Wild Magazine Spring 2021

Discover Wildlife Explore Nature in Essex

Page 38

Freedom, fun and fresh air

The Trust gets ready to launch its outdoor learning revolution.

Page 46

The magazine for Essex Wildlife Trust members Issue 114 | SPRING 2021

What’s on this spring

Page 20

We celebrate the benefits of wildlife photography and this year’s Photography Competition winners

Women in conservation, working to make our county wilder Page 34

12th highest performing prep school in England Sunday Times Parent Power listing 2020

Arrange a visit to find out more about St Mary’s Kindergarten and Lower School www.stmaryscolchester.org.uk

Welcome

Issue 114 | SPRING 2021

‘Nature is for everyone to enjoy and we don’t want a single person in Essex to be missing out’

Welcome

W

ith so much uncertainty in the world over the last 12 months and maybe for the foreseeable future, there is great solace in focusing on the aspects of our lives that we enjoy and can to a large extent rely on. For an increasing number of people, that can be as simple as engaging with wildlife in their back garden or their local area.

Our changing seasons are a wonderful example of something that brings with it a sense of anticipation and often an expectation of exciting wildlife spectacles to come. Certain flowers coming into bloom, or certain bird species filling the air with song, will often be a mental trigger for positive emotions or a much needed distraction from life’s all-encompassing challenges.

Discover us and join the conversation: Essex Wildlife Trust @essexwildlifetrust @EssexWildlife EssexWildlife @essexwildlifetrust Essex Wildlife Trust www.essexwt.org.uk

Protecting wildlife is obviously our primary purpose as a charity, but alongside that in equal measures is our ability to inspire people about the wonders of nature. If we can get people talking about wildlife, reading about it, or encouraging them to seek out new species for themselves, then we have done our job. Because nature is for everyone to enjoy and we don’t want a single person in Essex to be missing out.

We need

your

help!

Join our campaigns Dr. Andrew Impey

Hear all about the Trust’s latest campaigns for nature and receive regular updates on our Wilder Essex mailing list. Email WilderFuture@essexwt.org.uk to be added.

Chief Executive Officer

Re-wild your garden

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

No. 114 Spring 2021 ISSN 0961 6004

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 Front cover photo: Peter Warne, Wilder Essex, Brown Hare, Epping

How to get involved...

T 01621 862960 E membership@essexwt.org.uk www.essexwt.org.uk Reg Charity No. 210065 VAT Reg No. 945745977 Company Reg No. 638666 England

The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Trustees of Essex Wildlife Trust.

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.

MEET THE WILD TEAM Editor-in-Chief Emily McParland Executive Editor Rich Yates Editorial Assistant Lily Chambers Art Director Nathan Bishop Designer Lottie Hall Advertising & Printing The DS Group Clara Deeks - Publishing Director clara@thedsgroup.co.uk Lauren Munson - Sales Executive lauren@thedsgroup.co.uk To advertise in WILD magazine contact Lauren on 01255 221322.

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

As species are waking up, building nesting sites and raising their young, take action in your garden to help them today at www.essexwt.org.uk/actions.

Leave a legacy

Help to safeguard our county’s wildlife and allow future generations to experience the joys of nature. Contact Rosalyn Leclercq on 01621 862987 or email legacies@essexwt.org.uk.

Watch our webcams

Keep up to date and watch the drama unfold on our live wildlife webcams at www.essexwt.org.uk/wildlife-webcams.

Get ready to go wild

It’s almost time to sign up to 30 Days Wild!

Register your interest now so you’ll be the first to hear when the pack is available at www.wildlifetrusts.org/30DaysWild.

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 862974 or by email at members@essexwt.org.uk. We will be delighted to help you manage how we communicate with you.

WILD SPRING 2021

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Section title here

F

RES H ND F

, M F U O N D E A E R

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R. .

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WILD SPRING 2021

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6 YOUR WILD ESSEX

Photos sent in and shared by supporters of the Trust, showcasing the wildlife in our county.

Photo: Julie Levere, Gardener’s World, Fox, Westcliff-on-Sea

WHAT’S INSIDE

Section title here

8 TRUST NEWS

Updates from throughout the Trust on our work to protect wildlife and inspire a lifelong love of nature.

32 HOW YOU CAN HELP WILDLIFE

20 Photography competition

The winners of our Photography Competition 2020 have been announced and we celebrate the many benefits of photographing wildlife for your wellbeing.

Learn how to build a wildflower seed bomb, just in time for spring sowing.

46 WHAT’S ON THIS Spring

The days are getting longer and brighter and the birds are singing, let’s explore Essex in spring.

48 WHAT’S ON Opening September 2021 Our mission is to transform

education by taking it outside, starting with the earliest form of schooling: the nursery. This September, the Trust is launching its new exciting venture to encourage a lifelong love of nature in children: our very own outdoor Nature Nursery.

Page 38

THIS March

Look out for toads crossing roads, boxing hares and blooming buds galore.

50 WHAT’S ON

THIS April

A calling cuckoo, a sun-worshipping adder and nesting barn owls are our top spectacles this month.

