Wildlife and Conservation Review of 2001
8cm of snow, and the easterly winds made it bitterly cold. But on the 6th, it was all change as the
wind turned to the deep south, temperatures rocketed to 16°C and spring sprung. Frogs, which had
made a tentative return to their ponds in late-February, set about spawning, only to be caught out by
this false spring: on the 20th, winter cruelly returned, and killed much of the spawn. A band of wet
snow was dumped on Essex, driven into blizzards by very strong easterlies, and giving rise to a
wind chill of something like -20°C, the coldest spell of the winter. But the snow melted rapidly
after a couple of days under the influence of yet more rain, and putting low-lying parts under flood
alert once again. By the end of the month, it had proved to be the wettest March since 1947, and
generally dull throughout.
Not that many of us noticed, still being wrapped up with the daily horrors of the ongoing FMD
outbreak. During the month, the EWT was reporting losses £11,000 per week from sales and
donations at their reserves and centres, as the number of confirmed cases in the county rose to
10 (around Canewdon, Warley, Wethersfield and Layer). Nationally, the number of confirmed cases
rose above 400, with 40 or more new cases on many days, centred on Cumbria, Devon and Dumfries
& Galloway. The 24th was the worst day of the whole epidemic, with 59 new cases reported: there
was clearly still a long way to go.
Even without FMD, it was a dismal month with few real signs of spring. To take just one example,
I recorded no butterflies at all in my Dovercourt garden, a hitherto unrecorded phenomenon for
March, and this in spite of the unaccustomed level of attention it was receiving. But others were out
and about in the places they were allowed, especially urban areas, as the naturalist community
emerged from hibernation. Joe Firmin reported a Hummingbird Hawk-moth (perhaps an
overwintered specimen) around Wallflower blooms in Manningtree, and up to 7 Waxwings were
seen feeding on Cotoneaster berries at Colchester General Hospital. Further south, Paul Stanley
turned up one of the botanical surprises of the last few years with the discovery of Early Meadow-
grass Poa infirma at two sites in Shoebury. Until recently, this was considered to be a rare species,
known only from a few hot sites on the south and south-west coasts of England, although there
have been recent signs of spread eastwards along the south coast and even to the Isle of Dogs.
Given this it is perhaps not too unexpected that it should be found by the outer Thames, although
the means of its arrival must be subject to some question. It could have been introduced, presumably
accidentally; it could have been overlooked (it differs from Poa annua mainly in its very short
anthers, less than 0.5mm long); or it could have spread naturally, perhaps yet another indicator of
global climate change. Support from the latter view could come from some of the other botanical
specialities of the same general area in which it was found, such as Bulbous Meadow-grass,
Musk Stork's-bill, Lesser Chickweed and Green Field-speedwell, all of which would represent
good climatic and habitat associates for Early Meadow-grass.
If it is a sign of climate change, then the indications are that such changes are likely to continue.
George W Bush flew in the face of world opinion in March and announced that the United States
would not honour its previous commitment to reducing carbon dioxide emissions under the
Kyoto Protocol. It was widely assumed that this was the result of pressure from the powerful
energy lobby, which played an important part in his electoral success. Back home, Prime Minister
Tony Blair delivered his pre-election speech on the environment. This included many positive
commitments, including the increased development and exploitation of renewable and sustainable
energy resources (eg wind turbines), but stimulated, by omission, calls for a thorough overhaul of
agricultural policy to improve its performance in respect of sustainability, especially in light of
the handling of the FMD outbreak.
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Essex Naturalist (New Series) 19 (2002)