Wildlife and conservation review 2002
tenth most successful site in the country. Also pertaining to moths, Robin Field and others from
Butterfly Conservation began a county wide survey for Buttoned Snout, an apparently scarce and
declining species. It turned up as larvae almost wherever they examined the food plant, Hop, in
Essex: it seems the scarcity is more a function of the reluctance of adults to be attracted to light. In
contrast, it did seem genuinely rare in Cambridgeshire, but then again so is the food plant.
During June, the seal disease Phocine Distemper Virus (PDV) reappeared the other side of the
North Sea, and was widely expected to repeat its 1988 spread to our shores, when some 18,000,
mostly Common, seals, were killed. But it remains a rather mysterious disease, of uncertain
epidemiology, making predictions at best uncertain. The first British case in the new outbreak was
discovered on 25th July at Skegness, but despite other reports in East Anglia, none came from Essex
until September. A similar mystery underlies the widely discussed, but never explained, decline in
House Sparrows. The London Biodiversity Partnership conducted a mass-participation survey,
attracting contributions from nearly 13,000 localities. The outer boroughs seem to be faring better
than the inner ones; of the outer boroughs, east London, both north and south of the Thames, were
better; and best of all was Barking & Dagenham, with a higher average number of sparrows per
human home than any other borough. But why?
A big influx of resources into nature conservation came with the launch of the Aggregates Levy
Sustainability Fund, announced in the April Budget. This fund is derived from a tax on rock and
mineral quarrying operations. The result? -up to £10 million for restoration and biodiversity projects,
but it did have some surprising side-effects, such as recycled glass being sent for sand production
to avoid extraction tax, but at the same time losing the whole purpose of glass recycling to save
energy.
July started wet, and indeed was the wettest and dullest since 1988, despite a short-lived heatwave
in the third week. The Azores high remained firmly over the Azores, introducing northerly winds to
Essex, and generally pegging temperatures down.
Probably the most exciting botanical find of the month, indeed for several years, was Brian Wurzell's
discovery of three plants of Creeping Marshwort Apium repens on Walthamstow Marshes, at
only its second British locality, the other being in Oxfordshire. Two more Toadflax Brocades at
Dovercourt gave further credence to the possibility of a locally-breeding colony of this rare moth,
but a Large Tortoiseshell at Mistley was most likely an import or release.
Nationally, it was shaping up to be a bad year for Little Terns, especially following the trashing of
the great Yarmouth colony, it is presumed in revenge for past prosecutions. The Hamford Water
colony proved to be one of the few producing more than one fledged young per breeding pair, and
12 pairs at Colne Point was a better showing than for several years. While much of the bird talk was
of the Durham Bee-eaters, arguably more significant in conservation terms was the return to England
of breeding Choughs, with a pair in Cornwall for the first time in 50 years, coming just in advance
of a planned re-introduction scheme. News also came of Peacocks (birds, not butterflies) breeding
ferally in Essex, at Margaretting, where they have apparently done so for some years.
Rare birds again had a distinctly Continental feel. A White Stork settled for three days near
Chelmsford, although it was rather tame and dishevelled, casting some doubt on its origins; a
probable Pallid Swift was over Old Hall; a Ferruginous Duck at Hanningfield; and Dagenham
Chase recorded only its second-ever Little Egret. Otherwise, there were 11 Black-necked Grebes
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 20 (2003)
25