14 Under the spotlight:

Langdon Nature discovery park

Our new sustainable centre at Langdon will be opening this May, just in time for people to enjoy the sights and smells of the wildflowers within the new SSSI, discover the history of the plotlands and walk the many trails at our largest inland nature reserve.

52 WHAT’S ON THIS May

The peak month for birdsong, colourful insects emerge and listen for the plop of a water vole.

54 TIME TUNNEL

We take a look back at the year 1991 to see what was happening at the Trust.

58 WILDLIFE QUIZ TIME Test your knowledge on the wonderful wildlife and wild places in Essex.

Photo: Eleanor Church / Lark Rise Pictures

34 Women in Conservation

To commemorate International Women’s Day we celebrate some of the women behind Essex Wildlife Trust that are working to help protect wildlife and inspire a love of nature throughout Essex.

Your Wild Essex

The first, glorious signs of spring spotted by Jon Bird, @jonbird66.

There has been no shortage of amazing wildlife to capture over the past few months. Take a look at this glorious spread of Essex wildlife taken by our wonderful members and supporters.

A short-eared owl doing its best impression of a Christmas pudding by Jack Branscombe.

A smooth newt found overwintering under some bark in the garden by Oliver Cottis, @olimcwildlife.

Straight from a fairy-tale; a fly agaric mushroom appears from the growth by Dave Watts, @davewattstog.

For your chance to feature in our next edition of WILD magazine, please email your favourite Essex images to magazine@essexwt.org.uk or tag Essex Wildlife Trust on any social media platform.

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WILD SPRING 2021

Your Wild Essex A serene winter’s dawn captured at Hornchurch Country Park by Nigel Matthews.

An adorable long-tailed tit poses perfectly for the camera by Wendy Cooper.

A stunning close up of a frosted rosehip by Tanya Ware, @t2rny.

A song thrush captured perching elegantly on a snow-covered bush by David Lawrence.

#essexwildlifetrust

A red fox spotted running wild and free by Joe O’Neill, @joeoneill.wildlife.

WILD SPRING 2021

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Trust news

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.

Fieldfare photo: Rich

ard Steel/2020VISIO

N Cuckoo flower photo: Tom Marshall

Objecting Bradwell B Annie Gordon Landscape Conservation Planning Coordinator CGN and EDF Energy are developing proposals to build a new nuclear power station (Bradwell B) next to the former Bradwell A power station, which was decommissioned in 2002.

A Stage 1 pre-application public consultation was held last summer, and the Trust submitted a detailed response to this. Our comments included a strong objection to the principle of building a new nuclear power station on the Blackwater Estuary, in close proximity to the highly designated sites around the Blackwater and Colne estuaries, and the Dengie peninsula. As a direct result of this proximity, Bradwell B poses a serious threat to key species, from overwintering and beach nesting birds, to mammals and a wide range of marine life living within the marine water column. Critical habitats are also threatened, including native oyster beds, saltmarsh, mudflats, seagrass beds and grazing marsh.

In August, Colchester Council voted unanimously to reject the proposal for Bradwell B, saying it would destroy an ecologically rich landscape. More recently, the Environment Agency has told the developer they must revolve at least six safety issues before the project can move forward, including radioactive waste disposal.

The Trust’s key aim in engaging with Bradwell B is first and foremost to oppose it; however, if the project does go ahead, we will be working with partners to ensure it is underpinned by environmental evidence and robustly assessed to avoid any damage to one of the most important marine locations in the UK. Hedgehog photo: Tom Marshall

Our

Wild Appeal Alice Hardaker Fundraising Manager

The Wild Appeal, our winter plea to raise vital funds for urgent work to bring wildlife back to our urban and green spaces, has been a phenomenal success.

You donated an incredible total of £14,683.55 to help save your urban wildlife and stop its decline in its tracks. Your generosity has been truly humbling.

Together we’ll make 2021 count for nature conservation.

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WILD SPRING 2021

Wrabness on Countryfile Emily McParland

Communications Manager Essex Wildlife Trust appeared on BBC Countryfile last December, with Margherita Taylor joining Zoe Ringwood, Landscape Conservation Area Manager, to plant hog’s fennel that will help safeguard the future of the Fisher’s estuarine moth, followed by joining Rachel Langley, Living Seas Coordinator on a winter ShoreSearch survey. It is fantastic to showcase the Trust’s conservation work to national audiences, with BBC Countryfile receiving around 9 million views every week.

Trust news Ringed plover photo: Fergus Gill

Share our Shores Rachel Langley Living Seas Coordinator

Our collaborative project with the RSPB to protect Essex’s coastal wildlife continues this spring. Sadly, last year’s relaxation of lockdown laws in late spring saw an increase in water users, which dramatically increased the disturbance and pressure on Essex’s beach nesting birds, which were nesting and raising their young. It was a stark reminder of the vulnerability of our coastal wildlife but we were also encouraged by public engagement and support through social media.

We are hoping to undertake habitat management and population monitoring this spring and summer to protect our beach nesting birds. Regardless, there are a few things that every single person can do to help the chattering little tern, the diminutive ringed plover and the brightly beaked oystercatcher.

1. Know where key beach nesting bird sites are.

2. Avoid disturbance of these areas by boat and land.

3. Back away if you disturb a breeding species

(sharp alarm calls may warn you).

