1913 - 2001: A lifetime of difference
very graceful and delicate peering above most of the other plants on the broad roadsides". The
writer went on to say that "careful search was also made on the Heath for Pulicaria vulgaris, but in
vain; probably the season was a little too early for if Perhaps that's why 1 missed it too! Still, I
found a field where it could have occurred - a marshy meadow with a tiny pond, the pony-trampled
banks of which resemble the species' preferred habitat in its last stronghold in the New Forest. The
field was full of other good things, though, such as Ragged-Robin Lychnis flos-cuculi. Imperforate
St John's-wort Hypericum maculatum, Marsh Bedstraw Galium palustre. Jointed Rush Juncus
articulatus, Lesser Spearwort Ranunculus flammula and Brown Sedge Carex disticha.
Alas, the rest of the Heath bears little resemblance today to the scene which greeted Percy Thompson
and his group in 1913. He describes it thus: liThe high ground of Norton Heath, at 325 feet O.D., is
formed by one of the smallest Essex outliers of the Bagshot Pebble Beds, which lie above the sheet
of Chalky Boulder Clay and Glacial Gravels which elsewhere mantle the surface of the country for
miles around in all directions. The surface of the small heath has been much disturbed by shallow
excavations for gravel, which have largely worked off the thin capping of Pebble-Beds, and the
resulting swampy heath and shallow pools should prove happy hunting grounds for botanists". No
more. Gravel digging has long since ceased, so too the harvesting of furze and wood for fuel and the
grazing of animals by the commoners. The decimation of the Rabbit population by myxomatosis in
the 1950s was the final straw which allowed secondary woodland to gain a foothold and the Heath
is now a dark and shady wood; the pools are still there but few of the plants. The likes of Common
Milkwort Polygala vulgaris, Marsh Pennywort Hydrocotyle vulgaris, Heath Bedstraw Galium
saxatile, Heath Groundsel Senecio sylvaticus, Heather Calluna vulgaris, Betony Stachys officinalis
and Lousewort Pedicularis sylvatica - all of which are listed but not considered worthy of mention
in the text- have disappeared as thoroughly as the Small Fleabane; only Yellow Pimpernel Lysimachia
nemorum and Wood Sage Teucrium scorodonia remain.
On reflection, as I awaited my carriage home, I was not as glum at the conclusion of my walk as
perhaps I had expected to be when I set out! True, the deterioration of the Heath since 1913 and the
loss of so many of its rarer plants was disappointing but no one is to blame for its demise and, as it
is still largely intact, there is at least a chance that it could one day - money and determination
permitting - be restored to a condition bearing some resemblance to its prime. Other species have
been decimated by agricultural intensification since the 1939-45 war but, here again, there are a few
encouraging signs that the problem is beginning to be addressed and some excellent conservation
work has been carried out by a few of the landowners on my route in recent years. M iraculously, the
entire area has also escaped the post-war building boom that has blighted many other parts of Essex;
indeed, there are probably fewer people living along the route than ninety y ears ago! Before I left the
area it presented me with one further treat - a large clump of Apple-of-Peru Nicandra physalodes
growing on top of an enormous dung-heap in a field alongside the lay-by where I was waiting. I had
to scale the heap in order to identify the plant - which must have presented a incongruous sight to
rush-hour motorists on the A414 - but such a colourful and exotic looking species made for a satisfying
finale to what had been a thoroughly enjoyable walk.
22
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 19 (2002)