Blog Archives: WildEssex

Warley Place: a nature reserve like no other

Britain's Wildlife, WildEssex

During a full career working in nature conservation in Essex, I was privileged to visit most of  the best (and worst!) bits of the county multiple times. But there is one nature reserve I managed to get to only once, Warley Place, near Brentwood. I was there maybe 30 years ago, specifically to see the drifts of Wild Daffodils.

But at the end of April, the prospect of a radio interview took me back to Brentwood. And so I leapt at the chance to see Warley Place once gain, albeit in rather dull and cool conditions.

The daffodils were all but over, but botanically it was just lovely. Not surprising, given the history of the site as the former home and garden of the noted Victorian plantswoman, Ellen Wilmott.

 

From an early age Miss Wilmott set about transforming the garden, introducing traditional features such as hothouse and a walled garden, as well as more ambitious land-shaping like the Alpine gorge, created on a natural slope with r‏ocks imported from Yorkshire.

Ellen died in 1934, almost penniless as she had spent her inherited wealth on creating and maintaining this and other gardens.  Over the 20th century the house and garden fell into disrepair; it was taken over by the Essex Wildlife Trust in 1977, and since then the garden has been managed for wildlife.

Much of the decaying building and hard landscaping remain, as do probably some of the original plantings, though sadly not Ellen’s treasured filmy ferns for which she provided a specially constructed cave.

But it is nature rewinding itself, covering the scars of the last century that left a lasting impression on me. Along of course with the sheets of Bluebell and Wild Garlic, the views over to central London, and the peace and quiet, apart from birdsong. And sadly, the intrusive road traffic noise …

A curse of our times, though who am I to judge? I drove there, and then through Brentwood High Street (a revelation to me which made me think we should pay a visit some time) and to the Phoenix FM studio. The interview is linked below for any who want to listen, about me, my life and career, my work with Beth Chatto Gardens, my new book and my involvement with the campaign to save Wivenhoe Old King George Oak. The interview begins around 25 minutes into the show…

Earth Day Special! INTERVIEW: Dr Chris Gibson

Eleanor’s best photos – Meanwhile Garden & Wivenhoe

Britain's Wildlife, Eleanor's photos, Travel by Rail, WildEssex, WildWivenhoe

It’s been another lovely couple of days with Granny and Papa. We went on the train to Colchester to find bugs and other creatures in the Meanwhile Garden. There were big caterpillars and lots of bees and beetles in the flowers.

In Wivenhoe I took some pictures of insects on Hollyhocks and Daisy, and other flowers and leaves.

 

And my favourite Poppies…every year I love looking at these. Papa loves the picture at the bottom so much that he wishes he had taken it! I hope you love it too!

The Wild Side of Beth Chatto Gardens: Wildside Walks start up again…

Beth Chatto Gardens, Britain's Wildlife, WildEssex, WildWivenhoe

It was a pleasure to recommence my Beth Chatto Gardens wildlife walks for visitors a few days ago. The sun was shining, and at least when sheltered from the chill north-easterly breeze, the garden was buzzing with both people and insects!

Perhaps the greatest insect activity was around the ponds, with marginal vegetation full of resting Alderflies, flittering Small Chinamark moths (moths with uniquely aquatic larvae), a couple of dashing Broad-bodied Chaser dragonflies and everywhere, damselflies: resting, flying and mating. There are now three species on the wing, Large Red, Blue-tailed and Azure Damselflies, leaving their exuviae – the empty nymphal shells – on the leaves of marginal plants like Bogbean.

Overwintering butterflies are all but over, with only a female Brimstone and a couple of  Red Admirals seen during the morning. But spring emergers, like Holly Blues, Orange Tips, Green-veined Whites and Speckled Woods put on a good show…

… and there were several Green Hairstreaks among the pondside foliage, some by now looking very battered, although others in full iridescent green glory. A Painted Lady haunted the Reservoir Garden, perhaps presaging a good immigration year for them, and in the same area a vibrant, fresh male Common Blue ushered in a shard of summer.

During the daytime, it is possible to see both day-flying moths and night-flyers that have been disturbed from their place of shelter. The latter group was represented by a Water Ermine, almost pure white, a scarce moth in Essex found in wetland habitats especially in the north-eastern coastal fringes. And lovely day-flyer was a Small Yellow Underwing, more widespread inland in grassy places, but always a delight to see. Both are new species for the gardens, I believe… just a pity that both avoided being photographed!

