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A green
alliance
of businesses
The magazine for Essex Wildlife Trust members Issue 117 | Winter 2021
What a
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How people power and technology have helped nature
Helping people discover the wild wonders of Tendring Page 34
What’s on this winter
Arrange a visit
An independent school for girls age 3-16 and boys age 3-4
Find out more about our academic success, small classes, affordable fees, brilliantly balanced education and excellent pastoral care www.stmaryscolchester.org.uk
Welcome
Issue 117 | WINTER 2021
‘The fate of the environment now has a sense of focus and real momentum’
Welcome
T
he last two years have been incredibly challenging for the Trust, but one of the key factors that has enabled us to get through this period of unrest has been the enduring support from our growing membership. When times are tough, it would be easy for a charity membership to slip down the list of priorities; but for an increasing number of people, nature is more important than ever before.
Without a strong core group of supporters, it would be impossible for the Trust to make ambitious plans or to deliver meaningful impact for wildlife across the county. We are therefore extremely grateful and humbled by the fortitude of so many people across Essex who share our vision of a world where nature, and all the benefits that it brings, is at the heart of communities and central to all aspects of decision making going forwards. The fate of the environment now has a sense of focus and real momentum. Our collective challenge now is to each play our part, in whatever way we can, to ensure that our natural heritage is never again taken for granted. Nature is essential to happy, healthy and fulfilled lives and together we must ensure that this remains a fundamental right and not merely an aspiration.
Discover us and join the conversation: Essex Wildlife Trust @essexwildlifetrust @EssexWildlife EssexWildlife @essexwildlifetrust Essex Wildlife Trust www.essexwt.org.uk
We need
your
help!
Volunteer with us
Donating your time to help create a Wilder Essex is invaluable to the Trust. We have a variety of roles available for all abilities and interests. Find out more at www.essexwt.org. uk/volunteer
Dr. Andrew Impey Chief Executive Officer
WILD is the magazine of Essex Wildlife Trust and is published four times a year: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.
The Trust is a corporate member of The Wildlife Trusts
MEET THE WILD TEAM
The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Trustees of Essex Wildlife Trust.
Editor-in-Chief Emily McParland
No. 117 Winter 2021 ISSN 2756-0066
We are the county’s leading conservation charity, committed to protecting wildlife and inspiring a lifelong love of nature.
All enquiries to: Essex Wildlife Trust, Abbotts Hall Farm, Great Wigborough, Colchester, Essex, CO5 7RZ T 01621 862960 E enquiries@essexwt.org.uk www.essexwt.org.uk
Front cover photo: Nature Picture Library
Send an e-card
Reg Charity No. 210065 VAT Reg No. 945745977 Company Reg No. 638666 England
We manage nature reserves and discovery parks across the county, providing outstanding outdoor learning and preserving places of wonder. Founded in 1959 by volunteers, we protect over 8,400 acres of land across 87 sites and are supported by 39,000 members. Our climate is in crisis and nature needs our help. Together we can protect the future. Join us. We are one of the largest trusts that work together throughout the British Isles as The Wildlife Trusts.
Executive Editor Rich Yates Editorial Assistants Lily Chambers & Zoe Kent Art Directors Nathan Bishop & Lottie Hall Advertising Sophie Hennessey To advertise in WILD magazine contact Sophie on sophieh@essexwt.org.uk Printing The DS Group WILD magazine includes adverts from third-parties. However, services offered by advertisers are not specifically endorsed by Essex Wildlife Trust. The income from advertisements goes towards the cost of printing and postage. This means that more of your membership donation goes directly towards conservation. Adverts must conform to the British Code of Advertising Practice. Copyright © Essex Wildlife Trust 2021
Instead of buying a card this holiday season, send a beautiful e-card where all purchases go towards supporting the Trust, www.dontsendmeacard.com/charities/mrry
Help winter wildlife
Whether you have an urban garden or live in the countryside, wildlife will prosper from your help at home. Learn what to feed wild mammals through the colder weather www.essexwt.org. uk/actions/what-feed-hedgehogs-and-badgers
Remember a loved one
A gift in memory is a special way of commemorating the life of a loved one and supporting a cause that was important to them. Make a donation in memory of someone special at www.essexwt.org.uk/in-memory We really hope you enjoy receiving your magazine. If, however, you would prefer to convert to our digital-only Green Membership, please contact the Membership Office on 01621 862964 or by email at members@essexwt.org.uk. We will be delighted to help you manage how we communicate with you.
WILD Winter 2021
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Tendring
Section title here
L VES Conservation
Page 34 This year, we launched a programme of community engagement and site improvements that will bring people within Tendring closer to their local wildlife and wild spaces, so they can benefit from an increased connection with nature.
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Section title here
WHAT’S INSIDE 6 YOUR WILD ESSEX A fabulous feature of your photos, highlighting wild Essex at its best.
8 TRUST NEWS
Updates from throughout the Trust on our work to protect wildlife and inspire a lifelong love of nature.
16 A wild year
Despite the challenges faced this year, the Trust has launched forward thanks to new technology and through plenty of people power. We take a look back at some of the highlights this year has brought.
32 HOW YOU CAN
HELP WILDLIFE
39 Thank you
volunteers
Lions Gorge photo: Gemma Turner
‘Tis the season for holiday treats, here’s how to make some festive food for your garden birds to enjoy.
We are incredibly thankful for the support of our invaluable volunteers, who donate their time in all areas of the Trust.
42 swords into
24 Under the spotlight:
ploughshares
Chafford Gorges Nature Discovery Park
A rare and important geological site for the region, this network of reserves situated within old quarry pits is home to an abundance of special flora and fauna, and there’s a new trail to guide you along the way.
Writer and social historian, Ken Worpole, tells the story of Frating Hall Farm.
46 WHAT’S ON Little owl photo: Luke Massey/2020VISION
THIS winter
Frosty mornings and dramatic sweeping sunsets, let’s discover the beauty of Essex in winter, the species and spectacles to look out for and the number of events and activities to join in with.
52 Time Tunnel
We travel back in time to the year 1982 to see what was happening at the Trust.
58 Wildlife Quiz time
Test your knowledge on the wonderful wildlife and wild places in Essex. Children playing outdoors photo: Matthew Roberts
44 Investors in Wildlife
Our Investors in Wildlife scheme has a new vision to become greener and more sustainable, and will encourage businesses to form a green alliance of local companies, working together to help the environment.
Your Wild Essex
Wildlife never fails to surprise and amaze us. Luckily, our members and supporters are always standing by to capture these special moments so we can all enjoy them. Here are some of our favourite wildlife snaps from the last few months.
This beautiful fox is a regular garden visitor, curling up to sleep in Ruth Mortimer’s garden, @forestcloudsnaturetherapy.
A heron getting his feathers in a twist by Mark Didcock, @mjd_wild.
Two Tree Island nature reserve captured in all its autumnal glory by Steve Harper, @harper1973.
If you would like to feature in our next edition of WILD, please email your favourite images of Essex’s wildlife and wild places to magazine@essexwt.org.uk or tag Essex Wildlife Trust on social media. 6 |
WILD winter 2021
Your Wild Essex
#essexwildlifetrust
A rocking robin captured in full song by Lauren Frape, @laurenfrapephotography.
A cute-faced crab spider proving he’s not so scary by Andrew Neal, @andynealphoto.
A kestrel keeping watch under a clear blue sky, spotted by Laurence Sinden.
A perfectly captured mirror image of a curlew in flight over the Walton channel by Peter Staniforth.
A tiny weevil traversing a blackberry, beautifully captured by Tanya Ware, @t2rny.
An ingenious snail finds a unique way to further protect itself by Lizzie Haddon.
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Stories and news from throughout the Trust on our work to protect wildlife and inspire a lifelong love of nature across Essex. Written by our staff, volunteers and members of our Local Groups.
Redshank photo: Chris Gomersall/2020VISION
Trust news
Abberton Nature Discovery Centre
Big wild Seed Sow
Bailey Tait Campaigns Officer We depend on insects more than we realise, yet they have suffered from rapid declines in recent decades. Fragrant and colourful, wildflowers provide insects with the food, shelter and habitat they need to thrive. As we discussed in the autumn issue of WILD magazine, creating more insect-friendly habitat is essential for the recovery of our all-important insects. This August we launched the first Big Wild Seed Sow. After months carefully selecting the perfect native wildflower mixes, we packed this irresistible mixture of buttercups, corn chamomiles, and other native annual and perennial wildflowers into 6g seed packets. We invited everyone to collect a free packet of wildflower seeds from our Nature Discovery Centres to create their own wildflower patch in Essex, then to map their new patch on our digital interactive map.
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Over 2,000 wildflower seeds were handed out at our centres and over 150 patches have already been plotted on our map at www.essexwt.org.uk/big-wild-seed-sow. Better yet, our supporters have been incredibly generous and have donated over £1,700 to our Big Wild Seed Sow Appeal, with every penny going towards giving more people in the community the chance to plant a wildflower patch and create insect friendly habitat where they live. Thank you to CNH Industrial, one of Essex Wildlife Trust’s corporate Investors in Wildlife, for sponsoring the project.
Trust news
Lapwing photo: Chris Gomersall/2 020VI
SION
Wetland project at Blue House Farm James Astley Grants and Trusts Officer
Waders such as lapwing and redshank are key species of Essex’s coastline and our Blue House Farm nature reserve, on the river Crouch, already supports good breeding populations of these birds. Now, thanks to funding from Biffa Award, we will be able to further improve the reserve for these iconic species by creating and improving 40 hectares (nearly 100 acres!) of wet grassland, a Priority Habitat. These birds need wet, tussocky grass full of invertebrates to breed successfully. But each year, in our ever-drier climate, the wetlands they rely on can dry up as spring progresses and birds on territory there cannot nest. Biffa Award’s funding will allow us to improve an existing wetland and to transform an area of species-poor grassland into a thriving, dynamic habitat. Both areas will remain wetter for longer each year, providing the perfect conditions for breeding waders along with important connectivity across the Essex estuaries and benefits to climate change resilience, soil health and carbon storage.
Annie Gordon, Landscape Conservation Planning Coordinator
The project work begins this autumn and contributes to the Essex Wader Strategy, a partnership with the RSPB which aims to create a network of breeding wader “hotspots” across Essex, supporting sustainable populations of these amazing birds.
Essex Wildlife Trust in the press Emily McParland Communications Manager
We have been busy sharing Essex’s projects far and wide and campaigning on national and local issues that will put nature at the forefront of policy. Annie Gordon, the Trust’s Landscape Conservation Planning Coordinator featured on Channel 4 News to talk about Middlewick Ranges in Colchester and the importance of protecting rare areas of land from unsustainable development. You can read Essex Wildlife Trust’s position statement on Middlewick Ranges on our website at www.essexwt.org.uk/ middlewick-ranges. Rachel Langley, the Trust’s Living Seas Coordinator, also featured on international news site Mongabay, sharing the story of how our saltmarsh restoration projects are a key nature-based solution to fighting climate change, and on Good Morning Britain to celebrate the importance of the Essex coastline.
