Goodbye set aside
Graham Smith 48 The Meads, Ingatestone, CM4 OAE
There is a field - formerly two fields - of around twenty acres - which is enclosed on three
sides by the ancient smallholdings of Elmfields, Murcocks, Maisonettes and Spilfeathers.
It too was once a yeoman's farm but was bought by the landowner of an adjacent estate
in the early 19th century as part of his master plan to reroute the public roads away from
his mansion. In the decades following the Second World War it was a run of the mill
arable field. Then, at around the turn of the century, it was put down to long term set
aside. The final crop that year was Oilseed Rape. Or at least it was meant to be. Most of
the field was swathed in the white flowers of Wild Radish, among which the cultivated
plant struggled to compete. It presented a remarkable spectacle in this age of all powerful
herbicides. The following spring the radish reappeared but faced opposition from more
powerful natural competitors - Black Grass, Barren Brome, Wild Oat, Italian Rye and
huge quantities of Meadow Brome, a formerly scarce grass of meadowland which seems
to have found a new lease of life as a crop contaminant in recent years. Arable weeds
flourished too, especially species such as Shepherd's Purse, Chickweed, Groundsel,
Scentless Mayweed, Cut-leaved Cranesbill, Common Field Speedwell and Cleavers, which
have successfully stuck two fingers up at all the chemical concoctions which modern
science has thrown at them in recent years! Within a couple of years these opportunists
had to cede ground to stronger - mostly perennial - rivals: Yorkshire Fog, Perennial Rye,
Tall Fescue, Cocksfoot, Rough Meadow Grass, Couch, Soft Brome and False Oat among
the grasses; Creeping & Spear Thistles, Ragwort, Great Willowherb, Beaked Hawks-
beard, Nettles, Burdock and Ox-tongue among the broad-leaved weeds. The field was
mown once each year, in autumn, which dispersed the seeds and thickened the sward. As
the years progressed nutrient levels appeared to fall in some parts of the field and less
competitive plants began to gain a toehold - Field Madder, Blinks, Common Cudweed,
Common Whitlow Grass, Prickly Sedge and large quantities of Common Fleabane among
them.
Between them the 'weeds' provided an important source of nectar for adult butterflies
and food plants for their caterpillars : hundreds of Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers on
the grasses; plentiful Peacocks, Small Tortiseshells and Red Admirals on the nettles and
in years of good migration, Painted Ladies on the thistles. Green-veined White caterpillars
flourished on the still abundant Wild Radish while small populations of Common Blue
and Brown Argus established themselves along the edge of the field where their respective
food plants, Bird's Foot Trefoil and Dove's-foot Cranesbill had found a niche on the well
trampled margins of the footpath. In 2003 the population of the latter reached at least
fifty individuals, a good showing in what has been a very poor decade for this species in
Essex. Day flying moths such as the Silver Y, Latticed Heath and Cinnabar were also
much in evidence some summers and within a few years a small population of Mother
Shipton had established themselves. Other insects also made a beeline for the field (sorry!),
8
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 56, May 2008