No such problem with the caterpillars though, here a single Brown-tail, Mullein Moth on the Verbascum and seemingly everywhere on Euonymus, festoons of silk and associated defoliation from Spindle Ermine larvae. It looks dramatic, but the Spindle bushes will likely not be killed, and the moth may not reappear next year…

 

And looking at the few remaining Spindle leaves, I was pleased to find a new gall for the garden, a leaf-roll made by Spindle Leaf-edge Mites Stenacis euonymi. Not only new for the garden, but according to the National Biodiversity Network Atlas distribution map, scarce in the county with the only other Essex records coming from Hatfield Forest in the far west. As so often though, this might reflect under-recording rather than genuine rarity.

So much to see at every turn. A bunch of bugs (Cinnamon, Hairy Shield-, Green Shield- and Dock Bugs, plus the plant bug Harpocera thoracica)…

… the first nymphal Dark Bush-crickets I have seen this summer…

… a couple of soldier-beetles, Cantharis rustica and C. livida …

… and much, much more.

And finally, a trio of interesting  sawflies, a group of wasps without a ‘wasp-waist’ that have caterpillars that munch leaves. At rest on Iris leaves, there were Iris Sawflies, parents of the larvae that will be eating a raggedy hole in the leaf-blades in a month or two. The second, with a distinct black mark on its forewings, might well be the Dark Birch Fusehorn Arge fuscipes, a black species recorded at only 22 sites nationally. And then there was the red-tinged Tenthredo (probably T. colon, though some are very hard to tell apart). This was eating an Alderfly, interesting behaviour indeed: I had no idea they were predatory, joining our army of friends maintaining balance in the garden. I am used to seeing related species in showy flowers, but it seems that some at least may not be taking nectar as I assumed: they may equally be lying in wait for other insects to arrive. I learn something new every time I visit. And again, this seems not to be a common species (the NBN map shows no Essex localities), although the under-recording caveat certainly applies here.

This summer is already shaping up to be a good one for garden wildlife, with insects more obvious than the same time last year, although we could do with some rain before an intense drought sets in!

On top of all this, Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps and Robins were in full song, together with single Greenfinch, Goldcrest and Cetti’s Warbler, the latter being the first time I have ever heard the species around our garden. The new records keep on coming in!

The next couple of Wildlife Walks are planned for 20th June. If you are interested in joining me, please book through these links – 11am and 12am. And if moths are something you would like to know more about, there’s our Moth Morning the following day…

Eleanor’s photos – Wivenhoe waterfront and Colchester

Eleanor's photos, Travel by Rail, WildEssex, WildWivenhoe

Granddaughter Eleanor’s photos have featured before in these blogs – see here, here and here – and rightly so. But this is the first one of hers exclusively. No captions or commentary, just enjoy Wivenhoe waterfront, Colchester St Botolph’s and Castle Park in the sun, as seen through the eyes of an inquisitive seven-year-old. Indulgent maybe, but I am a very #ProudPapa!

The Wild Side of Essex: the Colne Valley and Chalkney Wood at Bluebell time

Britain's Wildlife, WildEssex

This summer I am launching a new series of ‘Wild Side of Essex’ day walks for Naturetrek, and at the end of April, we had the first walk from Chappel. Commendably, one client arrived by train! This walk is a round walk, taking all day, going up the valley and back along the hilltops, and it certainly felt as though we had had a good walk, at least in part to the very warm, sunny weather.

Starting with historic buildings and the church topped with a typical north Essex wood-clad steeple, there was a range of interesting plants around the churchyard wall: Greater Celandine, Red Valerian, Goat’s-beard and Salsify, mostly non-native garden escapes but all attracting insect attention.

Especially productive in this respect was Green Alkanet, with many a Dark-edged Beefly taking the nectar:

Walking up the valley, past trees filled with Mistletoe, we took every opportunity to look at the River Colne, its clear, flowing waters filled with aquatic vegetation and shoals of Rudd, the banks with last year’s Small Teasel heads and the first few Large Red Damselflies.

And along the length, a series of former mills to tap the energy of the flowing waters, each home to Grey Wagtails, with Canada and Greylag Geese and a Little Egret in the more open stretches, while a couple of Red Kites and at least four territorial pairs of Buzzards circled overhead.

While the valley meadows are not especially diverse, they do have plenty of Dandelions, food for bees, hoverflies and butterflies such as Orange Tip and Green-veined White, and the wetter patches have stands of several sedge species as well as Cuckooflower.

The hedgerows crossing the open landscape are really quite impressive, especially with Hawthorn now coming into bloom. Common and Lesser Whitethroats sang from the thicker hedges, while a Mistle Thrush strutted around. At least four males of the latter were heard singing from the wood and copses on the flanks of the valley.