Photography
Competition 2021 Lily Chambers
Communications Assistant Thank you to all of our members who entered the Essex Wildlife Trust Photography Competition 2021. This competition is now in the judges’ hands as they meet to decide the six category winners, the six runners-up and the 24 highly commended images. The overall winner, however, is in your hands! So please keep your eyes peeled for the public vote which will open in December to decide the overall winner of the 2021 competition. A huge thank you to this year’s competition sponsor, High Chelmer, for their support.
Fox photo: Julie Levere
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Trust news
Sustainability award for the Trust Keziah Rookes Sustainability Officer
Essex Wildlife Trust has been awarded Level 1 of the Green Dragon sustainability accreditation (a Groundwork Trust organisation). Level 1 evidences a commitment to sustainability and innovation embedded into the Trust, and required a comprehensive internal environmental review, alongside the collection and monitoring of carbon emission data. This facilitated an ambitious improvement plan which will drive a reduction in environmental impacts of waste, electricity and travel, thereby reducing our carbon footprint. The Trust’s sustainability team has already begun mapping out Green Dragon Level 2, which includes the initial build of an Environment Management System – a tool to reduce waste and improve efficiencies.
Free Forest School sessions Emma Grove
Education & Community Officer
Essex Coastal Challenge Michelle Shepherd Supporter Development Officer We would like to congratulate and say a huge thank you to everyone who took part in this year’s Essex Coastal Challenge. Throughout August, we celebrated Essex’s Marine Month and in honour of this, participants were asked to set themselves a personal challenge based around the number 350. This number is significant because our beautiful coastline stretches for an amazing 350 miles, and is home to an abundance of incredible wildlife. So whether you walked, ran or cycled for the Essex Coastal Challenge, every step and every mile covered made a difference. We would like to include a special shout out to the following supporters for raising over £100: Justin Collins, Sybille & Jem Hardaker, Jacob & Noah Shepherd and Chris Davison (who raised over £400!). Without the enthusiasm and generosity of our supporters we would not be able to continue our vital conservation work – so thank you!
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We were delighted to receive funding from the Government’s Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme to offer 168 free spaces at Forest School drop-off days across a number of our sites this summer, as well as Saturday sessions at Thorndon for children who have special educational needs or disabilities. Aimed at families whose parents or carers may struggle to afford childcare and other holiday clubs, children were able to spend the day playing, creating and exploring in our natural settings. At Roding Valley, many of the children were curious to know what you do outside in the woodland all day. After looking for the local wildlife, climbing in trees, swinging in hammocks, using tools and cooking their lunch on the campfire, they may have worked out the answer! In the words of one participant, who had just jumped up and down in a rain downpour, “This was the best day EVER”.
Trust news
Estuarine fish surveys
Turnstone photo: Andrew Armstrong
Wheatear photo: Andrew
Armstrong
Rachel Langley
Living Seas Coordinator Saltmarshes act as nursery areas for young fish by providing food and refuge and are fundamental in supporting fish populations, and the fisheries of the North Sea. By regularly monitoring these populations we can build a better picture of how fish use the marshes and detect any changes or potential issues. It also helps build evidence for why we need to protect, restore and create saltmarshes; and why we must include fish-friendly designs in new managed realignment projects (which create saltmarsh habitat). This September, we undertook our second year of estuarine fish surveys at the managed realignment site at Abbotts Hall. In collaboration with Steve Colclough from the Institute of Fisheries Management, we are trialling and developing a multi-method sampling approach that is easily replicable across sites and could be used by citizen scientists to help monitor the fish that use our estuaries. We were thrilled to find hundreds of juvenile European bass and many grey mullet and we will be reviewing our further findings, and the implications of them over the coming months.
Autumn passage on the Thames Andrew Armstrong
Ranger at Gunners Park & Shoebury Old Ranges We are currently in the middle of passage migration here at Gunners Park and have seen a wide selection of common and uncommon birds visiting the park during their long journey south. Pied flycatchers, redstarts, tree sparrow, yellow wagtails and a steady stream of hirundines have all passed through Gunners Park as well as a barred warbler, my first here in almost seven years. We have had very few wheatear and spotted flycatchers through so far, hopefully we will record a few more of these species as passage progresses. Out over the Thames Estuary, Arctic skua, guillemot, shag and black terns have all made an appearance. In the next few weeks we hope to see species like ring ouzel and, fingers crossed, yellow-brown warbler. The dark-bellied brent geese have just arrived back from Russia and can be seen flying up and down the Thames Estuary. We have also seen the arrival of our wader flocks from their respective breeding grounds – sanderling, dunlin, turnstone and ringed plover can be seen on the seawall at high tide. The Gunners Park Tuesday Volunteer Group have been busy with the management of the site. We have started our winter water management programme which entails opening up any overgrown ditches to allow water to move freely across the site into the necessary outflow ditches. We have also started to cut and clear the wildflower meadows as well as clearing some bramble growth in the Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
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Trust news
Woodland photo: Woodland Trust / Niall Benvie
News from Castle Point Local Group John Turner Chair of Castle Point
Local Group
For some time now, our ageing Committee membership has slowly reduced in numbers, and we are looking for new members in the area to join the Committee. I am appealing to Castle Point members for volunteers to join our Committee by contacting me on johnpoundwood@outlook.com. I do hope that, with your help, we can continue with our work for wildlife in Castle Point.
Pound wood nature reserve
News from the Brentwood & Billericay Local Group Graham Clegg Chair of Brentwood and Billericay Local Group
Brentwood used to be called Burntwood. It was an afforested area. Clearances were made for settlements, one of which developed into Brentwood. Trees are still an important aspect of our landscape. In September, the Council held an open session with residents to discuss trees in the borough. Several members of the Local Group committee attended the presentations from Essex County Council, the Forestry Commission, the Thames Chase Trust and the Council’s own arboriculturist joined in the Q&As. We also attended a separate event at which plans for the active management of woodland at Shenfield Common were shared. There may be scope for more community engagement in the future. We have also walked the boundaries of the proposed new woodland at Hole Farm, Little Warley, a proposed mitigation measure associated with the planned Lower Thames Crossing potentially involving the planning of approx. 150,000 trees. As for our winter season of events, please see the details as they appear on the website at www.essexwt.org.uk/events.
News from the Colchester Local Group Tracey Kinns Colchester Local Group
We held a bat and glow worm walk at Iron Latch nature reserve on 30 July. Support for this activity took us by surprise – over 50 people of all ages arrived, keen to take the short walk. At the “Bat Station” they were given information about bats and using the detectors. Common and soprano pipistrelles, Daubenton’s and a noctule were detected. As back-marker, I recorded a number of bats flying over the main pathway. Paths around the reserve had recently been cleared and allow for easy passage when looking for the bright lights of female glow worms. In total 23 were seen, 17 on the transect which is surveyed three times annually. A number were nearer to the road than previously recorded. The weather held out, everyone had an enjoyable walk, and it was encouraging to see similar numbers of glow worms still present. I would like to thank volunteer Warden Peter Greig-Smith, Joan Pinch and John Thorogood for their invaluable help with organisation and information on the night.
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Common pipistrelles photo: Tom
Marshall
Glow worm photo: John Tyler
The Big Green Internet
Would you like to be involved in connecting our woodlands and planting wildlife corridors?
Photo: Chris Gomersall/2020VISION
Over time many of our Essex woodlands have become fragmented islands, isolated and disconnected and no longer able to speak to each other. Led by Michael Wadham, one of Essex Wildlife Trust’s Investors in Wildlife, The Big Green Internet project is working with farmers and landowners in Essex to plant 100 miles of corridors and half a million hedgerow whips over the next 10 years.
To find out more or support this exciting project please contact michael.wadham@gmail.com or visit www.thebiggreeninternet.co.uk.
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Happy, healthy and hungry to learn. Welcome to the Nature Nursery. We offer quality
childcare for 2-5 year-olds based on learning through nature.
Set in the grounds of Abbotts Hall Nature Discovery Park near Colchester, where children can enjoy both freedom and security, our outdoor nursery is run by early learning experts at Essex Wildlife Trust, the most experienced provider of outdoor education in the county.
Find out more:
www.naturenursery.org.uk Nature Nursery is part of:
Photos: Eleanor Church / Lark Rise Pictures
Registered Charity Number 210065
A wild year
2020 was an unprecedented year. 2021 has been equally challenging, but despite the ongoing pandemic the Trust has been delivering ground breaking projects, utilising new and effective technologies and inspiring more people with inclusivity and sustainability at the heart of our mission.
There are many accomplishments to be proud of this year that have been made possible thanks to your support. Here we’re reflecting on some of the innovative ways we have been working to protect wildlife and habitats, the new ways we are inspiring people to engage with their local nature, and we’re showcasing some of the species successes and surprising encounters this year has brought. 16 |
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A wild year
Wildlife walk photo: Matthew Roberts
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A wild year
D
igital technology has been a saving grace for connection over the past two years. Technological advances have also opened up the doors to new scientific methods of surveying and research that help us to better gauge the impact of conservation efforts. The Trust has been utilising different research techniques that weren’t possible in past decades, and collaborating with partners to trial new methods that will help protect wildlife, restore habitats and connect up our county for wildlife.
Digital data collection
Essex Wildlife Trust’s ecological monitoring team have been developing our digital data collection methods, and moving away from paper-based recording to improve efficiency and sustainability of data collection. Using Geographic Information System (GIS) spatial data alongside records allows us to analyse the data more rapidly and to present the information in more effective ways. This year, we have been creating heat maps which demonstrate the “hotspots” for wildlife within areas of reserves – nesting bird territories, grassland condition, species richness and woodland condition can all be reviewed alongside habitat management to contribute to evidence-based conservation management. We have been using Esri’s Quick Capture app on butterfly surveys to record species, counts, location and important information about the weather conditions during surveys. The results are inputted at the touch of a button and immediately compiled onto a digital map along survey transects. Each survey is helping us to gain a greater understanding of how to best help wildlife thrive at each of our nature reserves.
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Environmental DNA sampling
A pair of beavers were introduced to Spains Hall Estate in spring 2019 as part of a collaborative project looking at the impacts of their natural engineering vs. man-made structures on mitigating the flood risk to the village of Finchingfield. On top of this, the beavers are also helping us with an innovative research project with national implications. In conjunction with Salford University, Essex Wildlife Trust have been collecting mammal survey data, using Environmental DNA Metabarcoding. Water samples are taken from different points of the site, and the DNA of multiple species can be identified from a single water sample. Because the beavers are in a specific enclosure, we have been able to track how far away we can still detect their DNA to estimate the maximum distance an animal is likely to be from a positive sample. We have then been able to use this method along other waterways in Essex. Essex Wildlife Trust and a number of our volunteer River Wardens collected and filtered water samples along the River Blackwater and River Colne, which were then analysed by Salford University. This summer, the first research project was published, ‘Mapping differences in mammalian distributions of diversity using environmental DNA from rivers’ in the journal Science of the Total Environment.
