Wildlife and Conservation Review of 2000
Little Terns were slow to settle, but ultimately around a hundred pairs set up territories on the
recharge banks at Horsey Island, the best ever count, with other pairs elsewhere in the Backwaters.
Surprisingly there were none on Stone Point, where there were also fewer Ringed Plovers and
Oystercatcher than in 1999. Part of the problem may have been the increasing numbers of Herring
and Lesser Black-backed Gulls breeding on Hedge-end Island; the Black-headed Gull colony
previously on Garnham's Island also moved largely to this latter site.
While many birds arc breeding in May, there is also abundant scope for rarities and wanderers and
2000 was no exception. Old Hall Marshes produced another potential county first, a Pacific Golden
Plover, and large drifters included a Black Kite over Abberton, Honey Buzzard over Holland
Haven and a Black Stork over Earls Colne. Two Roseate Terns were of Fingringhoe Wick, while
good numbers of Black Terns dropped into the major reservoirs, including up to 77 at Hanningfield,
and a Stone Curlew was a surprise at Abberton. But no more surprising than a Willow Tit at
Rainham Marsh, some di stance from the nearest known breeding site of th is rapidly-declining species.
Looking (very much) wider afield, in May the US military stopped adding intentional errors to the
signals from their satellites, a true peace dividend for those with Global Positioning System (GPS)
sets. Overnight, the typical resolution for even the cheaper units fell from 60m to less than 10m
(equivalent to an 8-figurc OS grid reference), making them a realistic proposition for highly accurate
biological recording at an affordable price. Now all the naturalist needs is a rucksack big enough to
carry GPS, mobile phone, camera, whistle and torch, field guides, sunscreen, hat, palmtop computer,
notebook, pens, waterproofs, insect repellent, sandwiches, coffee - and the stamina to carry it all!
Summer
The 'summer' of 2000 continued to fail to live up to expectation- it was the summer that never was,
as weather conditions remained unsettled and unstable. The hottest period of the year occurred for a
few days in the middle of June, when high pressure established briefly and produced a few days of
very hot temperatures, exceeding 30 C for three consecutive days, followed inexorably by a thundery
breakdown. This period also produced the first really good mothing of the year: as it transpired,
some of the best mothing of the year. Migrants like Silver Y appeared in good numbers, peaking
around the 18th, along with many Rush Veneers and Diamond-backs, and 17th saw one of the most
exciting moths of the year, a Red-necked Footman captured at Bunting's Meadow, near Colchester.
During daylight hours, Painted Ladies became more obvious and the first signs of a Clouded
Yellow invasion became apparent: this was to grow into one of the outstanding insect features of the
summer", with large numbers especially during August and early September.
Despite the largely unfavourable weather, our intrepid naturalist community was out recording, and
as always turned up several surprises. June saw Ted Benton on Old Hall Marshes, just as his
Bumblebees of Essex was going to press, discovering a new bumblebee for the county. Bombus
jonellus is similar to the familiar B. hortorum, but with a short face and reddish hairs on the hind
tibiae; only one specimen was located so it is not possible to determine whether this represented a
wanderer or a hitherto overlooked breeding population. Around the same time, Ted was also
investigating the Odonata of the River Colne near Colchester, and came upon a small but significant
population of the Scarce Chaser. This species has had a chequered history in Essex. First recorded
by Harwood near Colchester in 1900, there were no further reports until 1997 and 1998, when it was
reported from Stanford Warren and Cranham Marsh. Also in 1997, it was located on the Stour at
Nayland, which proved to be a sizeable population. By 1999, it had been reported at Earls Colne, so
its rediscovery a century on at Colchester is perhaps not surprising, part of a local resurgence,
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 18 (2001)
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