4. Raise awareness and report bad behaviour.

Let’s work together to make it happen! Promote the message on social media using #ShareOurShores.

Connecting fish migration routes Darren Tansley

River Catchment Coordinator

Celebrating 30 years of the Investors in Wildlife scheme Karen Dixon Corporate Coordinator This year we have a milestone to celebrate, as the ‘Investors in Wildlife’ scheme reaches its 30th anniversary. It is amazing to think how far the scheme has come since it was started by Cliff Moore, a Barclays Bank Manager and part time volunteer for the Trust. We now have over 400 partners committed to supporting the Trust, many of which have been with us since the start. We are hoping to celebrate the scheme at our Charity Gala Ball on Friday 1 October 2021, at the Essex County Cricket Ground, to help raise vital funds for wildlife. For more information contact Karen Dixon on KarenD@essexwt.org.uk or Grant Maton on GrantM@essexwt.org.uk.

The Essex Fish Migration roadmap documents 400 barriers to fish passages along our rivers from the coast to inland.

We are now investigating how to remove or bypass some of these structures on the River Colne and Blackwater with the help of a grant from the Environment Agency.

Although migration to spawning areas is the main reason for conducting the work, it will also assist the ecological recovery of upstream reaches impacted by deadly pollution spills. One such incident on the River Colne in 2012 destroyed all the invertebrate and fish life for 9km upstream of Halstead Mill. With the mill gates creating a barrier to fish, natural recovery from the lower Colne population was impossible. Connectivity is the key to resilient wildlife so this decade long project will help our rivers recover from centuries of fragmentation.

WILD SPRING 2021

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Trust news

Turtle dove photo: Russell Savory

Wild Wood at Abberton Reservoir Katie Goldsbrough Ranger

Since Sir David Attenborough last visited Abberton Reservoir at the official opening of the enhancement works in 2015, the reserve has become more established with hedgerows towering tall, wildflower meadows in full bloom and an array of magnificent ponds. One particular special area created was ‘Wild Wood’, a broadleaf woodland planted from 2003 onwards.

Now the whole woodland is over 10 years old, we are undertaking the next stage in the woodland’s development.

This next phase began in December, with the aim to widen rides and create woodland clearings. This type of management work allows for less competition between trees for sunlight. By opening the canopy, it allows more light to reach the ground, encouraging a variety of woodland plants and flowers to grow. This in turn supports insects and other wildlife to move in and enhances the overall woodland biodiversity. We also leave brash and deadwood within the woodland, which create their own micro-habitats. Many species benefit from all these new features including birds and mammals, especially bats! We cannot wait to see what new species move in over 2021.

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WILD SPRING 2021

Encouraging

turtle doves Nicky Payne Landscape Conservation Area Assistant

Sergeant’s Orchard has been under the Trust’s care since 1996, it comprises two former arable fields and an old orchard (believed to date from the 1940s). Over the last few years there has been the excitement of a turtle dove calling at the site. We arranged a visit from the RSPB to determine how better to encourage these wonderful, rare birds to the site. During the winter months we began working on clearing areas of the big field in order to create a turtle dove plot and pond here during spring.

The Wildlife Explorer Zoe Kent Marketing &

Communications Assistant In December, we launched our brand new podcast ‘The Wildlife Explorer’, it’s the perfect way for you to get your wildlife fix whilst on the go, or at home with a cup of tea. The Wildlife Explorer is a fast-paced show full of fun facts, features, interviews with our experts, special guests and top tips to help wildlife thrive. We will also be answering your questions, so if there’s something you have always wanted to know, send your question through to communications@essexwt.org.uk. You can find The Wildlife Explorer on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Anchor. Don’t forget to subscribe, like, spread the word and leave us a five-star rating!

Trust news

News from the Havering Local Group Tony Gunton Chair of Havering Local Group

Cranham Marsh is the Trust’s only nature reserve in Havering.

It is in the Green Belt on the fringes of Upminster and only accessible on foot. In the last year, more people have visited than ever before. Cetti’s warblers, which are doing well at the moment, have turned up here to nest for the first time. Disturbance also hasn’t bothered the plants and, with the wet spring last year, cuckoo flowers put on a great show, and later the westernmost meadow was carpeted with betony, and the wetter meadows beyond it with meadowsweet. One bright spot is we have also recruited new volunteers from people discovering the reserve for the first time, and hopefully many more have come to appreciate the value of the greenspaces cared for by the Trust.

Our AGM will be held on Monday 12 April, via Zoom, email tonygunton@icloud.com to register.

News from the Chelmsford Local Group Paul Roberts Chair of Chelmsford Local Group

Covid-19 has prevented us holding our regular meetings, usual February AGM and May plant sale so we hope to resume all these in September. (Watch this space for our new talk venue as Great Baddow URC is no longer available). Fingers crossed we’ll be able to offer some guided walks during the summer - details to follow.

Our March quiz has been cancelled but, as he did in November, Pete Claughton will be offering a fun quiz via email. If you’d like to have a go, please email Lesley on peterlesley@aol.com and she will include you in the distribution.