Abbotts Hall saltmarshes photos: University of Essex/Essex Wildlife Trust
A wild year
Using drones to monitor saltmarshes
In 2018, Essex Wildlife Trust and the Environment Agency established an experimental, low-cost Saltmarsh Restoration Project. This project involved installing coir roll structures in low energy saltmarsh channels at two locations (Essex Wildlife Trust’s Abbotts Hall on the Blackwater Estuary and Moverons Farm on the Colne Estuary), to encourage sediment accretion and the recolonisation of saltmarsh plants. Supported by The Wildlife Trust’s Nature-based Solutions Fund, with a grant from players of People’s Postcode Lottery, awarded by Postcode Planet Trust, we are embarking on the next exciting phase of this project. With the invaluable expertise and support of the University of Essex and the Environment Agency, we are quantifying and proving the success of this project, and starting to scope out its potential for application as a restoration technique at landscape-scale. As part of the project, this year we have been working with the University of Essex using drones to clearly monitor the saltmarsh from above, and to assess the wider impacts of the coir roll structures.
Lacewing photo: Rachel Scopes
Citizen scientists gathering data on insect abundance
Dozens of citizen scientists helped Kent Wildlife Trust in 2019 gather data on the number of insects squashed on car number plates – a simple method of gaining data on insect populations. These results showed a 50% decline to a similar survey carried out by the RSPB in 2004. This startling figure indicated much more evidence is needed to understand patterns, and thousands more people needed to be involved to help survey the trends. Working with Kent Wildlife Trust and a number of other Wildlife Trusts, the Bugs Matter app was launched. This free smart phone app was developed to make the survey accessible to more people, allowing everyone to become citizen scientists. The survey ran from June – September, with just under 5,000 people taking part around the country. We are now analysing the results and will continue to collect data annually to determine trends. Thank you to everyone who took part this year and to Ground Control, one of Essex Wildlife Trust’s Investors in Wildlife, for funding the project in Essex.
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A wild year
Langdon Nature Discovery Park
Nature Nursery at Abbotts Hall Nature Discovery Park
W
hen the great “Anthropause” took hold over lockdowns, one of the positives to emerge was that our relationship with nature was once again at the heart of our search for happiness, health, and wellbeing. Many people have re-discovered their love of the natural world and now understand how vital it is for their happiness. Essex Wildlife Trust has been working to inspire more people at all ages and stages of life, and to ensure even more people are able to explore the nature on our sites.
Changing the face of preschool childcare and education
This autumn we opened the doors to Essex Wildlife Trust’s brand new Nature Nursery, an Ofsted registered outdoor nursery for 2-5 year olds based at Abbotts Hall in Great Wigborough. The Nursery received a 5* rating from the Environmental Health Office and the children settled in to their new nursery straight away. The impact on the children has been immediate, exceeding even our own expectations. Parents have written effusively about the impact the nursery is having on their children, and the children have been crying because they don’t want to leave at the end of the day! By inspiring a lifelong love of nature from the earliest formative stage, children will develop that all important connection with the natural world that will stay with them throughout their lives. Geedon Bay hide
Opening the doors at Langdon Nature Discovery Park
We were able to open our new Nature Discovery Centre at Langdon this summer, located in the heart of the Langdon Hills in Basildon. The centre sits within our largest inland nature reserve, spanning 187 hectares and comprising of woodland, meadows, lakes and former plotland gardens. We set out to give Langdon the centre it deserves. But it is much more than just a building. Thanks to generous funding from Veolia Pitsea Marshes Maintenance Trust as part of a postcode-limited Landfill Community Fund grant, we have been able to place this gateway to the natural world at the vanguard of a much wider programme of transformation across the Trust. The car park is a place of wonder, integrating habitat design into every inch of space. Our new signage and interpretation is inspiring and celebrates the natural world and rich history at Langdon. Our new educational facilities give children and adult groups the space they need, and our trails help guide people around this wonderfully diverse place. Thanks to the legacy of David Murch, who was a valued volunteer at Langdon for many years, the Nature Discovery Park now has a defibrillator installed. His legacy will also be supporting garden works that include re-establishing a vegetable patch, creating a flower bed, installing new fencing and including green roof habitats on new structures, helping to improve many areas at a place he loved.
Giving Geedon Bay the hide it deserves
Geedon Bay hide at Fingringhoe Wick Nature Discovery Park was opened to the public this autumn. The old hide was a much-loved space, having been well used over the last 25 years. The new hide is sustainably built and is a fully accessible structure, with a ramp leading up to the hide. The wildlife hide has wonderful unbroken views over Geedon Bay and along the Colne Estuary, allowing more people to peacefully discover the wonderful wildlife that frequents Fingringhoe Wick at all times of the year. Thank you to the generous legacies from George Graham Heard, Peter Sadler and Kathleen Broughton Gingell for making this possible.
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A wild year
Species successes and surprising arrivals
This year saw some surprising species arrive on our shores or breed for the first time, alongside notable successes on our nature reserves.
Beach-nesting birds at Colne Point
Colne Point nature reserve proved to be a hotspot this year for beach-nesting birds. Essex Wildlife Trust has been working with the RSPB and partners on the Share Our Shores project, to raise awareness about beach-nesting birds and introduce methods to increase the breeding populations of three key species: little terns, ringed plovers and oystercatchers. This year, we are happy to announce that Colne Point nature reserve had four nesting little terns with four fledglings, 15 ringed plover territories and 12 pairs of oystercatchers. This makes the coastal wilderness reserve the most successful site in the county for ringed plovers and the second most successful site for little terns, one of our most endangered seabirds. A family of spoonbills successfully nested and raised a brood at Abberton Reservoir, a first for the county in recent history. A once uncommon visitor, this Amber List species is now seen more frequently in summer in the east and south-west of Britain. They were recorded breeding in East Anglia during Medieval times, but have not bred in Britain for over 300 years, until a small colony was discovered on the Norfolk coast in 2010. A unique looking relative of the ibis, a group of long-legged birds with curved bills, the spoonbill is almost as big as a grey heron and is named after its bizarre spatula-like bill. They use their bill, which is packed full of sensors, to sweep the water from side to side looking for shrimps and other aquatic invertebrates. This year the spoonbills nested among the breeding herons and little egrets and raised two fledglings, highlighting the importance of Abberton Reservoir for breeding birds.
Pod of white-beaked dolphins
In April 2021, a pod of 10 white-beaked dolphins were spotted in the Blackwater Estuary. This is the first sighting reported to the Sea Watch Foundation since 2000 in this area. It’s not known exactly how or why the white-beaked dolphins travelled through this area, but the Sea Watch Foundation are monitoring sightings to get a better picture of white-beaked dolphin populations, ranges and health.
Spoonbill photo: David Tipling/2020VISION
Spoonbills nesting for the first time
Storks stop by Abberton
White storks were previously part of the British landscape, with evidence of the birds in fossil records stretching back 360,000 years until the Middle Ages, when it’s thought that habitat loss and over-hunting led to their extinction. Six white storks, part of a re-introduction programme in Sussex, were spotted spending Easter Sunday feeding and resting along Abberton Reservoir’s edges and surrounding farmland. There were several further sightings throughout the year. Abberton Reservoir provides the perfect mixture of wetland and grassland habitats to accommodate white storks, so we are hoping this once lost species will continue to return to our landscape in the coming years.
ws
Migrant hawker photo: Vaughn Matthe
Dazzling damselflies and dragonflies
We had an exceptionally good year for Odonata, the order of flying insects that includes dragonflies and damselflies, at Gunners Park and Shoebury Old Ranges nature reserve in Shoeburyness. This summer, we had several pairs of southern migrant hawkers ovipositing on Serin pond alongside four willow emerald damselflies and a southern emerald damselfly, our second record for this site. White stork
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A wild year
Have a sustainable holiday season Let’s end 2021 that bit greener! Have a happy holiday season and consider taking a few extra steps each year that will help the environment.
1. Cards
Sending e-cards is a great way to reduce waste while avoiding postal delays. Better yet, if you buy your wildlife-themed e-card from www.dontsendmeacard.com/ charities/MRRY a donation from each purchase will go to Essex Wildlife Trust. If you prefer to send cards the traditional way, look for cards without glitter that are not individually packaged in plastic. After you’ve read your card message, you can cut the front of the card and turn it into Christmas card tags for next year!
2. Food
Food waste figures reach their highest points at this time of year. Avoid buying too much by planning your meals in advance and choose locally sourced ingredients when possible. On the celebratory day, save any leftovers for the following day – some of the tastiest meals are made from leftovers! For any vegetable food waste, pop it into your compost bin. You can also choose to cut down on carbon intensive products like meat by trying one of the many vegetarian or vegan alternatives that are now available.
3. Wrapping
Each year in the UK, the British public throws out around 108 million rolls of wrapping paper. Shiny wrapping paper or glittery paper is not recyclable, so avoid the magpie temptation and use brown paper for a lovely vintage feel. Sellotape is also made of plastic, so choose alternatives like brown paper tape, use ribbon and string, or try a reusable option like a box, bag or cloth to present your gift.
4. Gifts
When gift-buying, try to choose items that come with as little packaging as possible, or ensure its fully recyclable. If you’re a creative person, why not make something yourself – that personal effort makes the gift priceless. If you’re buying a gift online from one of the major retailers, try buying it through easyfundraising, AmazonSmile or Give as you Live, a donation from the company will be sent to a charity of your choice, with Essex Wildlife Trust an option on all platforms. What better gift can you give than the knowledge that you are protecting the environment for generations to come? Order a Gift Membership from Essex Wildlife Trust before Wednesday 15 December online at www.essexwt.org.uk/membership to share the love of the natural world with friends and family members this holiday season.
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5. Decorations
Turn to p32 to learn how to make your own edible
If you use the same decorations holiday ornaments every year, great! But if you’re for garden adding to your collection, avoid birds. tinsel (those little bits that end up sprinkled over your house are plastic) and choose alternatives like bunting, origami or pinecone decorations. You can reuse your Christmas tree by buying a pre-loved artificial one, you can rent a sustainable tree (these are grown in special pots that can be dug up and replanted year after year) or you can look after a real tree in your garden, bringing it inside during the holiday period. If you choose to have outdoor Christmas lights, turn them off overnight to save energy and to avoid disturbing nocturnal animals.
Locally sourced gifts with a
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Mersea Mudd Shack
Based on Mersea Island, not far from Colchester in Essex, Mersea Mudd Shack products use local beeswax and are lovingly handmade and packaged on site.
Kate of Kensington
Homemade wildlife-inspired gifts made locally in Brentwood, Essex.
WILD magazine offer
20% off Kate of Kensington and Mersea
Mudd Shack when you purchase from an Essex Wildlife Trust Nature Discovery Centre! Terms and conditions:
Offer ends 31st January 2022. This coupon must be presented to receive your discount. Full price items only. Cannot be used in conjunction with any other offers including staff discount. Can only be used once in a single transaction. Coupon code: AW21R20.