 

Large, old trees in the valley provided all sorts of interest. A dead Ash was covered in woodpecker workings and sprouted colonies of King Alfred’s Cakes, while a living but hollow Willow buzzed to the sound a wild Honeybee nest, and many of the low-hanging Oaks featured smart new rosy Oak Apple galls.

 

And then there was Chalkney Wood, an absolute delight. Rescued from being choked to death by planted conifers some thirty years ago when the Forestry Commission was persuaded to remove the planted tress ahead of their scheduled rotation. Now one would never know, as regrowth of the old coppice stools and natural regeneration has all but eradicated any sign of this unseemly blip in the history of an ancient wood: it even has many of the indicator plants of age, like Bugle, Town-hall-clock and Yellow Pimpernel.

In fact it is probably 20 years since I was last there at this time of year, and to say my gob was smacked would be an understatement: especially in the eastern half of the wood, a sea of Bluebells, studded with Wild Garlic, the still air allowing the build up of such a sweet fragrance, a feast for all the senses..

Returning along the tops, catching a welcome breeze given the ferocity of the sun, there were a few wet springs, featuring Giant Horsetails and Stinging Nettles, the latter often adorned with Hairy Shield-bugs and Cinnamon Bugs.

The last stage of the circuit took us along a series of lanes, almost holloways, with botanically-rich hedgebanks, featuring a varied palette of Primrose, Red Campion, Greater Stitchwort, Germander Speedwell, Wild Arum and Star-of-Bethlehem, and several Speckled Woods in the dappled shade.

And in a final flourish we rounded the last bend and emerged from the trees to be faced with one of the Seven Wonders of Essex, the mid-19th century marvel that is Chappel Viaduct, some 6 million bricks forming 32 spans that rise to 23m. And still support passenger trains to this day! In the lowering light, the shadows and vistas were simply lovely, as much a part of the psyche of old Essex as the Bluebells of Chalkney Wood.

 

 

The Wild Side of Beth Chatto Gardens: …and they’re off!

Beth Chatto Gardens, Britain's Wildlife, WildEssex, WildWivenhoe

Three weeks since I last managed to get to the Beth Chatto Gardens. And three weeks at this time of year is a very long time. Especially after some lovely sunny weather, interspersed with cool easterlies and a couple of decent showers, Spring has been comprehensively erased from the scene, with just the late species tulips and anemones in the Gravel Garden hanging on.

So many flowers now coming into their own, almost all providing nectar and/or pollen to feed our insects, the garden is simply stunning…

And the fresh green leaves are both basking spots for warming up and food for the next generation of some: it was an emergence day for Solomon’s Seal Sawflies… but despite last summer’s defoliation, the plants have sprung anew. A lesson for all who might be tempted to turn to the poison sprays. Another sign of our approach to gardening with wildlife in mind is the number of Song Thrushes we have, two or three pairs where give years ago there were none, testament to our avoidance of molluscicides.

For no apparent reason, one individual plant was the focus of bug biodiversity today: a single Helleborus argutifolius was home to half a dozen Green Shield-bugs, two Hairy Shield-bugs and a Rhopalus subrufus scentless plant pug (named to reflect the fact that the related shield bugs aka stink bugs, often emit smelly defensive chemicals.) None of these were noticed elsewhere, and none have known dependencies on this plant, so why it was such a star is one of those delightful mysteries of nature.

In an hour round the garden, there were six species of butterfly, here Large and Green-veined Whites, along with Brimstone, Orange Tip. Peacock and Speckled Wood. Sadly no Green Hairstreaks – my favourite butterfly – often quite abundant from now until mid May, though they have been reported by the gardeners over the last ten days.

And in another sign that summer is icumen in, today saw my first local damselflies of the season, as always Large Red Damselflies, resting on the pondside foliage having just emerged from their aquatic nymphal life.

The starting gun of summer has been fired, and that will be reinforced over the forecast heatwave in the next few days. Do come and see what our garden can offer:  plants, wildlife, tea and cake! All my events are listed here Beth Chatto Gardens – activities and events | Chris Gibson Wildlife, including this coming Bank Holiday weekend. Exceptionally, the garden is open both Sunday and Monday, and among the many special activities planned, on Sunday you can find me in the Nursery at 11am, 1pm and 3pm talking about ‘Gardening for Wildlife’.

Reduced price entry tickets are available online: Entrance – Beth Chatto’s Plants & Gardens

 

#WildWivenhoeWalks: botanical highlights along the sea-wall from Wivenhoe – saltmarsh, grazing marsh and block paving!