News from the Brentwood & Billericay Local Group

Bob Dawson Chair of Brentwood & Billericay Local Group

Welcome to my first article in ‘Wild’, as sadly Mick Hedges resigned from the committee last December to focus his time and energy into looking after Warley Place nature reserve, as the Volunteer Warden.

Although we had to cancel most of our fundraising events last year, I am pleased to report that we still raised over £8,500 for the Trust, from donations at Warley Place, a Quiz Night and the sale of plants and crafts. We have also been able to inspect half of the 174 Local Wildlife Sites in our area to report any problems.

The 100 Club was closed last year, with the last draw in October 2020. The Club has raised approximately £21,000 for the Trust over the past 35 years.

Our AGM will be held on Thursday 17 June, email bob.dawson@hotmail.co.uk or call 01277 262011 by Friday 30 April to register. Visit the Trust website for all further upcoming events.

Daffodil photo: Ross Hoddinott/2020VISION

News from the Colchester Local Group John Thorogood Volunteer Warden

One of the early signs of spring at Iron Latch nature reserve is the song of the mistle thrush. A pair usually nest in the area and can be seen feeding and collecting food for their young on the reserve meadow. Last year a pair of nightingale returned to the area after several years absence so we are hoping they will be back this year.

In April we see occasional parties of redwing and fieldfare pass through on their way back to the continent across the North Sea. Towards the end of May we will see the spikes of green-winged orchid and more commonly, the common spotted orchids which you can see from the courtesy paths. Last year there were sadly few in number compared with the well above 1,000 flowering spikes I have counted in recent seasons. It was thought the long dry spell early last year was not to their liking, so let’s hope this year’s display is more prolific and that we will be able to venture out again to take advantage of spring, with all its natural healing qualities.

Mistle thrush photo: Donald Sutherland

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Trust news

Ripples in a Pond Mick Hedges Volunteer Warden

Several years ago, volunteer John Cannell wrote a novel about Warley Place nature reserve. It was titled The Wall, based partly in Ellen Willmott’s time 100 years ago and partly the present day. It was a great success and there was a demand for a second one so he wrote The Walnut Tree and between them they raised around £3,000 for Essex Wildlife Trust.

John has now finished a third, completing a trilogy, with all proceeds after printing costs going to Essex Wildlife Trust.

Its title is Ripples in a Pond. It is a softback book, 202pp, priced £5 with an additional £1.80 in postage. if you would like a copy, call John on 01277 217236 or email john.cannell@btinternet.com.

Remembering David Baker John Thorogood Volunteer Warden

We are very sad to announce the passing of David Baker, whom we celebrated in our summer 2020 magazine for his 50 years of volunteering for the Trust. A skilled botanist, David discovered a colony of green-winged orchid flowering on a site in Eight Ash Green in the late 1970s and felt strongly that the site should be preserved. It had last been grazed by cattle and sheep in 1953 and so after nearly 30 years it had started to scrub over and some sizeable trees had become established.

David managed to convince some colleagues in the Colchester Natural History Society that the site was worth preserving and in the early 1980s, work began to clear the scrub and tree growth to recover the grassland conditions that would encourage the orchids.

Essex Wildlife Trust (then called the Essex Naturalists’ Trust) acquired the site from then owners British Rail and thanks to David this site became the 57th Essex Wildlife Trust reserve, named Iron Latch Meadow.

David was elected as the Warden, gathering round him a keen following of volunteers to help with maintenance of the reserve.

His vision was to see the site fully restored to flower-rich grassland that has become such a rare habitat in the UK. Together with grazing, forage harvesting and brush-cutting facilitated by Essex Wildlife Trust and David’s considerable personal effort, his dream is being carried forward by a strong team of volunteers.

It was the vision and tenacity of David Baker to whom we owe the existence of this six acre site that is now a prime example of species rich grassland. A four acre adjoining woodland was added to the reserve more recently and the site was renamed Iron Latch nature reserve.

Green-winged orchid photo: Lianne de Mello

David was always prepared to show others the unusual plants on the site and explain in detail their identification and habitat requirements. His considerable botanical knowledge and enthusiasm for his subject will be sadly missed.

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WILD SPRING 2021

Keeping you safe Essex Wildlife Trust sadly had to close all of its Nature Discovery Centres with the announcement of a third lockdown in January. Some of our centres sit adjacent to a few of our nature reserves: Abberton Reservoir, Fingringhoe Wick, Hanningfield Reservoir and Thameside Nature Park, which we luckily have been able to keep open on most days, for the local community to enjoy during their daily walks.

We are very proud of how our centres managed to adapt to a Covid-19 secure environment throughout last summer, autumn and the start of winter and we thoroughly enjoyed being able to welcome you back safely to enjoy your favourite places. Thank you to everyone who came back to visit, who left a donation, or bought something to support their local conservation charity.

When the third lockdown begins to ease, we will be reviewing all of our Nature Discovery Centres on a case-by-case basis, opening them only when we know we can keep our staff, volunteers and visitors safe.

As the situation changes regularly, please keep up to date on any changes to our Covid-19 statement at www.essexwt.org. uk/news/covid-19.

We look forward to seeing you at our centres again when it’s safe to do so.

In the meantime, stay safe and stay wild.