Love Essex • Love Wildlife Registered Charity No. 210065
Chafford Gorges Nature Discovery Park
Chafford Gorges Nature Discovery Park offers a wild refuge for the population of Chafford Hundred and beyond. A site not only rich in wildlife and habitats, it also tells a fascinating historical and geological story.
Chafford Gorges Nature Discovery Park
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Chafford Gorges Nature Discovery Park
What to look out for this winter at Chafford
Gorges
Pochard Pochard photo: Tom Marshall
A winter visitor, this diving duck can be found in large numbers on lakes, reservoirs, flooded gravel pits and estuaries around the country, including at Chafford Gorges Nature Discovery Park.
Kingfisher
Kingfisher photo: Jon Hawkins - Surrey
Hills Photography
The colour and excitement of spotting this beautiful bird whizz past hits you like a lightning bolt.
Great crested grebe Great crested grebe photo: Andrew Parkinson/2020VISION
The courtship dance of this bird is a thing of beauty and one to tick off on your winter spectacle list!
Billie’s facts Chafford Gorges nature discovery park
Waxwing
Keep an eye out for this smart-looking bird gorging on the berry-laden trees and bushes at this reserve over the winter.
Lions Gorge photo: Gemma Turner. Waxwing photo: Jon Hawkins - Surrey Hills Photography
Size: 81 hectares. Address: Drake Road, Chafford Hundred, Grays, Thurrock, Essex, RM16 6RW. Access: Open daily, all year round. There are various walking routes around the gorges, however, there are no public righ ts of way around Lion Gorge, access to this is permissive and at the discretion of the Tru st. There is a car park and bicycle parking on site . The park is within walking distance of Cha fford Hundred railway station. The Nature Dis covery Centre at this site is currently closed, but we run regular educational events and activities and have an active outdoor volunteer group. Dogs: Permitted on a lead, please keep under control at all times.
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Chafford Gorges Nature Discovery Park
‘ The myriad of habitats here includes lakes, sandy cliffs, scrub and woodland, alongside species-rich calcareous grassland meadows.’
Bee orchid: Jon Hawkins - Surrey Hills
Photography
Common darter: Peter Bowden
C
hafford Gorges Nature Discovery Park is a site like no other. Making up one third of the landmass of the town, this impressive wild pocket is teeming with wildlife and forms a network of interlocked habitats that are rich in historical and geological wonders. The site is surrounded by an urban backdrop that is situated a short walk from Chafford Hundred, a town named after one of the old district units. The myriad of habitats here includes lakes, sandy cliffs, scrub and woodland, alongside species-rich calcareous grassland meadows. This collection of habitats makes Chafford Gorges one of Essex Wildlife Trust’s most biodiverse nature reserves. The individuality of this site is also largely due to its history as a chalk quarry which resulted in three major gorges within the park: Warren Gorge, Grays Gorge and Lion Gorge. The nature reserve also includes Lion Pit; a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and an area of national importance for geology, Mill Wood, Sandmartin Meadow, Pump Meadows and Wouldham Cliffs. Areas that all provide connectivity between the gorges and provide an oasis for wildlife amongst the housing estate which surrounds the area. Essex Wildlife Trust recently installed the ‘Reading the Rocks’ interpretation trail, part funded by Land of the Fanns, to help educate visitors about the importance of this site, its history and geology. The 22 new interpretation boards direct you around four trails via QR codes and maps, to help people explore the area in greater depth.
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As you move through the trails, the rich geological history of the site becomes apparent. The ice age permafrost left a visible mark in the top layer of rock here, with the river Thames depositing Thames gravel as it meandered through the prehistoric landscape 30 metres above the current ground level. The Thanet sand here was deposited 60 million years ago from the erosion of the Caledonian mountains and the chalk was created when the sea level was much higher, between 95 and 65 million years ago. The extensive quarrying of materials at this site ended during the 1950s but resulted in much of the chalk being brought closer to the surface, in turn creating the diverse calcareous grassland habitats which have since become a haven for many rare plants and invertebrates. Grays Gorge, one of the three gorges at this site, is an SSSI and of national importance for the insect assemblages it supports. The results of a specialist insect survey carried out over summer recorded the Lucerne leaf beetle (Gonioctena fonicata), a new record to Britain, the beetle Tychius schneideri which is a new record for Essex, the insect Globiceps fulvicollis which is the first modern Essex record and the fly Dorycera gramium, a nationally scarce and Section 41 species of Principal Importance. The impressive variety of flowers growing on the calcareous grasslands were also found to support 15 different species of bee.
Chafford Gorges Nature Discovery Park
‘As you move through the trails, the rich geological history of the site becomes apparent.’
Since the 1950s, when quarrying ended at the site, succession quickly turned the grasslands into scrubland and secondary woodland, with a few remnant patches remaining when the Trust started managing the land. Subsequently, much of the conservation work now carried out by the Trust involves maintaining, restoring and connecting these vital calcareous grassland habitats. This involves carefully clearing suitable areas of scrub and trees to allow the grassland communities to flourish again, and cutting the meadows on a rotational basis to remove as much of the nutrients as possible. This helps to keep the meadows in an earlier successional stage, keeping the habitat healthy and the biodiversity high. Each spring, the Trust conducts surveys and monitors the health of the habitats, which then guides the conservation focus that winter and helps inform future management plans. Each spring and summer, the grassland becomes a profusion of colour, with some of the most notable populations of orchids in the county, including man orchid, common spotted orchid, pyramidal orchid, common twayblade, bird’s-nest orchid and bee orchid. The accompanying yellow of kidney vetch, the purple of tufted vetch and the faint hum of insects flitting around the reserve results in a truly wonderful sensory experience, to be enjoyed throughout the whole of spring and summer. Damselflies and dragonflies dart in the sky and skim the lakes, countless butterflies and day-flying moths rest on vibrant flowers and even the faint green glow of a female glow worm can be spotted during early summer evenings.
During the autumn months, the leaves turn, changing the colours on the reserve to soft yellows, fiery oranges and deep browns. This results in a spectacular display, especially when viewed from one of the viewpoints across the gorges. As we head into winter, the lakes support many wintering wildfowl and if you’re lucky you may hear the distinctive call of the water rail or see the iridescent flash of blue as a kingfisher darts past. The old quarry infrastructure and tunnels also provide ideal conditions for hibernating bats and insects during the colder months.
Special thanks to Land of the Fanns and The National Lottery Heritage Fund for helping fund ‘Reading the Rocks’ project at Chafford Gorges Nature Discovery Park.
Thanks to National Lottery players
Ne d th e Ne a nd ert ha l WILD winter 2021
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Solar Thermal Heat Pumps (Air & Ground) Electrical Solar PV
EV charging
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www.re-cycle.org
Please support Re-Cycle Bikes to Africa Christmas appeal, your donation will go towards sending bicycles to children and adults living in rural communities in Africa. Ways to donate Online visit re-cycle.org Over the phone 01206 617865 Donate in lieu of a Christmas present for a loved one visit re-cycle.org/xmasvoucher Send a cheque made payable to Re-Cycle to this address: Unit 8, The Grove Estate,Colchester Road, Wormingford, Colchester, Essex CO6 3AJ
Follow us on: @bicyclecharity
Working together to make a difference Registered charity no 1063570
Win for
Wildlife
Scan me to Enter
If you fancy a flutter, why not join our Wildlife Lottery?
Tickets are just £1 a week, and for every ticket sold, 50% will support Essex Wildlife Trust. Plus a further 10% goes to local good causes in Essex, benefiting our community. Amazing prizes up for grabs
Match all 6 numbers and you win the jackpot of £25,000! And that’s not all… • 5 matches - £2,000 • 4 matches - £250 • 3 matches - £25 • 2 matches - 3 extra tickets Various additional prizes are also offered throughout the year.
There are 3 easy ways to enter: 1. Go to www.essexwt.org.uk/wildlife-lottery 2. Scan the QR code on your phone 3. Call the Essex Lottery on 0300 302 32 32 Simply set up a monthly Direct Debit or pay upfront for a block of 1, 3, 6 or 12 months of weekly tickets – with no commitment to stay after this time.
By playing our Wildlife Lottery, you will be helping us to make a real difference to wildlife and the countryside you love across Essex. The Essex Lottery is set up to support community projects in the local area. By supporting Essex Wildlife Trust, 50% of your ticket will be used to fund the work of the Trust and 10% will help other good causes in Essex. Players must be 16 or over and located in the UK. Always play responsibly. For more information on responsible gambling, please visit www.begambleaware.org. The Essex Lottery is promoted by Essex County Council, a local Authority Lottery licensed by the gambling commission. (Gambling Commission Account No: 49258)
Love Essex • Love Wildlife Registered Charity No. 210065
Chaffinch photo: Neil Aldridge
The draw takes places every Saturday night and each ticket has a 1 in 50 chance of winning a prize!
Upcycle your garden
Upcycle your garden
for wildlife
Wildlife gardening needn’t be expensive. There’s nothing more rewarding than upcycling old, broken or unused household items into wildlife habitats for the garden.
Use hessian bags to grow bee-friendly plants Many bee-friendly plants grow well in pots and hessian bags make excellent alternatives that you can pack away in winter. Choose drought-tolerant catmint, lavender and Mediterranean herbs like oregano and mint.
Pallet herb garden An upturned pallet can add height to your garden. You can paint it a nice colour and simply wedge plants in their pots between the slats.
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WILD Winter 2021
Grow plants in saucepans Drill holes in old saucepans and other kitchen containers to make plant pots. They’re perfect for salad crops like lettuce and radish, plus herbs like chives and parsley.
ILLUSTRATION BY KATY FROST, PHOTO © SARAH CUTTLE
Upcycle your garden
Tin can bee hotels Fix an old tin can to a fence or wall and pack it with dried, hollow plant stems from 1mm to 12mm in diameter, to attract a range of solitary bees and wasps. Make sure the can overhangs the stems so they don’t get wet.
Upcycling is a fantastic way to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill, while saving you money, too. Who needs to buy expensive plant pots when there are old saucepans, wellington boots or even basins and toilets that can be used instead? Or how about making a pond from your old bath or kitchen sink? There are no limits to what you can do with old, broken and unused items. Use your imagination to find creative ways to find new uses for forgotten possessions in the loft or shed. What can you use to make a cosy bird box for a blue tit or a refugia for slow worms? Do you have enough old bits of wood to knock up a hedgehog or bat box? Whatever you choose, make sure you use materials safely and effectively. Upcycled gardens look fun, quirky and unique. They can make fantastic wildlife habitats, too.
Kate Bradbury is passionate about wildlifefriendly gardening and the author of Wildlife Gardening for Everyone and Everything in association with The Wildlife Trusts.
Get more wildlife gardening tips on our website wildlifetrusts.org/actions
A teapot bird house An old teapot can make the perfect nest site for a robin or wren. Hang it with the spout facing down, in a sheltered site away from cats and other predators.
Plant tray bird bath Fill an old plant pot tray with water to make a bird bath. Stand it on old bricks to raise it from the ground or leave it low to provide water for hedgehogs. Add a stone to help bees escape if they get stuck.