Britain's Wildlife, Bug & Botany Walks, WildEssex, WildWivenhoe

A lovely walk was had by our group on a dull and rather chilly morning along the sea wall of Barrier Marsh, downstream of Wivenhoe in late April.

Quite unintentionally, the theme of Native/Non-native developed as we looked at various plants in flower along our route.  Hard to avoid at this time of year is Alexanders, a robust plant which is not a native, though a long-term inhabitant, brought here by the Romans (being fully edible), and is rather contentious, being thought of as a thug by some.  The current climate suits it well and it now flowers from March, just at the time when our insects are waking and need sustenance.  Our ‘native’ plants are often not in flower so early in the year, but our insects are up and going earlier and earlier due to the collapse of our climate, with our mild winters and so need this plant to survive. On sunny days particularly it is alive with insects of all sorts – not so today given the cool wind.

Cow Parsley, once thought of as the harbinger of a richness of summer beasties, was only just coming into flower …. too late for the modern first flush of insects.

So the discussion had begun – does it matter if a plant is ‘native’ or is an introduction?  The answer is an emphatic No!! – if a plant can provide for our pollinators when they need pollen/nectar then, with just a few exceptions, they should be welcomed. Other non-natives that certainly pay for their keep in our countryside included Three-cornered Leek and Large Mediterranean Spurge.

As we walked we looked at various plants, starting with English Scurvygrass, the first inkling of summer and autumn saltmarsh shades.

Along the sea wall there were plenty of buttercups, all showing the downturned sepals characteristic of Bulbous Buttercup and very few others, although the photo shows a potential pitfall – those on the left are fresher flowers and the sepals have yet to turn down…

Not in flower, but readily identifiable by the ‘scrunch and sniff’ test was Sea Wormwood, on the seaward face of the sea wall, bearing the scent of absinthe, apparently. So, one in the eye for the apps there!

The block paving around the Barrier also produced a fascinating variety of small, white flowered crucifers (Brassicaceae), all very similar in flower but easily differentiated by their seed pods: long and cylindrical (Thale Cress); short, fat and heart-shaped with a septum at right angles to the plane of flattening (Shepherd’s Purse); and short and oval, with a septum along the plane of flattening (Common Whitlow-grass)…

And finally, a real surprise. While we have found Cornsalad sporadically as a colonist of block paving hereabouts, we found lots today, sheets of it, more than we have ever seen before:

An excursion down into Barrier Marsh was interesting from the historical point of view (the path, ‘The Chase’, originally belonged to the otherwise landlocked Elmstead Market and was their access to the water for trading purposes). Also the many, many anthills are fascinating  – much more numerous and larger on one side of the path than on the other, the disparity due to the side nearest Wivenhoe being commissioned as agricultural land during the war and used to grow vegetables – so their numbers only began building since the 1940s as opposed to 400+ years ago on the other side.  The anthills weren’t really flowering at their best just yet – each is a microcosm with its own community of tiny flowers which are aided by the warmth and well-drained soil produced by the activities of the ant colony below and will certainly be worth a look after the forecast heatwave next week.

However, one of the nationally scarce plants of that marsh, Divided Sedge, was in full flower, forming very dense swards, and led naturally to a discussion about the differences between grasses, sedges and rushes, and then the diversity of flower structures in the grasses, an important part of their identification, as covered in Chris’s new book…

As usual Jude was on the lookout for insects.  Not a huge amount on the wing given the cool conditions, but a couple of interesting beetles were discovered.  Neon-striped Tortoise-beetles were on Sea Beet next to their holes, a regular spot to find them, from now for the next month, but a beastie we have never found elsewhere in the area. And on the same plant, a couple of 24-spot Ladybirds, next to some ‘grazings’ – maybe they’d had their dinner first to get the strength for their subsequent activity!

And a couple of things with very different ways of not being eaten: the caterpillars of Brown-tail moth, largely protected by irritant hairs, and a micromoth Notocelia cynosbatella, basically a bird-dropping!

While we don’t focus especially on birds, treating them on a par with all other wonders of nature, they certainly made their presence known, with singing Cetti’s Warblers, Whitethroats, Lesser Whitethroats, single fairly distant Nightingale and Cuckoo, and a swooping Swallow. So all in all, a very varied couple of hours, and as usual we would like to thank everyone who joined us for our amble for their interest and involvement.

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By way of a prologue, to reinforce what we wrote above about the enduring value of Alexanders to early insects, it is worth going back fewer than 24 hours, when we walked from Colchester to Wivenhoe along the trail. The weather could hardly have been more different: calm, sunny and really rather warm. And the Alexanders was buzzing with all manner of insects. Most obviously it was the St Mark’s Flies, emerging a day before their appointed date, all dangly legs and carrying their loads of pollen in their abundant hairs.

