1913-2001: A lifetime of difference
Essex rivers then, as now. My enjoyment of them today was enhanced by the hundreds of Banded
Demoiselles Calopteryx splendens fluttering along the water's edge in the weak sunshine.
Before I reached Fyfield the fields of corn gave way to fields of beans and with them the appearance
of a goodly array of common arable weeds. Common Poppies Papaver rhoeas were particularly
plentiful, forming bands of scarlet among the green, a spectacle of which I was greatly appreciative
as in my home parish of Ingatestone it is has been a simple task to count the poppies in the fields
individually in most recent years. Appreciation nowadays, though, is always tempered by the fear
that even such modest displays as this could shortly be a thing of the past. If genetic modification
(GM) technology proves to be everything it is cracked up to be then arable weeds could soon be
eradicated from bean and oil-seed rape fields as thoroughly as they have been from cereals by
modem herbicides. It is not the technology that is to blame, of course, but our exasperating inability
to show restraint in its use, even when it is in our own long-term interest to do so. The classic
example is the fishing industry. Modern sonar devices enable fishermen to detect fish shoals more
easily than in the past but it must have been obvious from the outset that such technology could
easily lead to over-exploitation of stocks if not used wisely. All to no avail. Numbers worldwide
have reached critically low levels and this year a lengthy ban on catching spawning Cod and immature
Hake in parts of the North Sea was introduced in a last attempt to conserve stocks. Even this measure
- forced as it was on the industry by greed and stupidity in the past - was subject to twisted logic by
some commentators, who hailed it as a "victory for conservation"!
With regard to our flora, it has been suggested that GM technology could have beneficial side-
effects. For instance, one idea is that crops could be modified to take up nitrates more efficiently,
thus cutting down on both use and wastage and helping to case the problem of eutrophication of
lakes and rivers and the coarsening of marginal vegetation, as witnessed during my walk along the
Roding today. Therefore it seems pointless to condemn the technology out of hand - as some
conservationists appear to be doing - without examining the benefits it might bring. Better, instead,
to try and combat the twin obsessions with tidiness (in the guise of efficiency) and short term economic
gain that seem to have been the driving force behind so much agricultural policy during the past
half-century and which, if they remain unchecked, will undoubtedly lead to GM technology being
used to squeeze every last penny of profit out of the land, irrespective of the cost to wildlife. Recently,
Foot & Mouth Disease has come and nearly gone. MAAF has been replaced by DEFRA. A change
of name or a change of heart? Time will tell. But at least it provides a new opportunity to change our
ways.
The party in 1913 would have been untroubled by such thoughts. By the time they approached
Willingale they would have had The Bell Inn on their mind. As they approached it along the lanes
and field paths from Gang Bridge, through Miller's Green, "large patches of the local Sulphur-
headed Clover (Trifolium ochroleucon) were observed, with numerous commoner plants of 'chalk
facies,' such as [Ribbed Melilot] Melilotus officinalis, [Hoary Plantain] Plantago media, [Rest-
harrow] Ononis arvensis, [Field Scabious] Scabiosa arvensis, [Chicory] Cichorium intybus, while
Traveller's Joy (Clematis vitalba) wreathed the hedges". This part of the walk is little changed, the
roadside verges and field margins still rich in flowers, including all the above (apart from Chicory)
plus many others that they did not mention, Agrimony Agrimonia eupatoria, Red Bartsia Odontites
verna, Wild Basil Clinopodium vulgare. Lady's Bedstraw Galium verum. Crow Garlic Allium vineale,
Oxeye Daisy Leucanthemum vulgare, Tufted Vetch Vicia cracca and Goat's-beard Tragopogon
pratensis among them. In what had, so far, been a poor summer for butterflies it was good to encounter
large numbers of Meadow Browns Maniola jurtina, Gatekeepers Pyronia tithonus, Large Ochlodes
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 19 (2002)
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