MORE

BY APPOINTMENT TO HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II SWAROVSKI OPTIK SUPPLIER OF BINOCULARS

NL PURE ONE WITH NATURE SEE THE UNSEEN

Langdon Nature Discovery Park

The Trust’s largest inland nature reserve, this haven for wildlife has a rich variety of habitats and comes alive with colourful flora and all sorts of wildlife during spring.

Langdon Nature Discovery Park

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WILD SPRING 2021

Langdon Nature Discovery Park

What to look out for this spring at Langdon White letter hairstreak photo: John

Butterflies

Emerging from hibernation or hatching from eggs, look out for the white-letter hairstreak and the grizzled skipper.

Bridges

Fox families

The resident foxes will be bringing their new young out of their dens from late April.

Pond life

The ponds at Langdon are rich in life, including great crested newts, and they’ll be buzzing with dragonflies and damselflies towards the end of spring.

Fox photo: Bertie Gregory/2020VISION

Early orchids

From May the meadows will be bustling with delicate purple flowers, the common spotted and green winged orchids.

Great crested newt photo: Kevin Caster

Billie’s facts Langdon nature discovery park

Size: 210 hectares.

Address: Langdon Nature Discov ery Park, Lower Dunton Road, Basildo n, SS16 6EJ. Access: We are hopeful the new Centre and car park will be ope n to the public in May. There is cur rently no parking available onsite, how ever local residents are still able to acc ess the nature reserve on foot.

Dogs: Permitted throughout, please keep under control especia lly around livestock.

Designations: Langdon has bee n designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) due to its nationally important habitat s.

Common spotted orchids - Langdon’s Coronation Meadows photo: Emily McParland

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Langdon Nature Discovery Park

O

n the urban fringe of Basildon is an expansive area of nationally important wildlife habitat, known as Langdon. It is a true landscape-scale mosaic of diverse habitats, including flower-rich meadows, rough grassland, extensive areas of scrub, semi-natural and ancient woodland and a scattering of ponds. The reserve offers some of the highest viewpoints in the county, with commanding views and miles of excellent walks, through the different areas and habitats.

Essex Wildlife Trust manages over 200 hectares of this wildlife-rich area, forming our largest inland nature reserve.

It is so large that it is really six reserves rolled into one, each encompassing their own character and priorities for wildlife. The six different areas include Dunton Plotlands, Langdon Lake and Meadows, Lincewood, Willow Park, Marks Hill and Hoppits Shaw.

This expansive site is spectacular for both flora and fauna, it is rich with foraging mammals, nesting birds, 30 different species of butterfly have been recorded here and over 350 flowering plant types. During spring and early summer, the species-rich meadows and grassy clearings will be awash with colour, as the common spotted and green-winged orchids, yellow rattle, common knapweed, agrimony, ox-eye daisy, bird’s-foot trefoil and meadow vetchling will all be in full bloom. Interestingly, at the time of the development of Basildon New Town (during the 1950s-70s), several of the meadows were stripped of their top-soil in preparation for building. Thankfully these plans were later abandoned, but this stripping of the top layer of nutrient rich soil has almost certainly benefitted the botanical richness of the meadows today.

The landscape is of particular importance for insects, owing to its network of interconnected flower-rich meadows, interspersed with rougher grassland, scrub and woodlands. This diverse mosaic of habitats is also important for bats, reptiles, amphibians, glow-worms and the elusive lesser-spotted woodpecker.

Langdon is so vital for wildlife that in 2018 it was designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), meaning it is recognised as a nationally important site for wildlife with a stronger level of protection. This SSSI designation was the culmination of years of hard work between Natural England, Essex Wildlife Trust, Thurrock and Basildon Councils and the Basildon Natural History Society, who gathered the evidence needed.

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WILD Spring SPRING 2021

Langdon photo: Denis Stretton

The nature reserve is managed using many traditional methods, with livestock helping to control the meadows to ensure rare species like the Deptford pink and the variety of orchids can thrive. The Trust has even recruited ‘Roy’ before, a heavy horse from Hawthorn Heavy Horses who has helped to extract timber. Heavy horses are a traditional method of habitat management that reduces pollution and risk of ground damage.

A potted history of Langdon

Langdon has a rich history and the site has been highly influenced by its ‘Plotlands’ heritage. From 1924, plots of rural land went on sale to Londoners and locals, and these were used to build holiday bungalows and small holdings.

These plots proved incredibly popular, they cost around £6 on average and a community of ‘weekenders’ developed throughout the 1920s and 1930s.

During the 1940s Dunton became a wartime refuge for families fleeing London, but unfortunately on one occasion, a bungalow in First Avenue was hit by a bomb in 1940.

Many people chose to live on their plots permanently after the Second World War, but in the 1950s, compulsory purchase orders were served to plotland residents and by the late 1970s, most plots had been abandoned. Despite people leaving their plots, the grid of wide grassy avenues, remains of properties and garden plants amongst the encroaching scrub can still be seen at the site today, especially within the Dunton Plotlands.

Langdon Nature Discovery Park

‘We have a bold and ambitious vision for Langdon, to create a gateway to the natural world and inspire thousands more people to love their local wildlife and wild places’

Handing over the keys to the new Nature Discovery Centre (L-R): Charlotte Goodman, Mark Wheeler from Horizon, Kate Waterfield, Elizabeth Oddy, Martin Blackery from GROW & Alex Capon from Horizon.