There were also numerous nomad wasps zipping around, together with a more stately Box Bug, our first of the year. And an Alderfly hiding under one of the leaves.

And then the specials. Firstly, the grass bug Stenodema calcarata: although not rare locally, we don’t see this with any regularity. And then the Plain-winged Spring Bee-grabber Myopa testacea, again not uncommon nationally but it would appear with only two previous records in north-east Essex.

Alexanders is truly a bedrock of biodiversity!

Maldon: the waterworld of mid-Essex

Britain's Wildlife, Travel by Bus, Travel by Rail, WildEssex

Maldon is one of those places we rarely visit, mainly because it is no longer on the railway network. But every time we have, we have thought it would be good to explore it in more depth by staying overnight. So for our April short break, encompassing my birthday, we did just that via train to Witham, then bus to Maldon. Actually we got off at Heybridge, right next to its attractive historic church, in part going back to the 12th Century, now sadly beset with roaring traffic. And closed. Although the Primrose-filled garden with Bee-flies was some compensation…

From there we walked along the towpath of the Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation, right out to its end at Heybridge Basin.

Clear blue skies above meant sun, but any April warmth was robbed by a keen easterly wind, tempered only in the lee of the canalside hedge. Sallow and Blackthorn were in full bloom, the latter sprinkling entire landscapes with snow-dust, while Dandelions and White Dead-nettles added their resources to the insect-scape.

And in the sheltered spots the insects were out taking full advantage, the first big emergence we have seen this year. These included the familiar spring species like Dark-edged Bee-fly and Peacock, newly emerged aquatic beasties such as Alder-flies, a few things like Pied Shield-bug that we see only occasionally, and an array of early mining-bees, notoriously hard to identify, but here probably including Andrena trimmerana and A. bicolor. 

And then basking in the warmth of April (known appropriately as aprication) there were numerous Nursery-web Spiders and an Oak Eggar moth caterpillar.

The waters of the canal had Mallards, Moorhens and Mute Swans; overhead half a dozen Mediterranean Gulls yowling in transit to the adjacent gravel pits; and everywhere bird song: lots of Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps, five or so Cetti’s Warblers and a couple of hesitant Willow Warblers, the latter probably very fresh arrivals.

After a lovely lunch in the Jolly Sailor, we kept walking round the sea wall, by now in the teeth of the cold wind. So no insects, even on the Alexanders, but lovely views over Heybridge Gravel Pits and, as we rounded the bend, of Maldon with its distinctive profile, set on a hill with three very different church outlines, fringed by the rigging of the iconic sailing barges.

And as it was coming up to high tide, estuary birds were congregating in front of us, especially Black-tailed Godwits in full rust breeding plumage, about to depart for Iceland, and Brent Geese, soon to Siberia.

The final part of our circuit alongside Heybridge Creek was through the industrial park, but before long we were sitting with a welcome drink outside the Muddy Duck…

… contemplating our ascent up the hill to our destination, the historic Blue Boar Hotel, a very comfortable coaching inn, complete with the uneven floors that are par for the course in such an old building. A fine place to spend a couple of nights, with good breakfasts and local beer in the tap room.

Next day, more sun, and more waterside walking, this time upstream of the town, to Beeleigh.  The circular walk starts along the lower slopes of the Maldon hill, looking over the tidal river with Teals and Redshanks, going through Blackthorn-sparkled scrub with vocal Blackcaps, through spiny holloways, and across springs erupting with the mushroom-like, spore-bearing spikes of Giant Horsetail.

 

Passing Beeleigh Abbey, where the landscape still bears the ravages of Dutch Elm Disease, it was pleasing to see the new owners’ investment in landscape and ecological restoration with newly planted and newly laid hedge-lines: singing Yellowhammer and Stock Dove bear witness to the recovering wildlife.

Before long we arrived at the meeting of the waters, where two of the main rivers of Essex, the Chelmer and Blackwater, converge, interlinked with the navigation and other minor waterbodies and mill races, and arrive at the head of the tidal estuary. And at low tide, a world of waterfalls over weirs, bridges and locks, rushing waters and still backwaters, Grey Wagtails and a Kingfisher…

With all this moving water, not surprisingly in historic times, the energy of the landscape was harnessed by mills, a powerhouse of which the remnants are still to be seen:

But such human intrusions are a minor part of the landscape hereabouts, dominated by reedbeds and riverine woodland, just crying out for Beavers!