Old sink pond A Belfast sink or old baby bath make attractive mini container ponds, or sink a full-sized bath into the ground for a bigger pond. Pile up logs or stones to make sure wildlife can get in and out safely.
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HOW TO HELP WILDLIFE
Keep birdfeeders and bird baths clean to prevent any diseases. Keep bird food, like your new ornaments, topped up over the winter months – a constant supply will bring a steady stream of happy visitors!
Your step-by-step guide to making edible holiday orna ments for birds.
With food, water and shelter scarce over the winter months, give your garden birds a high-energy treat with edible holiday ornaments. Winter is a tricky time for our feathered friends, food becomes increasingly difficult to find naturally, so lend a hand and supplement nutrients to help birds maintain their fat reserves. You may even get up close and personal to a species you haven’t seen before!
What will you need:
Blue tit photo: Mark Ham
blin/2020VISION
• Festive cookie cutters • screwdriver • biodegradable string • 2 ½ cups of local birdseed mix • 250g suet or lard (This should make up to 10 bird treats).
St a rt
Step 2
Step 1
Lay some greaseproof paper on a baking tray, then press the mixture into a compact layer, around an inch thick.
Mix your birdseed together with your suet or lard, which has been left to soften at room temperature and cut it into chunks in your mixing bowl until it forms a thick ‘dough’.
Step 3
Using your cookie cutters, press into the mix to form festive shapes, alternatively, use your hands to shape the ‘dough’ if you don’t have any cutters. Collect excess mix and repeat step two until all the mix is used up.
Step 4
Use the screwdriver to place a hole in the middle of each ornament.
Leave ornaments to dry overnight in the fridge or freezer until firm, then hang them out using your string.
If you make your own festive creations, we’d love to see them, send your pictures to magazine@essexwt.org.uk. 32 |
WILD Winter 2021
Step 5
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䈀漀漀戀椀攀猀Ⰰ 匀栀愀最猀Ⰰ 吀椀琀猀Ⰰ 䠀漀漀琀攀爀猀Ⰰ 䌀漀挀欀猀Ⰰ 愀渀搀 攀瘀攀渀 倀攀挀欀攀爀猀⸀⸀⸀ 倀氀愀礀昀甀氀 椀氀氀甀猀琀爀愀琀攀搀 最椀昀琀猀 最甀愀爀愀渀琀攀攀搀 琀漀 最攀琀 礀漀甀爀 昀愀洀椀氀礀 愀渀搀 昀爀椀攀渀搀猀 氀愀甀最栀椀渀最 琀栀椀猀 䌀栀爀椀猀琀洀愀猀℀ ─ 漀昀昀 眀椀琀栀 挀漀搀攀 䔀匀匀䔀堀 猀愀爀愀栀攀搀洀漀渀搀猀洀愀爀欀攀琀⸀攀琀猀礀⸀挀漀洀
眀眀眀⸀猀愀爀愀栀攀搀洀漀渀搀猀椀氀氀甀猀琀爀愀琀椀漀渀⸀挀漀洀 䀀猀愀爀愀栀攀搀洀漀渀搀猀愀爀琀
Tendring Loves Conservation
E
arlier this year, the Trust launched Tendring Loves Conservation, a two year National Lottery Heritage Fund project led by Essex Wildlife Trust, working in partnership with the University of Essex. The project allows a comprehensive programme of engagement in the region and community-led site improvements aimed to connect local people to the natural world and encourage pride in place in the area.
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WILD Winter 2021
Tendring Loves Conservation
L Conservation ves Tendring
Wrabness Nature Reserve
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Tendring Loves Conservation
Pond dipping platform at Great Holland Pits nature reserve
“Tendring is bountiful in natural beauty and we want to encourage as many people to experience it and benefit from it as we can. Everyone should feel confident in exploring their local green spaces, and we can’t wait to help more people in the community be able to enjoy it.” Judith Metcalfe, Education & Community Officer at Essex Wildlife Trust, who is one of the project leads for Tendring Loves Conservation
E
ssex Wildlife Trust is working to support groups of children, parents, schools and adults that are least likely to have access to nature and give them the tools and support they need to feel connected with their local environment. We have started outdoor learning programmes including Nature Babies, Nature Tots, Nature Clubs, Forest School training and Greening the School Grounds initiatives.
So far, our work has led to 330 interactions with children aged 18 months to 5 years who have been able to spend regular time on one of our nature reserves, engaging in nature based play and exploration, and we have been holding weekly outdoor after school clubs. 11 primary schools across Tendring including schools from Harwich, Clacton and Manningtree have signed up to take part. Working with these schools, we are training staff in how to use and adapt their school grounds for outdoor learning, and giving staff members opportunities for free Forest School training that they will be able to lead on beyond the end of the project. The school grounds are being improved for wildlife and outdoor learning so that the children can spend more time outside in a rich and varied environment.
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WILD Winter 2021
We have also been able to start running off-site visits, including school trips to The Naze Nature Discovery Centre and surrounding coastline. Many of these children had never left their local area before, so this has been a real treat to help them explore the wonders of the natural world and diversity of habitats in Tendring. We are working in partnership with the University of Essex to measure the impact that spending time in nature can have on your wellbeing and how repeated visits can develop your sense of nature connectedness. Attendees to sessions have been completing a questionnaire which is feeding into the University’s evaluation work, that will help measure the impacts of the project. Photo: Adrian Clarke
Tendring Loves Conservation
“We are delighted to be working with Essex Wildlife Trust to evaluate the impact of their Tendring Loves Conservation project on engagement and connection to nature within the local community, and exploring the health benefits of the range of nature-based activities being provided to local residents.” Dr Carly Wood, Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Science at University of Essex Several of our nature reserves within Tendring play a key part in the project: Wrabness nature reserve near Manningtree, The Naze Nature Discovery Centre and John Weston nature reserve at Waltonon-the-Naze and Great Holland Pits nature reserve in Great Holland. Conservation focused activities are forming part of the programme and monthly adult work parties are being held from this autumn to help improve these sites for wildlife, forming a local oasis for the community.
Photo: Getty Images
Photo: Adrian Clarke Wrabness nature reserve
In Great Holland, at Great Holland Pits nature reserve, we have already completed 310m of footpath repairs and we have created a 250m footpath that will create a circular community trail, to protect habitats while enabling year-round community access. We have reprofiled the pond to enhance it for wildlife and installed an accessible dipping platform created from recycled plastic. We have also created a south-facing bank for the benefit of invertebrates who will bask on and burrow in the sandy substrate. At Wrabness nature reserve we are about to improve 460m of tracks and paths, while creating a 250m accessible track that will create a circular community trail. We are installing interpretation boards and signage at each of the sites, and will have engaging and informative information at key points throughout the nature reserves. This inspirational project received £250,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and will run for two years, until March 2023, however the programme will establish activities, relationships and behaviours that will continue long after the project ends.
Thanks to National Lottery players
Anne Jenkins, Director Midlands and East, National Lottery Heritage Fund
“Landscapes and nature form the bedrock of our culture and heritage, improving wellbeing, sparking curiosity, and protecting and providing for the community’s surrounding and inhabiting them. National Lottery players have highlighted natural heritage as especially important, which is why we are proud to award Essex Wildlife Trust and Tendring Loves Conservation, highlighting the value of nature to all our daily lives.” WILD winter 2021
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BY APPOINTMENT TO HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II SWAROVSKI OPTIK SUPPLIER OF BINOCULARS
NL PURE 32 ONE WITH NATURE SEE THE UNSEEN
thank you Volunteers ce Volunteers work on fen e Blu our at ent em manag erve. House Farm nature res
The team at euNetworks helping to remove plastic tree guards at Abberton Reservoir Nature Discovery Park as part of a corporate volunteering day.
Linklaters solicitors volunteering their time to help with a litter pick at The Naze.
Restoring meadows at Chafford Gorges Nature Discovery Park by creating successional growth.
Habitat management work at Two Tree Island nature reserve to help overwintering waders and resident breeding birds.
Thank you volunteers June Lambert posing with some of the wildflower seed packets she helped fill for our first Big Wild Seed Sow.
The Trust is incredibly lucky to have a network of dedicated and hardworking volunteers throughout the county. Despite the challenges the last two years have brought, volunteers have been essential in carrying out our important work to protect wildlife and inspire a lifelong love of nature across the county. Our wonderful volunteers get stuck in no matter the weather, they help at our Nature Discovery Centres and on our nature reserves, and provide vital help behind the scenes.
Jill Jordan receiving this year’s Ray Marsh volunteering award for her many years of dedicated volunteering to help the Trust.
Sunday 5 December is International Volunteer Day, so please join us in saying a big thank you to Essex Wildlife Trust’s invaluable volunteers who donate their time to make our county wilder. Salt marsh photo: Terry Whittaker/2020VISION
WILD WINTER 2021
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Wild Thoughts
Dr Amir Khan @DrAmirKhanGP
@doctoramirkhan
ILLUSTRATION: DAWN COOPER. PROFILE PHOTO: TOM HAUGHTON
A dose of nature I have just come in from the garden, having filled the bird feeders with sunflower hearts, topped up the watering station with fresh water and refilled the bowls the hedgehogs like to eat from with crunchy kitten biscuits. As soon as I come inside, a magnificent male bullfinch plonks itself onto one of the feeders and starts eating the seeds, dropping as many onto the floor as it manages to get into its mouth. Luckily an opportunistic chaffinch is on clean up duty, guzzling any seeds the messy bullfinch drops. It is a lovely scene to watch unfold, calming and beautiful in its simplicity. Many of you reading this article will be familiar with the feeling of positivity that fills our bodies when we spend time in nature, and as a doctor it is something I am increasingly “prescribing” for my patients. I have to be honest, sometimes I do get incredulous looks when I suggest a “dose” of time spent in green spaces to my patients to help sooth their ailments, either on its own or in conjunction with modern medicine; but for those who heed my advice, I have never had any complaints. That is because there is scientific evidence that nature is good for us. When we go outdoors and embrace our natural surroundings our bodies produce less of our stress hormone, cortisol, lowering our heart rates and blood pressure. We also produce more of our “happy” brain chemicals, dopamine and serotonin, increasing our sense of calm and wellbeing. It is relatively easy to spend time outdoors in the summer months when the sun is shining and everything is more inviting,
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but we can get huge health benefits from nature as autumn and winter set in too. We need that boost to our mental health that nature gives us more than ever when longer nights set in, but the benefits don’t stop there. Plants and trees naturally produce chemicals called phytoncides that help protect them against damage from bacteria, fungi and insects. As we spend time in green spaces, we breathe these chemicals in and they can help stimulate our own immune systems to produce more natural “killer” cells, which are vital for fighting off viruses, perfect for winter when respiratory viruses are more common. Nature can also help our brains focus better; by spending time looking at wildlife and plants during our breaks at work, we can give the parts of our brain a rest that are needed for attention and focusing, so when we return to work or a task we need to complete, we will be more productive. Being out in natural light is good for improving sleep — so make the most of those shorter days and get out there! Sometimes it can feel difficult to go out if the weather isn’t quite right, but it is important to carry our good summer habits into autumn and winter. For those who do go outdoors regularly, spread the word and encourage your friends and family to do the same, so they too can reap the benefits of our natural world. Find inspiration to get outdoors and discover wildlife this winter with our selection of seasonal spectacles! wildlifetrusts.org/winter-wildlife
WILD HOUSE CALL
You don’t have to travel far for your dose of nature. Even in built-up areas, there are wild wonders to soothe your soul. Listen for the cheerful chirps of house sparrows in the bushes, or the soft cooing of pigeons perched on buildings. If you have a garden, we’ve got lots of great tips to help attract even more wildlife at wildlifetrusts.org/actions
Dr Amir Khan is an ambassador for The Wildlife Trusts. He is an advocate for Green Prescribing and champions the benefit that being in nature has on health and wellbeing.