The Plotlands museum, The Haven, opened in 1984 – home of the Mills family. The Haven is the last remaining bungalow out of hundreds which once stood on the reserve. It is currently closed to the public but this building demonstrates what life was like in the Plotlands during the first half of the 20th century, with authentic memorabilia, gardens, a workshop, washroom and an Anderson shelter.

A new Nature Discovery Centre

The Trust first opened a centre at Langdon in 1996 and by 2019 it was seeing more than 55,000 people every year walk through its doors, with the numbers growing annually.

Located within a densely-populated area of 180,500 people, the Trust’s centre acts as a gateway to the natural landscape and plays a crucial role in engaging communities with their local nature and natural heritage.

We were presented with a unique opportunity to build a new centre on the same footprint of the previous centre - that was more sustainable, had increased facilities for the community and provided better ways for people to experience the unique social and natural heritage the site has to offer. The new centre has now been built and we are hoping to open our doors later this spring.

The building has been designed by local architects, Grow Designs, to reflect Langdon’s unique Plotlands heritage, and includes features such as a Corten cladded roof with solar panels. The building is equipped with an energy efficient ventilation system with high-efficiency insulation, to create a sustainable building that will create a space that is both inspiring, practical and great for wildlife. The centre will have a restaurant offer with a new outdoor seating area, larger community and education facilities, and improved parking facilities.

tolerant plants and rocks to provide habitat for pollinators; bee planters are evenly spaced around the edges to provide nectar for pollinators; standing deadwood with holes will provide a home for solitary bees and new species-rich hedgerows will be planted.

We have a bold and ambitious vision for Langdon, to create a gateway to the natural world and inspire thousands more people to love their local wildlife and wild places.

Langdon Nature Discovery Centre is being supported with funding from Veolia Pitsea Marshes Maintenance Trust and The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK.

Please welcome our new Site Manager, Charlotte

Hi! I’m Charlotte Goodman, and I have recently joined Essex Wildlife Trust as the Site Manager for the new Langdon Nature Discovery Centre. I have over 15 years’ experience within the tourism industry, working with operations, events and service delivery. The development of this new and sustainable centre is certainly my most exciting project yet, and I am absolutely thrilled to be a part of it. I am so proud to be working for the Trust at a time when our nature reserves have become a lifeline for so many people, by supporting their wellbeing and mental health. There are some amazing things to look forward to at Langdon, and I cannot wait to open the doors and welcome you all to the new centre.

Our new centre is generously supported by Veolia Pitsea Marshes Maintenance Trust and The National Lottery Community Fund.

Even the car park has been built with sustainability and wildlife at the heart of our plans. Working closely with local consultant John Little, an innovative Living Car Park design has been devised. Gabions are being used with drought

WILD Spring 2021

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THE OAK PAPERS

S OW N BY G OD’S OWN HAN D

Oak The

Papers by James Canton

‘I remain there, huddled limb to limb with the oak, high above the ground, enveloped in the tree boughs, in the leaf sounds. I feel a gentle warmth and calm and peace steal upon me.’

James Canton teaches the MA in Wild Writing at the University of Essex.

H

aving scaled the length and breadth of the British Isles in his previous book, Ancient Wonderings, the new book

by Essex-based writer, James Canton, is much closer to home. A meditative and intimate book, The Oak Papers is firmly rooted in Essex.

At its heart, the book chronicles the writer’s relationship with a single tree – the 800-year old Honeywood Oak on Marks Hall Estate – an ancient survivor from the mass felling of oaks in the 1950s. The book is part diary, part prose poetry, and part philosophy. Canton explores his own fascination with the oak while exploring its cultural and spiritual significance.

Along the way, he encounters druids, dryads, green men, and enthusiasts from all walks of life: Stephen Taylor, a man who painted the same oak fifty times; Jonathan Jukes, the enviably titled ‘Curator of Trees’ at Marks Hall; and woodsmen, academics, and a steam-bending furniture maker. The one thing they have in common: their obsession with the oak.

Even on a basic level, the human importance of oaks is obvious. They provide shelter from the rain, shade from the sun, fuel, building material, and sustenance (acorn flour was once a thing). They represent stability and longevity, lasting some thirty generations. They also nurture incredible biodiversity. At one point in the book, the oak is compared to a ‘block of flats’.

As a measure of loss, it puts the felling of a single tree into stark human terms.

But there is something about our relationship with the oak that goes beyond the obvious. This is where the real exploration takes place. The oak awakens the ‘child-self’ – a central idea in the book. The magic of touch is important too, and what could be more tactile than to climb a tree? ‘So many writers tell of the wonder of sitting beneath an old oak tree,’ muses Canton, ‘but to sit within an old oak tree is another thing entirely.’

This book is more than just a love letter to the oak.

It is about the healing power of nature.

Rich Yates, Head of Business Development

You can purchase your copy of The Oak Papers at our Nature Discovery Centres.

Opening times may be limited due to ongoing Covid-19 restrictions.