The rivers were lined by last year’s skeletal Giant Hogweed and Teasels, with fresh flowers of Evergreen Alkanet, Common Dog-violet and Ground-ivy coming through, attracting more Peacocks, Red Admirals, Commas and Dark-edged Bee-flies, with Honeybees drinking from the damp paths.

And so we headed back alongside the golf-course, under the by-pass, and into Maldon’s newest nature reserve, Ironworks Meadow, a lovely grass and wetland complex abutting the retail and industrial area, established by community action.

That just leaves Maldon itself. Did I mention it is on a hill? Must be just about the steepest in Essex. In the past, having always driven up it, we simply didn’t notice the wonderful array of historic buildings. But walking up, the architecture and history were a good excuse to rest the flatlanders’ legs!

Working down the High Street, first to All Saint’s Church with its apparently unique triangular tower, although really appreciable only from the inside …

… past the Moot Hall, to the former St Peter’s Church, now home to the Maeldune Heritage Centre (including the tapestry commemorating the Battle of Maldon and other key historical moments in the town) and on the first floor the absolutely wonderful Thomas Plume’s Library. What a remarkable, unheralded treasure of books from the 16th and 17th Centuries, left to the town by Dr Thomas Plume (1630-1704) in a purpose-built premises on the site of the old church. If you want to be enraptured, go there when it is open and get a tour from one of the incredibly knowledgeable librarians  – our guide clearly loves her charges and her role in safeguarding then for the future with a passion.

Heading onwards down the High Street, past Salt Italian restaurant where we had a really excellent meal one evening, we ducked down first to the more industrial river frontage …

…before moving round to the Hythe and another distinctive church/seamark, St Mary the Virgin, perched above the waterfront.

We have never found it open before, and at first glance the inside was rather disappointing compared with the glorious mishmash exterior structure…

.. until we saw the window, THE window, commemorating the Battle of Maldon, with the sun coming straight in creating these remarkable patchworks of colour.

And so onto the quay, a drink in the Queen’s Head, a look at the sailing barges …

… and a final wander out to the end of the promenade, to the statue of Byrhtnoth, leader of the Anglo-Saxon forces who snatched defeat from the jaws of victory against the Vikings nearby in 991. A pivotal moment in the history of our islands, this has been covered in epic poety, writing and art, but for me never better than in the song ‘The Battle of Maldon’ by Leaves’ Eyes.

A fine end to three days of wall-to-wall sunshine, already with plans to return when Beeleigh Abbey gardens are open, and to walk out to the Mundon Oaks!

The Wild Side of Beth Chatto Gardens: exquisite equinox!

Beth Chatto Gardens, Britain's Wildlife, WildEssex, WildWivenhoe

The period of the Spring Equinox in 2025 brought us some lovely settled, almost summery weather. At the start of the spell, there was still a chilly easterly breeze, but it was a delight to find a sunny, sheltered spot and feel the warmth and life returning to the land.

At first, insect activity was limited to queen bumblebees wrapped in their fur coats, visiting Trachystemon, daffodils and hellebores in particular.

As the day warmed, so out came ladybirds, Commas, Red Admirals and hoverflies, mostly basking to make the most of what can be rather fleeting heat at this stage of the year.

And of course, also the Honeybees: now the Crocus have gone over, it was Scilla-season, every splash of electric blue, irrespective of species, simply buzzing.

From now, the floweriness of the garden will grow rapidly, and there were signs of that in abundance:

And what would Spring be without birdsong and breeding activity. Blackbirds everywhere, a couple of singing Song Thrushes, and a chorus of Redwings, bound for Scandinavia, in sub-song. There were pairs of Long-tailed Tits scurrying busily though the hedges, and at the bottom of the Woodland Garden, a pair of Treecreepers searching for spiders in the crevices of a Silver Birch. The Reservoir held several Tufted Ducks and a noisily territorial Little Grebe; everything set against a backdrop of chanting Chiffchaffs, it will not be long before floodgates of summer migration are opened…

By way of a postscript, I was back six days later. The equinoctial heat had peaked, but some spectacular flowers had opened, not least Fritillaria persica. At this time of the headlong rush towards summer, the garden changes on a daily basis! Being a Monday, the garden was closed, one reason no doubt why we saw a lovely Fox running through the Reservoir Garden, the first I have ever seen on site.

But the real excitement of the day was that we were holding a Dormouse habitat evaluation session. One of the participants, Sue, had surveyed for them some twenty years ago, and been able to show a couple to Beth, which naturally delighted her. And, testament to the permanence of plastic, we did find several of her tubes in the bushes, which we can probably reuse this summer.