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Swords into ploughshares
Swords into ploughshares: The Story of Frating Hall Farm
I
n 1943 a group of Christian pacifists took over Frating Hall Farm on the Essex Tendring peninsula, running it as a communal settlement until 1954. Soon more than fifty people lived and worked there, but the farm also provided accommodation for visiting supporters at harvest time, while offering sanctuary to refugees and former German prisoners-of-war. It was one of many rural initiatives providing recognised alternatives to conscription during the Second World War.
Many of those espousing pacifist sentiments in the 1930s themselves had direct experience of war, winning battle honours in the First World War. But having experienced the horrors of the trenches they realised there had to be a better way of serving the nation if war loomed again. One of those was Vera Brittain, whose heart-breaking memoir, Testament of Youth, recounting her work as a nurse on the front line, and the trauma of losing her fiancée, brother and two close friends in the carnage, made her for a while the conscience of the nation. She was a founding member of the Frating community, where her daughter, the young Shirley Williams - later a Labour Cabinet Minister - went to work there as ‘second cowman’. The Quakers had been the first to support communal small-holding schemes in England after the ‘Great War’. Starting in Bedfordshire, the scheme came to north-east Essex in 1932, where it flourished under the auspices of the Land Settlement Association (LSA). In time Ardleigh, near Colchester, became a national stronghold of market gardening, remnants of which are evident in the glasshouses, vegetable plots, flower beds and orchards still in use. The Frating ‘experiment’ was, then, part of a wider back-to-the-land movement committed to the ethical stewardship of the land, as are many environmental and wildlife conservation projects in Essex once again today.
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The young Shirley Williams, Derek Crosfield, Raymond Smith and Helen Johnson on the potato planter, Frating Hall Farm, 1948. By kind permission of the family of the late Joanna Dunn.
‘Despite the social isolation experienced by some adult members as a result of their beliefs, for their children, Frating was an enchanted garden.’
Swords into ploughshares
A young Martyn Thomas watches the unloading of sheaves into the threshing machine at Frating Hall Farm, circa 1950. He is still there today, seventy years later, part of the family partnership that runs the farm. By kind permission of Martyn & Barbara Thomas.
I first learned of Frating following a talk I gave at the 2019 Essex Book Festival on the county’s history of self-sufficient communities. Afterwards two women approached me saying they lived at Frating Hall Farm and invited my wife and I to visit and learn something of its unusual history. As a result, Martyn & Barbara Thomas - now owners of the farm, Martyn having been there from the beginning - helped me trace some of those who had grown up in the community. In No Matter How Many Skies Have Fallen: back to the land in wartime Britain, I tell the community’s story, based on tape-recorded reminiscences and private photos, letters and diaries, shared with me by those still alive.
Another influential figure urging rural renewal is economist Sir Dieter Helm, government adviser on energy and natural capital, and Honorary Vice-President of the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust. In his recent report, Green and Prosperous Land: A Blueprint for Rescuing the British Countryside, Helm’s vision comes from personal experience. His father, a former German prisoner-of-war, interned and set to work on the land in East Anglia, ended up farming 350 acres of marshland in Essex, close to the River Blackwater. His son remembers it as a ‘mixed dairy and arable farm, with traditional farmyard chickens and ducks, a big vegetable garden, a small orchard and of course beehives.’
Spurned initially by farming neighbours for their pacifist beliefs, the Frating community eventually won admiration for hard work and productivity on a 300 acre, arable and livestock farm. In addition to working the land, the community established a choir that toured local churches and a theatre group that staged plays in the ancient barn. The farm’s Harvest Suppers and seasonal festivities – choral concerts, folk dancing - became the stuff of local legend.
Yet after the father’s death in the 1960s, the title was sold to new owners who soon ploughed the 350 acres into a single field. For Helm this was a salutary lesson. Farming, nature conservation, wildlife protection and rural leisure are, he argues, all part of the same story. The Frating community knew this, and so do environmentalists again today.
‘Work on the land is necessary to the life of man in a way that no other work can be,’ wrote John Middleton Murry, whose writings inspired the Frating generation. Such sentiments are echoed today in books such as James Rebanks’ English Pastoral, or Isabella Tree’s Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm, where the clarion call to return farming to an environmentally sustainable form of land stewardship and nature conservation is heard again.
For more about Ken’s book, No Matter How Many Skies Have Fallen: back to the land in wartime Britain,go to: www.littletoller.co.uk.
le Ken Worpole photo: Larraine Worpo
Despite the social isolation experienced by some adult members as a result of their beliefs, for their children, Frating was an enchanted garden. My now elderly interviewees recalled growing up with an extraordinary sense of freedom and happiness, coming and going into each other’s houses to eat or sleep, wandering the fields and woods when not at school, playing in the barn, feeding the animals, going on trips to the seaside on the back of a lorry, and much else. It was only in adult life that those I spoke to realised how difficult it had been for their parents, yet all remembered the community with pride in what had been attempted and for a while achieved.
Ken Worpole
Ken Worpole is a writer and social historian, with a particular interest in the history of Essex in the 20th century. Watch a film of Ken Worpole in conversation with writer and historian Patrick Wright. Just search for 'Unfamiliar Territories Ken Worpole' on YouTube or scan the QR code:
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Investors in Wildlife
Essex Wildlife Trust began the Investors in Wildlife scheme in 1991 when Cliff Moore, a volunteer at the Trust, recruited founding business members who wanted to support their local conservation charity and work towards helping the environment. Over the past 30 years the scheme has grown to over 400 members, a network of Essex businesses that forms the largest corporate scheme within the national Wildlife Trust movement. Many of our founding members are still working with the Trust today. Bennetts Funeral Directors, Hugh Pearl Land Drainage Ltd and Essex & Suffolk Water all continue to help protect our beautiful county for the benefit of wildlife. Our partnership with Essex & Suffolk Water over the past 28 years has seen us working closely together to improve the biodiversity and protect the wildlife at Abberton and Hanningfield Reservoirs, while allowing public access to the community and outdoor learning activities alongside delivering the vital water supply to the people of Essex. Most recently, Essex & Suffolk Water sponsored a community project to remove plastic tree guards and recycle them, supported by another Investor in Wildlife, Essex County Council, who also volunteered to remove the tree guards with our Landscape Conservation team. This project has been a testament to what can be achieved when businesses and Wildlife Trusts work together. We have been fortunate to be supported by many Investors in Wildlife on specific conservation projects over the past few decades. Many corporate members supported us with the Essex Barn Owl Conservation Project by sponsoring nest boxes and volunteering their time and expertise to help reduce costs. This project saw over 300 nest boxes installed throughout Essex and 470 barn owls ringed, contributing data into national monitoring reports and datasets. Barn owl photo: Russell Savory
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Investors in Wildlife
Our outdoor learning programmes have also been supported, helping inspire the next generation of children to develop a lifelong love of nature. M&G Investments have supported the Trust by giving over £40,000 to the delivery of Forest Schools, allowing children to thrive from exploring and learning within the natural surroundings of a woodland. Ground Control, a Silver corporate member, have recently supported the Trust by sponsoring our Bugs Matter app. Part of our Action for Insects campaign, the annual results from this citizen science project will help us build up a better picture of insect abundance in the county, using innovative and inclusive methods. Ground Control have also been working independently to create positive change for the environment. In May 2020, they launched the Evergreen Fund, dedicating 5% of its annual net proceeds to a £5 million Impact Venture Fund, dedicated to environmental initiatives and carbon sequestration. The fund is to seed growth capital to selected start-ups and social enterprises, so that businesses can be a force for good and create positive change for the environment. As the Investors in Wildlife scheme entered its 30th anniversary, we undertook a thorough review of the scheme. To further our strategic aims and meet our goals on sustainability, the scheme has been updated to provide a new vision to becoming greener and more sustainable – and it’s right on time. We have entered the most vital decade for nature and know that the actions taken now will have a direct impact on the future.
If you are interested in becoming an Investor in Wildlife, please get in touch today.
In the corporate world, we know investing in wildlife is good for business, the natural environment is the foundation of our economy: Being green is an increasingly determining factor in the performance and success of businesses and the Trust believes that through working together, real change for the better can happen for our environment. The new Investors in Wildlife scheme comprises of three levels of membership: Silver, Gold and Platinum, plus a bespoke partnership offering. Benefits at each level have been reviewed to ensure they reduce the pressure on the environment and make the financial contribution work harder for wildlife. The new partnership level is for organisations that are dedicated to creating real change for wildlife in Essex. The partnership package is entirely bespoke, depending on the needs of the business and how we can best help the environment, together. Essex Wildlife Trust will continue to work on inspiring all businesses in Essex to become greener and more connected to the natural world, and we look forward to working with experts and industry professionals around Essex to create positive change for our natural world.
Little owl photo: Luke Massey/2020VISION
Karen Dixon: 07519 119692 KarenD@essexwt.org.uk
Grant Maton: 07887 763678 GrantM@essexwt.org.uk
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What’s on this winter
Winter What’s on this
W
e are lucky in the UK in that we get to really experience the different seasons when your favourite time of the year comes around again. Winter may be the period that many of us wish would rush by faster than you can say “I can’t feel my toes”, but although it may appear desolate to some, this season is starkly beautiful in its own right.
Discover things to do and spot in
Winter is trying to identify a skeletal winter tree without its leaves, it’s listening to the array of noisy wildfowl that have made our county home for the winter; it’s going for walks on bright, crisp days; it’s spotting footprints in the frozen mud or snow. It’s feeding garden birds and seeing them up-close; it’s marvelling at a snow-topped landscape; it’s bright, juicy berries peeking from the bushes. It’s experiencing total solace in a winter woodland and it’s the nostalgia of when you spot that first sign of spring.
Spending time appreciating nature all year round, whatever the weather, is really beneficial to your wellbeing and much of our wonderful wildlife is still at large so there’s plenty to see. Over the following pages we have provided you with a handy checklist of some of the species and spectacles you can expect to see in Essex this winter, as well as some fun events to get involved with… how many will you check off?