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WILD Spring 2021

Oak tree photo: Katrina Martin/2020VISION

Tree of Life

Section title here

Our Tree of Life at Fingringhoe Wick Nature Discovery Centre is flourishing, with people celebrating loved ones or a special occasion, all while helping to support our conservation work around the county.

With your support: A bronze leaf (3 years) could help us buy five sets of coastal clean-up equipment, or buy five bat boxes for our nature reserves.

Photo: Ross Hoddinott/2020VISION

A silver leaf (5 years) could help us buy the materials and install two coir rolls to help restore saltmarsh, or fund a large bee hotel for solitary bees.

A gold leaf (7 years) could help us buy 4kg of native wildflower seed mix to help stop the decline of insects.

A bird (8 years) could help us create or restore a pond, or carry out essential rotovating work in wet grasslands to increase the number of invertebrates, providing more food for breeding waders.

To find out more, visit www.essexwt.org.uk/tree-of-life or contact our legacy team on 01621 862987 & 01621 735233 who would love to help.

Love Essex • Love Wildlife Registered Charity No. 210065

WILD Spring 2021

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Photography competition in Essex

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WILD SPRING 2021

Photography competition in Essex

and the winner is...

T

he annual Essex Wildlife Trust Photography Competition goes from strength to strength each year. Over the next few pages enjoy a stunning spread of wildlife images submitted to the 2020 competition, learn how photography and wellbeing are interconnected, hear from one of the competition judges and get some top camera tips from esteemed wildlife photographer, Russell Savory.

Overall Winner of the Essex Wildlife Trust Photography Competition 2020 Category winner Julie Levere Category Gardener’s World Species Fox Location Westcliff-on-Sea

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Photography competition in Essex

‘Photographing the natural world has many benefits for your health and wellbeing. Spending moments photographing the world around you can ease stress, lift your mood and make you more appreciative’

Category winner Brody Bell Category Young Blood Title Bolt in the sea Location Walton-on-the-Naze

Category winner Peter Warne Category Wilder Essex Species Brown hare Location Epping

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WILD SPRING 2021

Photography competition in Essex

O

ne sure-fire way of experiencing local wildlife is discovering the county with your camera.

Last year, a record amount of Essex residents laced up their walking shoes, stepped over the threshold of their homes to explore their local natural world, then submitted their stunning images to our 2020 Photography Competition. The unbelievable breadth and quality of images captured, showcased that even amidst a national lockdown, people were still exploring their local areas and finding exciting things to photograph.

Participation in 2020 competition was record high, and as expected, the ‘Gardener’s World’ category drew the most entries. Our local green spaces became areas of solace for many of us across the country last year, with more time to spend observing and capturing behaviours and spectacles we may have missed before the earth appeared to slow on its rotation.

Category winner Claire Norman Category Captivating Colours Species Blue tit Location Essex Garden

Photographing the natural world has many benefits for your health and wellbeing. Spending moments photographing the world around you can ease stress, lift your mood and make you more appreciative; giving you the opportunity to be more mindful and take a moment to enjoy a special wildlife moment or seasonal spectacle.

Exploring the great outdoors with your camera involves getting outside, so improving health and fitness is a positive side-effect of photographing the natural world. Taking photos helps you see the world from a different perspective, making you look closer at what is going on around you.

You can learn more about what species can be found in a certain habitat and what time of the year species are present or absent. Regularly getting out with your camera also gives you the opportunity to learn a new skill and be creative. It’s important to have fun, find your personal style and experiment. Nature has given us no shortage of fascinating aspects to discover.

Sharing the wildlife images you have taken allows others to be involved with a moment you have experienced, perhaps transforming them to a place or a memory.

This is very powerful and helps create connections between strangers, which has been vital over the last year, with many people feeling isolated or lonely.

A huge part of Essex Wildlife Trust’s Photography Competition and our social media is to celebrate wonderful wildlife images, inspiring people and sparking up conversations and interactions within a like-minded community of nature lovers.

You definitely don’t have to be a professional to enjoy photography or become a full-time photographer to reap the wellbeing benefits. Reconnect with the outdoors to stay stimulated, improve your physical fitness and reduce social isolation; just get outdoors if you can, it’s a wonderful county out there!

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Photography competition in Essex

Category Runner up Claire Norman Category Gardener’s World Species Wood mouse Location Essex Garden

Andrew Armstrong, Ranger at our Gunners Park and Shoebury Ranges nature reserve, photography enthusiast and competition judge shares how he has enjoyed photography closer to home this year.

It has been a pleasure and a privilege to have been a judge for the annual Essex Wildlife Trust photography competition since its inception. The quality of images being submitted is of an increasingly higher standard with interesting subject matter and well-composed images.

Needless to say, the judging panel found it hard to choose winners from the brilliant variety! I find myself being really inspired to get out and take photos after judging the Essex Wildlife Trust Photography Competition as we live in such a wildlife and landscape diverse county. I live near Southend and within walking distance from my house I can find grey wagtail on the Prittlewell Book, overwintering black redstart and kingfisher at Priory Park and foxes that slink through my garden. I can also walk to the sea and experience the amazing sunrises and sunsets at this time of year, or watch the overwintering waders along the shoreline. At my allotment I have set up a bird feeding station and get the plethora of passerines feeding and regular sightings of sparrowhawks. Excitingly, there are also flybys from the peregrine falcons as they head out towards the estuary in search of prey.