Several parts around the periphery especially  seem still to be in favourable condition for Dormice, so our hopes are high. And Sue, with her outstanding eye for such things, rounded things off nicely by finding what she thinks is a winter nest in one of the private hedgerows!

The Beth Chatto Gardens – there is never nothing new to see or hear! Entrance – Beth Chatto’s Plants & Gardens

Epping Forest: the green heart of Essex and London

Britain's Wildlife, WildEssex

A meeting in Epping Forest gave me a great opportunity to spend a couple of hours wandering round with a camera in a place I rarely visit, being the other side of Essex from us, and Essex is a large county! Largely within that part of modern Essex that lies inside the M25, it is not surprising it serves as vital greenspace for the city population: indeed, it is that function recognized in the 19th Century by the City of London Corporation that ensured its survival as all around was developed.

And on a sunny March Saturday it was very busy with walkers, joggers, cyclists and many other users. Not that my photos reflect that: by virtue of is size, it isn’t difficult to get away from the crowds, even around High Beach, one of the honeypot areas. High Beach or High Beech? The maps are inconsistent, but either works. It is high enough (look the views over Essex below), and with sandy and gravelly plateaux and slopes, upon which Beech trees thrive…

Epping Forest is a legal Forest, an area of land covered by feudal Forest Law. Some such places like the New Forest are barely afforested at all (at least not until 20th century coniferization), but Epping does fit the modern concept of forest (= large wood), albeit with clearings, heathy and grassy patches, springs and wetlands interspersed throughout.

There are wooded areas with all sorts of structural types, from high forest to coppice to wood-pasture pollards, and before they burst into leaf is the very best time to appreciate the skeleton of the woods, without the canopy catching all the light.

Where there is any understory, it is mostly Hazel, Holly and in places, rather less welcome, Rhododendron…

… while many larger veteran trees, mostly Oak, Beech and Hornbeam, now reside within a matrix of Silver Birch. As a colonizer species, spread by airborne seed, Birch soon takes over open spaces on sandy soils in the absence of management by humans, or wild or domesticated animals.

One of the wonderful aspects of Epping is the dead wood, both as standing dead wood, and left on the forest floor where it fell, always a powerhouse of biodiversity.

Once a royal hunting Forest, many of the  veteran trees are pollards, the timber harvested above the browse-line of deer. And now, after sometimes many centuries, the trunks are natural sculptures, each a magnificent mosaic of living, dying and dead.

And not just the trees, but things living on them, a reflection of their age and consequent long-term continuity of habitat: epiphytic mosses and liverworts, lichens on the bark, and fungi decomposing dead wood back to nutrients – ashes to ashes, dust to dust….

All in all, it was a privilege to see the skeleton of the forest on such a lovely sunny day!

 

 

#WildEssexWalks: it’s a bitter wind on the Stour

Britain's Wildlife, Travel by Rail, WildEssex

For our main #WildEssex event of March, the weather reverted back to winter after recent welcome sun and warmth. We were on the south shore of the Stour Estuary, at Manningtree, in the teeth of a very cold breeze and dodging a spate of spiky hail showers. Dramatic views certainly as the high tide receded, but discomfort for some who headed off early to the welcoming warmth of the Skinner’s Arms!

On the exposed shoreline there were rather few birds, fewer than we expected even given the fact that some of the shorebirds will already have started their northward migrations. Most numerous were Redshanks, Teals, Oystercatchers and Black-tailed Godwits.

Especially when the sun came out between the showers, paired Lesser Black-backed Gulls and small groups of Wigeon showed well …

… as several Avocets swept gracefully across the mudflats, those against the light demonstrating just how good their bold black and white camouflage really is.

Star of the show however were the Little Egrets in pools and creeks, or wafting past, and the single Greenshank that kept coming around just to make sure everyone knew why it wasn’t a Redshank!

This was a joint group of Wild Essex regulars and Wivenhoe Tree Protectors, which to judge from the chatter in the pub worked very well. And all proceeds (£110, thanks everyone) are going to be added to the pot to help cover legal and technical expenses, trying to find alternative solutions to save the Old King George Oak, doing the work that by all rights should have been done as due diligence by those who have instead condemned it.