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What’s on this winter
Species
Redwing photo: Jon Hawkins - Surrey
Hills Photography
Red wing
Mistletoe
Spectacles
Winter woodland
n o i g t n i a l S ta r u r mu r m 020VISION
Starling murmuration photo: Danny Green/2
Red fox photo: Danny Green2020VISION
Beech woodland photo: Guy Edwardes/2020VISION
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Winter Events and activities
Events Winter and activities With coats zipped up and wellies on, Essex Wildlife Trust are offering many events and activities to join in with this winter. For adults, we offer guided walks, training courses, and seasonal activities. For children and families we have a range of outdoor learning sessions and seasonal events to entertain everyone, whilst enjoying the great outdoors. Birthday parties
Nature Tots & Forest School Nature Tots
Our weekly parent and toddler group, Nature Tots is where young children can explore, play and learn through nature. As the seasons change, discover and learn each week through a range of fun wildlife themed activities, from bug hunting and leaf spotting to natural painting and stick creatures. Suitable for children aged 18 months-5 years.
If you are looking for an exciting and hassle-free party with a difference, our Nature Discovery Centres offer a range of wildlife-themed birthday parties for all ages, led by a dedicated staff member. From swashbuckling pirates to forest fairies, seashore explorers to daring dinosaurs, there’s a party theme to suit everyone.
Home education sessions
At our home education sessions, children can make dens, enjoy woodland crafts, use tools, light fires and learn all about wildlife. These specialised, play-based sessions hand over learning to the children while being facilitated by a trained leader. As a result, children thrive on the real-life experiences that occur in the stimulating woodland. Suitable for children of primary school age.
Drop-off days
Get back to nature at one of our wild drop-off days. Here children can learn bushcraft skills, make shelters, climb trees and use natural materials to make crafts. Our specially designed sessions help to build confidence, enhance self-esteem and develop social skills. Suitable for children aged 5-12.
SEND Forest Fun
We run regular Outdoor Learning sessions for SEND children, where they can learn bushcraft skills, enjoy making natural arts and crafts and go for a nature walk under the guidance of an experienced on-site Outdoor Learning Officer.
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Adult training courses
From accredited Forest School training to Wild Living courses, we offer adults the opportunity to learn and develop new skills, and learn more about the spectacular wildlife on our doorstep. These in-depth sessions are suitable for beginners upwards and cover a range of species, habitats and skills.
School holiday events
During school holidays, we run a range of seasonal themed activities. From creative crafts to pond dipping, woodland fun to bird box making, there is something for all the family to enjoy.
Winter Events and activities
Join an event on one of our
havens for nature The Naze Nature Discovery Centre Fingringhoe Wick Nature Discovery Park Great Holland Pits nature reserve
Abberton Reservoir Nature Discovery Park Abbotts Hall Nature Discovery Park
Nature reserves running events
Bedfords Nature Roding Valley Discovery Centre Hanningfield Nature Meadows Discovery Park nature reserve Thorndon Nature Discovery Centre
Nature Discovery Centres / Parks Main office
Pound Wood nature reserve
Ingrebourne Nature Discovery Centre
Warley Place nature reserve Chafford Nature Discovery Park
Belfairs Nature Discovery Centre
Langdon Nature Discovery Park Thameside Nature Discovery Park
Photo: Zsuzsanna Bird
Local Group events
Our 12 Local Groups carry out vital fundraising activities for the Trust and host events that both members and non-members are welcome to attend. These include guided walks at our nature reserves and further afield, illustrative talks from guest speakers, plant sales and social evenings. Local Groups work to raise the profile of the Trust in their communities and are always keen to welcome new members.
Local Group newsletters
Do we have your email address? Contact membership@essexwt.org.uk to make sure you receive your Local Group newsletters, with information about events and reserves near you, received four times a year.
Upcoming Local Group events
New Year’s Day wildlife walk
Saturday 1 January from Ingreb our
ne Nature g Local Group
Discovery Centre with Haverin
A gentle 2 hour walk around Hor nchurch Country Park to look for winter wildlife. Wear suitable footwear and warm clothing.
Wine tasting evening
Thursday 17 February Colchester Local
Group
A fun and informal tutored win e tasting evening with matching nibbles and prizes for the winning teams.
Spring Bulb Spectacular
Saturday 26 February - Sunday 10
Brentwood and Billericay Local
April
Group
Guided walks available when War ley Place is in full bloom in spring, with volunteers on hand to answer questions about Ellen Willmott’s historic garden.
Many more events and further details can all be found on our website at www.essexwt.org.uk/events. Winter sunset photo: David Tipling/2020VISION
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Winter species to spot
Winter
Species to spot Robin photo: Mark Hamblin/2020VISION
Short-eared owl photo: Andy Rouse/2020VISION
We’ve created a handy checklist of flora and fauna to spot in Essex this winter. We really hope you manage to tick them off while exploring the great outdoors – let us know how many you spot!
Snowdrops
Redwing Primrose photo: Neil Wyatt
Teal photo: Nick Upton/2020VISION
Red fox
Short-eared owl Redwing photo: Jon Hawkins - Surrey Hills Photography
Mistletoe
Red fox photo: Jon Hawkins - Surrey Hills Photography
Robin
Hazel catkins
Great crested grebe
Green woodpecker
Primroses Peacock butterfly photo: Rachel Scopes
Teal
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Peacock butterfly
Find new or familiar Essex Wildlife Trust nature reserves to explore on our website at www.essexwt.org.uk/visit/ nature-reserves.
December Your frosty mornings may begin with the song of the robin, frequenting parks, gardens and hedgerows in both countryside and urban locations. If you look up to the tree canopy you will find festive mistletoe growing in large balls on bare trees. Across wetlands and coastal marshes you might spot the fantastic short-eared owl with its piercing yellow eyes hunting during daylight hours, while at dusk and night time, the familiar red fox can be found skulking through woodlands or roaming the streets, taking shelter in gardens.
Short-eared owl photo: Danny Green/2020VISION
Winter species to spot
Although they aren’t always seen,
short-eared owls do have ear tufts.
If an owl is taken by surprise, their normally flat ears can be raised into ‘horns’.
Collectively, a group of teal is known as a ‘spring’ because of the way they can take-off suddenly and vertically, as if they have jumped straight off the ground!
January The white hardy bells of a snowdrop are some of the first to erupt through the cold winter ground, found growing in woodlands, pastures, ditches and orchards. The juicy berries on trees and bushes attract Scandanavian visitors like redwing, who can be found gorging on the berries across fields and hedgerows. Meanwhile, on lakes and reservoirs our smallest duck, the teal, can be spotted dabbling for food in large flocks.
February
Unlike many other flowers, hazel does not rely on insects for pollination, instead relying on the wind as there are less insects around at this time of the year. Teal photo: Luke Massey/2020VISION
The yellow hazel catkins start ripening across woodlands, in parks and on hedgerows during February, while the cheery bright flowers of primroses lighten up the woodland and grassland floors. The drumming of woodpeckers can be heard in woodlands, while charismatic green woodpeckers can be found feeding on open areas of bare ground where they feast on ants. In time for Valentine’s Day, the majestic courtship routine of the great crested grebe can be spotted on lakes and reservoirs. Through warmer periods one of our earliest butterflies can be spotted, the peacock, who has overwintered as an adult in sheltered spots like garden sheds.
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Time Tunnel
We travel back to...
1982 ...to give you a glimpse of our past and see what was happening at the Trust.
What was happening globally in 1982: • Channel 4 was launched in the UK, with Countdown and Brookside some of the first shows to air. • The Falklands War lasted from 2 April – 14 June. • Dexys Midnight Runners, released the ever-popular song ‘Come on Eileen’. • The World population reached 4.6 billion while the population of the United Kingdom was 56.2 million.
Essex Wildlife Trust’s Autumn 1982 magazine focused on Grays Chalk Quarry, which had just received a secure tenure to be managed by Essex Wildlife Trust. Editor Laurie Forsyth and Graham Starr wrote the following column about the history of the site.
Grays Chalk Quarry A look at a geological map shows that chalk is the only hard rock that outcrops at the surface in Essex. In pre-glacial times the chalk escarpment must have been a significant feature of the landscape of north Essex, but today only a small part remains at the surface in the area of Saffron Walden. In the south, a minor fold in the chalk brings upper chalk and Thanet sands to the surface in the floor of the Thames Valley. The Thames has cut its channel through the crest of this anticline and covered much of it in alluvium, but a low chalk ridge remains at the surface between Purfleet and Grays. Several cement companies have taken advantage of this isolated chalk region and have extracted, over the past century, a vast amount of chalk to serve the local cement industry.
Chalk quarrying ceased about 60 years ago, and today the once-bare chalk supports flourishing scrub and extensive woodland, and a host of chalk-loving wildflowers. We are delighted to announce that Blue Circle Cement have agreed to lease the northern part of the quarry to the Trust for 21 years, at no cost to ourselves. The northern part of the quarry is scheduled as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), and 14 years ago the owners, then Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers, granted the Trust a licence renewable annually, to record the flora and fauna and undertake minor management work on the site. It is on this slender basis that the SSSI has since been regarded as a Trust reserve. Up to now, access to the reserve by Trust members has been restricted to nominated permit holders, under the terms of the licence. We hope to announce visiting arrangements shortly.
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s
As we showcase on pages 24-27 of this magazine, Chafford Gorges Nature Discovery Park has grown considerably since 1982, with careful management continuing to help the threatened flora and fauna that live at this special site in Grays, and all visitors are now welcome to explore and learn about the geological importance of this nature haven.
Great crested newt photo: John Bridge
Grays Chalk Quarry, to the west of Hogg Lane in Grays, covers an area of approximately 100 acres and is probably the oldest quarry in Thurrock, although its exact age is uncertain. References to the “Chalk Pit at Grays” were made in a report entitled “The Water-Springs at Grays – their capability of affording a supply of pure water to the metropolis”, dated 1860. The owner of the land at this time was Richard Meeson of Duvals, Grays. An area of approximately 60 acres had been excavated, but extraction was continually hampered by spring water flooding into the pit through fissures in the chalk strata.
Chalk cliffs at Chafford Gorges
Discover our
Po
ast c d
Listen to every episode from Season 1 of The Wildlife Explorer, available on all Podcast platforms.
Through ten episodes we delved into the world of wildlife in Essex, the work of the Trust and the wild places our county has to offer. Each episode includes fun facts, informative features, special guests and top tips on how to help wildlife. Grab a cup of tea and enjoy listening! Help us inspire more people by subscribing, liking, sharing and leaving us a five-star rating. Season 2 of The Wildlife Explorer will be back next spring, with even wilder features to enjoy.
