Book review: Explore Wild Essex
a book by Tony Gunton, published jointly by Lopinga Books and EWT, 2008, price
£14.95p.
Have you visited Noak Bridge Nature Reserve yet? Or, RSPB Cattawade Marshes?
These are new areas of wildlife interest open to the public, and feature on pages 232 and
74 respectively in this new book.
Or have you made a visit to the newly developed RSPB Rainham Marshes (page 234),
or Chafford Gorges Nature Park (page 219), or Hanningfield Reservoir reserve (page
129), all of which have changed out of all recognition since 2,000?
Or have you read the revised, and much more useful, information given for Garnetts
Wood (page 14) about the ancient Small-leaved Lime trees, relics of the original wildwood
of pre-Roman Britain, that make this woodland so special?
These are just some of the delights to be found in this completely revised version of the
original Wild Essex, by Tony Gunton, published in 2,000. It was an excellent volume,
but Essex has changed a lot since then, as you may have noticed! Some of the changes
have definitely been to the detriment of our wildlife, but there have also been many
good changes, in both number and extent of wildlife places open to the public. This
excellent volume suggests lots of new places to explore, as well as those picked out
above.
The new book has Essex divided into sections in the map in the front, then each section
is dealt with separately, prefaced by a detailed map. I find this easier to use than the
layout in the old book, though I was slightly surprised to find RSPB Rainham Marshes
in the South-west section even though most of the land lies in East London, but the
entrance is in Thurrock, so that is presumably why it is placed here. Of course, the index
is also very useful to track down places that you cannot easily find on a map. There are
new pages of pictures of wildlife of many kinds, but I think the extra information pages
(e.g. about coppicing) in the old book have gone, although some of the information now
appeal's in the sites to which they most apply. Apart from these minor differences, the
book is in broadly the same style as the previous one.
The new book has an extra 20 pages, but covers nearly 10,000 extra acres and almost 90
extra sites. No naturalist can really be without it. You can buy it, if you have not already
done so, from any EWT visitor centre or direct from Lopinga Books at www.lopinga.com,
free p&p. Your local bookseller and on-line companies may take a little longer, as they
may have to order it specially. But do buy it!
Review by Mary Smith
20 Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 57, September 2008