The Wild Side of Essex: springing into Spring around the Colne Estuary

Britain's Wildlife, WildEssex, WildWivenhoe

After several gloriously sunny days, it was a little disappointing that our latest Naturetrek walk started under grey skies, which remained like that all day, except  for the faintest glimmer of sun around lunchtime. But Spring has arrived, and it turned into one of those very special walks, a multifaceted wander through the last 50 million years of the wild side of Wivenhoe, from the deposition of London Clay right up to the last two months’ campaign to save our iconic local oak tree from the grasps of corporate greed…

Starting from the Railway Station, where House Sparrows were cheerily nesting, we ventured briefly into Wivenhoe Wood, where Song Thrush, Robins and Great Tits provided the soundtrack… Bluebell leaves were spearing through, destined to provide a haze of blue in six weeks’ time, and Butchers’-broom revealed its gorgeously unassuming flowers after a short, prickly search.

And searching for the flowers, we also came across a Common Bagworm moth in its distinctive straw-clad silken bag. Nearby, other cryptic biodiversity included leaf mines, Evergreen Oak Leaf-miner moth and Holly Leaf-miner fly, and under the railway underpass, European Cave-spider, first discovered here last year and its only known locality in north Essex.

Walking round Ferry Marsh, the reedbeds were quiet apart from a few singing Wrens, Cetti’s Warblers, Reed Buntings and Little Grebes. Out on the tidal river, just as high tide was starting to fall away, there were Black-headed and Lesser Black-backed Gulls, and several pairs of Teals dabbling in the shallows, as well as a lone male Wigeon. Cherry-plum (‘blackthorn’ to many) was in full flower, whereas true Blackthorn was still tight in bud – a treat for two weeks’ time.

Walking along the Wivenhoe waterfront, we talked through the layers of social history, involving fishing, seaborne links to London and the Low Countries, shipbuilding, pre-containerisation bulk handling port operations, the flowering of an artistic community, sensitive redevelopment of port and shipyard, right up to the shift from commuting to home-working during and after the pandemic.

Among all of this there were paired Oystercatchers flying noisily past and a single Black-tailed Godwit, along with Jersey Cudweed (a rare plant that just loves to inhabit block-paving), the fruiting bodies of Cord-grass Ergot thrusting out of the grass heads on the saltmarsh, Hazel with the male catkins just over but the female flowers at their most enticing, Red Dead-nettles ready for the emerging bees, and Acacia dealbata in extravagant bloom, attracting bees to its fragrant mix of almond and toilet-cleaner!

Coffee-time arrived; we just happened to be below our flat, when Jude walked round the corner, and she treated the whole group to impromptu tea, coffee and biscuits. Very welcome, but no promises that this will become a regular feature of such walks!

From there it was out to the open estuary, beyond the tidal barrier.

The landward marshes held scurrying Meadow Pipits and singing Linnets and Reed Buntings, and gave a good view of the Essex Alps…

… while seaward it was the flatlands of sea, mudflat, saltmarsh, in places a fringe of trees….

… and of course birds, mostly feeding on the invertebrates in the mud. Redshanks were all over the flats, Black-tailed Godwits more numerous (some 600) but in tight groups, along with Curlews, Little Egrets and more.

Lunch was overlooking the estuary below Grange Wood, a more peaceful spot with expansive views can scarce be conceived, with gently burbling Brents in the background and a swishing Spoonbill centre-stage.

Time for trees. There were numerous dead Elms, the victims of Dutch Elm Disease, standing starkly along the river frontage, and magnificent boundary Oak pollards and coppice stools all the way up the side of Grange Wood and along Cutthroat Lane, the latter lined with more Butchers’-broom, including some very substantial bushes.

And so into Cockaynes Reserve, prehistoric protoThames turned ancient woodland turned gravel pit turned nature reserve.

The acidic heathland with luminous moss spore capsules catching the weak sun and Reindeer Lichens forming a frosted mat …

…led to Villa Wood, with vocal Chiffchaffs, and dozens of Redwings in the treetops, seeeping and singing before their return northwards. Then alongside Sixpenny Brook, its banksides clothed in Lesser Celandines and Opposite-leaved Golden-saxifrage, dead branches clad in Turkey-tails and Maze-gills.

And of course the Scarlet Elf-cups, a truly iconic fungus to this site, the only place it can be found in north-east Essex, and the species that so inspired the boss of the gravel company when I found it with him in 1986 that ‘nature reserve with some retained woodland’ became the preferred endpoint for the site, rather than ‘gravel pit, filled with domestic rubbish, and capped to create grassland fit only for grazing horses.’

All that was left was a wander through the plantation with an anomalous mix of Beech and Southern Beech trees, back along the alpine ridgeway to Wivenhoe drenched in Skylark songs. And a final stop under THE oak tree to complete our whistle-stop tour of fifty million years of Wild Wivenhoe!