Love Essex • Love Wildlife Registered Charity No. 210065
Nightingale photo: Chris Gomersall/2020VISION
Explore Nature
Rebugging our homes
HOUSE SPIDER © STEPHEN DALTON NATURE PL
Several species of spider thrive in houses
I
’ve always loved bugs, from the ants in my garden to the huge rhinocerous beetles that wander our woodlands. Concerned by their alarming signs of decline, I’ve tried to share my love and encourage everyone to do what they can to help save them. We can all benefit — humans and bugs alike — by rebugging our lives and homes; starting with how we think and view bugs, to how we eat, garden, what we buy and even how we talk about them. Wildlife is all around us: it’s not just out in the countryside, in woodlands or other remote wild places. It’s in our towns, our gardens and even our homes! Here I explore — and celebrate — some of the tiniest housemates that have moved in with us, either permanently or just for a short stay (and that you might not even know about)…
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Vicki Hird has been working on environment, food and farming issues for over 25 years. She explores more insect stories in her new book, Rebugging the Planet: The Remarkable Things that Insects (and Other Invertebrates) Do — And Why We Need to Love Them More
Sharing your space
Eight-legged lodgers
Your home and garden can be wonderful places, and not just for you. Thousands of creatures, visible and hidden share these spaces with you. From the fly catching spiders sheltering in the corners of your bedroom, to the worms wriggling through your garden soil, the teeny pollinating wasps in your window box, and the cavity-nesting tree bumblebees tucked into a gap in your eaves. Not only do these creatures live peacefully and often unnoticed around you, but they also contribute much to your life. They are gardeners that help your flowers flourish, farmers that lend a hand with your home-grown veg, and bouncers that get rid of other less welcome house guests.
Do you shudder with fear when you see a spider? It’s worth giving that reaction a rethink, as these wonderfully diverse and useful creatures are very unlikely to harm you. You are a far bigger threat to them and if you can resist the urge to hurt them, that’s a great start. Your home and garden provide cosy spaces for these handy housemates. Spiders make great neighbours as they munch through huge volumes each year including ants, mosquitoes, cockroaches, aphids, flies, and even fleas. They are food too for your garden birds. Welcome the spiders with open arms (even if it is at arm’s length)!
Nooks for nature
The hidden underworld
The cracks and crevices around our houses are hugely important for our bugs. They serve as everything from a nesting place for bees and wasps, to a lurking space for others. One species that may move in is a centipede. Centipedes, whilst harmless to us, use their huge jaws to feast on other bugs you won’t want around like silverfish, carpet beetle larvae, and cockroaches. They will hide in cracks around your house, in drains and damp dark spaces. If you spot a centipede scurrying from its hiding place, take a close look as they are fascinating to watch.
Your garden soil is home to many more critters than worms. The soil, in which we grow most of our food, is created largely by the guts and jaws of worms, mites, springtails, termites, beetles and many more. If you can imagine the soil as a cooking recipe, the bugs basically do all the cutting, grating, mashing, grinding and, given their role in moving fungus and microbes about, they ensure fermentation happens too. They also help draw down air, water and nutrients; your flowers, grass and spuds would not grow without the huge array of hardworking hidden beasts beneath your feet.
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IMAGES CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: TREE BUMBLEBEE © KIM TAYLOR NATURE PL; CELLAR SPIDER © VAUGHN MATTHEWS; GLOBULAR SPRINGTAIL, CENTIPEDE © ALEX HYDE NATURE PL
Rebugging our homes
UK News
UK NEWS UK UPDATE
We can’t COP-out on nature Nature has a vital role in combating the climate crisis
PROTEST SIGN © MARKUS SPISKE ON UNSPLASH
T
his November, world leaders are gathering in Glasgow to discuss action to tackle the climate emergency. The 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties, known as COP26, will bring together more than 190 world leaders and tens of thousands of representatives to find solutions to the worsening crisis. Countries will set out their latest plans to reduce emissions and attempt to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as well as adaptation plans for the changes that are now inevitable.. There is a sense of urgency around this conference, with the effects of current warming becoming increasingly evident, from record temperatures and widespread wildfires to an increase in episodes of very heavy rainfall and flooding. Changes to the climate are not just dangerous for people, but are also threatening wildlife, including here in the UK. In the run-up to COP26, The Wildlife Trusts have been working hard to raise awareness of the connection between nature and climate, and to encourage Government to take ambitious actions that focus on the restoration of nature, as well as a reduction in emissions and improved resilience. Nature must be at the heart of action on climate. Healthy natural landscapes can take in carbon and store it, whilst damaged habitats often release even more
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carbon into the atmosphere. Only by integrating climate action with nature’s recovery can we achieve a net zero (where the amount of greenhouse gases emitted balances with the amount taken out of the atmosphere), climate resilient UK where nature is thriving, by 2050. We need all of our national policies to be contributing to nature’s restoration, not degrading it further; this includes affording better protection to the wild places we already have, such as upgrading Marine Protected Areas to Highly Protected Marine Areas, and designating new sites to create more space for nature. Our 30 by 30 vision, which would see the UK restoring at least 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030, is a minimum requirement for nature’s recovery and depends on commitment and funding from the UK’s governments. Nature can’t thrive in fractured pockets, we need to think bigger and link up our wild places. However, it’s not just the UK governments that need to act. We can’t achieve nature’s recovery without wide support, which is why The Wildlife Trusts are so passionate about empowering people to take action. We want to see a wildlife-rich natural world at the heart of everybody’s education and learning journey, inspiring a connection to nature that lasts a lifetime.
Among other asks, The Wildlife Trusts are calling on Government to: Reform the planning system so that it helps to address the nature emergency, by establishing Nature Recovery Networks and creating a new Wildbelt designation that protects land that is being restored for nature. Sustainable land use practices are adequately incentivised through the new Environmental Land Management schemes to allow UK agriculture to significantly contribute to meeting net zero targets and 30% of land in recovery for nature. To help teachers inspire students about the habitats that can help combat the climate emergency, we recently launched a new climate education tool for Key Stage Two, Nature’s Climate Heroes. Not only is it packed with information, it also provides students with positive action to take, so that they can make their own contribution to tackling the issue. For those out of the school room, we’ve also created some advice pages, about actions you can take in your own life. Together, we can ensure a wilder future — and to find out how you can play your part visit wildlifetrusts.org/taking-climate-action
UK News
UK UPDATE
SUNFLOWER © MATTHEW ROBERTS, WHITING INSIDE OF JELLYFISH © IAN WATKIN & CORNWALL WILDLIFE TRUST, SNIPE © ANDY ROUSE/2020VISION
Big vision, high ambition – a year of progress This September marked the first anniversary of 30 by 30, our vision for 30% of land and sea to be restored for nature by 2030. In the past year we’ve launched some inspirational projects to restore land for nature, from saving meadows for mountain pansies in Shropshire to restoring rhos pasture in Radnorshire — marshy grasslands home to rare butterflies, curlew and snipe. Thanks to your generous support, we will continue to bring nature back across the UK — to link up wild places and protect and repair others. Our latest projects include securing more land for nature in Somerset’s Avalon Marshes, an internationally important wetland landscape home to waders, wildfowl, and rare insects and plants, and
establishing England’s first large-scale community rewilding project, on 170 hectares of land near Bere Regis, Dorset. Discover more of our 30 by 30 projects at wildlifetrusts.org/30-30-30
UK HIGHLIGHTS Discover how The Wildlife Trusts are helping wildlife across the UK
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1 Great news for gulls
Gull chicks have fledged at South Walney nature reserve for the first time since 2015, thanks to a new predator-proof fence. Since 2017, no chicks have survived longer than a week, but this summer Cumbria Wildlife Trust recorded over 100 large and healthy chicks of lesser blackbacked gulls and herring gulls — a red-listed and declining species. Find out more at wtru.st/Cumbria-gulls
2 Tadpole triumphs The northern pool frog has been successfully reintroduced to Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s Thompson Common, the last place it was recorded before its extinction in Britain in the 1990s. Since 2015, more than 1,000 pool frog tadpoles have been released on the site, with early indications promising that the frogs will form a self-sustaining population. Learn more at wtru.st/frogs-return
Vine House Farm grow over 100 acres of sunflowers
Sunflower power Birdfood suppliers, Vine House Farm has generated £2 million to support the conservation work of The Wildlife Trusts. For the past 14 years, The Wildlife Trusts have been in partnership with the wildlife friendly farm in Lincolnshire, with a percentage of each purchase of their bird seed going to local Wildlife Trusts and helping wildlife across the UK. This year saw the contribution pass the impressive
milestone, with the Covid-19 pandemic prompting more people than ever to purchase food for their garden birds. Vine House Farm grows 400 acres of bird seed crops, including the ever-popular sunflower seeds, as well as being a haven for wildlife in itself, with a thriving population of tree sparrows and other farmland birds. Learn more at wtru.st/2-million
3 Jelly jeopardy
Cornwall Wildlife Trust supporter Ian Watkins spotted the unusual sight of a whiting trapped inside the bell of a compass jellyfish, whilst on a walk during National Marine Week. Juvenile fish often hide amongst jellyfish tentacles for protection from predators, but are occasionally stung and eaten.
WILD Winter 2021
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Wildlife quiz time Answers from Autumn 2021: Across: Down 1. Pygmy 1. Passage 3. Keratin 2. Parliament 4. Fly agaric 6. Grey 5. Langdon 8. Stork 7. Evergreen 9. Raven 8. Starling 10. Cob
How is your general knowledge on the wildlife and wild places of our country? Test yourself with our nature crossword. A
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Woodpeckers can drum up to 22 times a second, at a force that is measured at over 1,000x the force of gravity! They avoid concussions and headaches due to a specially adapted skull that acts as a shock absorber.
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Berry nice
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Clues down 1 Rabbits live in a complex underground network called a ____. (6)
4 This condition results in the partial loss of pigmentation in an animal – causing white colouration of the skin, hair, features or scales. (7)
2 What is the Latin name for a fox? (6,6)
6 Britain’s smallest bat species group, weighing the same as a 2p coin. (11) 8 The lesser-spotted dogfish is also referred to as the small-spotted _____. (8) 9 What do you call a female deer? (3) 10 This farmland bird rises almost vertically in the air, reaching up to 300m while singing their song. (7)
5 This bright green bird was introduced into Great Britain and is being spotted more regularly in south Essex. (8) 7 We have three types of heather in Essex: Bell, Cross-leaved and ___? (4) 12 This small diving duck visits the UK over winter – the males are a striking white with a black mask while the female has a red head and a grey body. (4)
11 This free-swimming marine animal is made up of 95% water and has no brain, blood or heart. (9)
The answers will be revealed in our Spring 2022 edition of WILD
Waxwings gorge on berries while in the UK over winter. They tend to prefer eating red berries over orange berries, but prefer both over yellow and white ones. Waxwing photo: Terry
Whittaker/2020VISION
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3 What is the collective name for a group of hedgehogs? (5)
WILD Winter 2021
Why do woodpeckers not get headaches?
Great spotted woodpecker photo: Mark Hamblin/2020VISION
Clues Across
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Wildlife fun facts...
Living a double live
The term amphibian actually means “double life”, because they spend part of their lives in water and part on land. Common toad photo: Nick Upton/2020VISION
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Rossi ice cream factory tour for four people.
Receive a gold leaf on our Tree of Life at Fingringhoe Wick Nature Discovery Park, to hold pride of place for 7 years.
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A special hamper containing Tiptree products courtesy of Wilkins & Sons Ltd.
Breakfast for two people at the Perrywood Tiptree Coffee Shop & Restaurant.
A fabulous array of Essex Wildlife Trust goodies.
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Robin photo: Mark Hamblin/2020VISION
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