Wildlife and Conservation Review of 2001
on Christmas Day!). Between Christmas and New Year, the ground and inland waters remained
permanently frozen, and even the estuaries started to freeze up. Fortunately, this barely persisted
into the New Year, so there were no reports of significant mortalities of vulnerable water birds.
Of course in the depths of winter, most wildlife interest comes in the shape of birds, and there was
still plenty of interest to be found. The St Osyth Little Egret roost reached 118, and a fair scattering
of both Whooper and Bewick's Swans appeared around the county, while at Old Hall, the Golden
Plover flocks grew to 4100. No doubt revelling in the relatively mild conditions, the Hume's
Yellow-browed Warbler remained at South Woodford, an 'ordinary' Yellow-browed Warbler
was at Southend, and a late House Martin put in an appearance at Abberton on 11th. The only
Shore Lark was one at The Naze, but there were reasonable numbers of Bramblings in favoured
places eg 70 at Copped Hall with 550 Chaffinches and 200 Greenfinches. And still the Americans
were with us - the usual Thames-side Ring-billed Gulls and one at Abberton; Ring-necked Duck
and Spotted Sandpiper at Hanningfield; two or three Black Brants; and less reputably, an escaped
American Black Vulture at Leigh.
The Essex bird list also grew by one - only 175 years late! Nick Green and others from the Essex
Birdwatching Society had previously located a specimen of American Bittern in Saffron Walden
Museum, which had been 'collected' at Wenden in 1826. After much research, it was submitted to the
British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee, and accepted as only the second British record.
Much of our wildlife may be hidden, but even in the winter conservation work goes on. The RSPB
announced their purchase of Cliffe Pools and adjacent marshland in Kent, complementary to the
Essex coastal grazing marshes, and strongly associated with birds from the Mucking Flats, many of
which roost at Cliffe. At this time when development proposals continue apace by the Thames (eg
the London Gateway container port proposal at Shellhaven; and whispers stalling to emerge about
a new airport for the area, either at Cliffe or Maplin), it is important that conservation focus remains
very firmly on the area.
But what is the future for such schemes, or the opponents of such schemes? During 2001, the
Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 Public Inquiry decision was eventually published, some 7 years after
the proposal was first submitted. Few would argue that the development control process for such
major infrastructural projects of national significance is cumbersome. In response to such concerns,
the Government published its Green Paper on Planning, hoping to streamline the process. It
received a mixed response, welcomed by many commercial concerns, but perceived as a threat by
those who fear that environmental considerations ('constraints') may be given insufficient weight
in a fast-track process. Change will undoubtedly happen, but it remains to be seen what the
implications will be for the environment, and what, if any, will be the implication for the many
large proposals which currently reside in the Essex mind-set.
Foot & Mouth Disease - a review
But the last word this year must go to the FMD outbreak, which ran through most of the 2001. It
was intended that the country would be declared FMD-free on New Year's Eve, and indeed most of
the remaining areas - Cumbria, Durham, North Yorkshire - were duly declared disease-free. But
Northumberland, where it all began, wasn't, following positive antibody tests, until February 2002.
What were the effects of the outbreak? What are the implications for the future, not only for our
rural economy, but also our wildlife? And have any lessons been learned from our handling of it?
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Essex Naturalist (New Series) 19 (2002)