A wildlife diary
Mary Smith 33 Gaynes Park Road, Upminster, Essex RM14 2HJ
April began with warm sunshine, but by the 4th it was cold again, with hail and heavy
rain at times; these were rather chilly April showers. It warmed up again for Easter, with
Easter Monday being the warmest.
On 14* April I visited Davy Down, just south of South Ockendon, to meet the Park
Manager, Steve Mitchell, to find some plants. It was a very successful day: the Butterbur
was the native one (all female but you cannot have everything!), the Deadly Nightshade
was coming up beautifully, the little Early Forget-me-not was all over the place where I
had not previously seen it, and the highlight of the day was finding, with Steve, the
Goldilocks Buttercup (Plate 3 bottom right) in Brannetts Wood. There were well over a
hundred plants, in a very inaccessible part of the woodland.
Bluebells have been under the spotlight this spring. Plantlife produced a report giving
the results of their Bluebell survey, and other bits of information found their way into
print. People have noticed that hybrid bluebells are all over the place, even in places
where the pure native ones do not usually grow such as path edges, small copses or
scrub thickets, etc. Over much of England the pure natives are now almost restricted to
the central parts of old woodlands, while the hybrid plants are increasing rapidly,
especially round the large conurbations,. They are abundant in amenity (as opposed to
private) woodlands, and particularly in the entrance areas and near the car parks. Even
in areas of old woodlands hybrids grow by the edges and where the major paths run.
This may be partly because the hybrids thrive with more light than the native readily
tolerates. But there could well be another reason; perhaps the pollen or seeds are
inadvertently carried by humans and/or their dogs. It is hard to account for the observed
hybrid distribution patterns otherwise. People are getting fired up about how awful it
would be to lose our native Bluebell in this way, but the process is so far gone now that
it is hard to think of a practical method of undoing the damage.
Coppicing of old woodlands is thought to be very beneficial for the general biodiversity,
but it would seem to favour the spread of the hybrid bluebells by allowing more light into
the woodlands. I would not dream of saying we should not encourage coppicing as a
woodland management pattern, as the advantages to so many life forms undoubtedly
outweigh the disadvantage. But it is probably helping to destroy our native bluebells. It is
quite likely that global warming affects the plants too; the hybrid is the natural plant in
southern France, where the range of the Spanish Bluebell meets the range of the more
northern British native Bluebell. But not to worry, as the Atlantic Conveyor is breaking up
fast, and so, while the rest of the globe heats up, Britain will return to very cold weather
and our native Bluebell may regain lost ground. Does every cloud have a silver lining?
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 45, September 2004
3