Wildlife and conservation review 2002
Hall Marshes, along with 8 inland at Abberton. Snow Buntings equally were widespread, with
flocks including 22 at Jaywick, 18 at East Mersea and 6 at Old Hall; and Water Pipits peaked at 13
birds at Rainham Marshes. In contrast, the only Shore Lark was one at The Naze.
Wildfowl included a scattering of wild grey geese, with up to 24 Tundra Beans at Abberton which
were somewhat dwarfed by a count of 1000 Canadas and 2500 Grey-lags; there were also 3 Black
Brants at Old Hall. Two Ring-billed Gulls remained from 2001, and indeed previous winters, on
the Thames, as did a Caspian Gull, while up to 3 Glaucous and an Iceland were at Rainham, and
another Ring-billed at Barling Tip. Further afield, of some 20 Mediterranean Gulls around Great
Yarmouth sea-front, one was an Essex-ringed bird, ringed as a nestling in Hamford Water in 1999.
An overwintering Siberian Chiffchaff appeared regularly around the Thames Barrier, a Mealy
Redpoll (now treated as a full species in its own right) was in Weald Park, and the Langenhoe/
Fingringhoe Northern Grey Shrike continued to appear from last year, with a Rough-legged
Buzzard in the same area. A Guillemot (apparently healthy) was an unusual sight well up the Colne
Estuary at Wivenhoe, while a Common Seal ventured even further up the same river, fishing right
at the tidal limit of Colchester East Mill.
In the wider worlds of conservation and agriculture, the EU published its proposals for a mid-
term review of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the cause of so much environmental
damage in the past but increasingly the mechanism and means for environmental enhancement of
the farmed landscape. Welcome proposals (at least to us conservationists) included the decoupling
of subsidy payments from productivity (thus removing the temptation to over-stock, for example),
and making payments dependent upon achieving minimum environmental standards (cross-
compliance). If the proposals corne to fruition, in the face of concerns from the agriculture sector
and especially from certain member states, particularly France and Portugal, the CAP would seem
to be becoming friend rather than foe, a crucial change as the enlargement of the Union into
eastern Europe (where there is still an awful lot of wildlife to lose) looms ever closer.
February simply carried on the wet and windy but mild theme, as series of Atlantic depressions
passed over the country. The wind was especially apparent during the weekend of the Lee Valley
Bird Fair (23rd/24th) as those of us speaking or listening in the barn were all too well aware - gusts
of up 70 mph battered the Essex landscape, and the barn doors. Not that it kept too many people
away - with a weekend attendance of some 1800, it was the most successful fair yet. It was a month
of extremes - the wettest February since 1990; conversely, sunnier than average; and incredibly
mild, some 3.2°C above average - just the sort of extremes postulated as a likely result of global
climate change.
With the warmth, spring sprung early. Frogs were spawning almost throughout the month, birds
were breeding, Cherry Plum was in bloom from the 14th and the unseasonable sound of lawn mowers
came from many a garden the weekend previously. A few early presumed migrant birds turned
up, with a Whimbrel at Fingringhoe Wick (24th) and four Common Cranes which flew in from the
sea at Holland Haven (27th). Otherwise the bird scene was distinctly wintry, with a wide scattering
of rarer grebes and wild geese. Up to 13 Slavonian Grebes were in the Blackwater Estuary, and a
similar number of Black-necked Grebes on William Girling Reservoir, while a Great Northern
Diver was at Abberton, along with both Whooper (3) and Bewick's (5) Swans. A Pale-bellied Brent
Goose joined the three Black Brants at Old Hall, and more of the latter were seen at The Naze, and
elsewhere in the Blackwater. This race (or species according to some authorities) is now annual in
Essex, and increasing in Europe as a whole; this may be due to increasing vagrancy across the
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Essex Naturalist (New Series) 20 (2003)