My journey into wildlife photography started with photographing dragonflies. This introduction to photography lit the touchpaper for my passion of wildlife and later landscape photography. I found myself travelling to Essex Wildlife Trust reserves to try to capture images of barn owls and avocets at Blue House Farm, waders on the lagoon at Two Tree Island and even pectoral sandpipers and stone curlew at Lower Raypits nature reserve.

The pectoral sandpiper is a rare visitor from North America so to see this beautiful wader utilising the newly reprofiled lagoon at Lower Raypits was not only an amazing spectacle, but a testament to the work carried out to improve the site. In the last few years, I have dabbled with landscape photography, especially coastal scenes in the winter months.

There’s nothing quite like finishing work at Gunners Park, nipping next door to Shoebury Common and capturing the sunset over the boats when it’s low tide. I use my images to promote the Trust’s sites and Essex Wildlife Trust as an organisation. I also use these images to connect people with nature, the landscape and the importance of the work we do. I still feel blessed when people stop by to tell me that they’ve seen one of my images on an Essex Wildlife Trust social media channel and it has inspired them to get out and appreciate the sites near them.

Spring is a great time to head out and seek wildlife and landscape photographic opportunities. Spring migration brings in a wealth of migratory birds and the sunrises and sunsets are still at a fairly manageable time! Dawn brings exciting opportunities as the ‘dawn chorus’ is in full swing, so keep an eye on those hedges, trees and shorelines.

Also keep your bird feeders topped up and your bird baths full as you never know what might drop into your garden. A few years ago, I arrived home to see a woodcock under my bird feeders!

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WILD Spring 2021

Category Runner up Dave Watts Category Wilder Essex Location Mersea Island

Photography competition in Essex

Category Runner up Ashley James Category A Wildlife Motion Picture Species Short-eared owl Location Waltham Abbey

‘Spring is a great time to head out and seek wildlife and landscape photographic opportunities. Spring migration brings in a wealth of migratory birds and the sunrises and sunsets are still at a fairly manageable time!’

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Section title here Photography competition in Essex

Photography 101 1

Russell Savory, wildlife filmmaker and photographer shares his top tips for taking that perfect image during spring.

Get to know your equipment Cameras and smartphones can have lots of settings and options, so spend a little time investigating so you don’t miss that special shot when it presents itself. A good way to practice this is trying to photograph wildlife on the move.

Don’t always take the image from chest or head height, experiment with levels. You could even involve a phone stand that gives you unique views of the woodland floor or the bright canopy above.

2 3

4

5

Category winner Andrew Neal Category Pattern and Texture Species Migrant hawker dragonfly Location Abberton Reservoir

Get close to wildlife without a zoom lens

Getting great wildlife shots doesn’t require a long lens, you can set up a phone or camera nearby some wildlife-friendly food, step away to a safe distance and see what it attracts. You could screenshot a video or invest in a remote to get a great close-up shot.

The early bird catches the worm

Springtime is a great time for stunning sunrises and misty mornings, so try to venture out earlier to get the shots you’d miss later on in the day. You might even capture a scuttling bank vole or a lizard venturing out to bask in the morning sun.

Most importantly, make sure to always put the welfare of the species you’re photographing first; be careful with flash, keep your distance, don’t cause disruptions or distress, be careful where you tread and avoid playing call lures to attract animals.

6 WILD winter SPRING 2021 2020

Change up your shot with a lens

There are several affordable clip-on lenses you can use with your smartphone. Springtime is the perfect time to try macro photography with lots of colourful insects buzzing around. If you’re feeling adventurous, you could even test a waterproof case and try your hand at underwater images.

Category winner Jason Fox Category A Wildlife Motion Picture Species Great white egret Location Abberton Reservoir

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Get creative with angles

Respect wildlife

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From £1 a week, you have a 1 in 50 chance to win a prize each week, with a top prize of £25,000. It could be you, sign up to the Essex Lottery and help keep Essex wild.

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House sparrow photo: Fergus Gill/2020VISION

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www.essexlottery.co.uk/support/essex-wildlifetrust Players must be 16 or over and located in the UK. 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.

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

Section title here

S

pring is finally here, and it has never been more welcome. Once more our gardens start to burst into life and offer hope of better times to come. Our gardens and outdoor spaces will once again become our refuge in a sometimes chaotic world, but make sure you are doing what you can to make it a refuge for our struggling wildlife.

Create a bee house

Re-wild all spaces

Consider adding a green roof to sheds or bin stores; pots and containers on patios and decks and don’t ignore your front garden if you are lucky enough to have one.

Keep feeding birds

Use any spare wood to create a B&B for solitary bees.

Continue to feed your garden birds, by mixing up the seed you can attract a variety of visitors.

Re-fill water

Keep the source of water in your garden topped up to help all wildlife.

Leave a quiet corner

Always try to leave some areas undisturbed for sheltering spots.

Lay wildflower turf

Leave nesting materials

Leave loose piles of twigs, moss and even dog hair for birds to collect for nest making.

Instead of laying grass turf on damaged sections of lawn, consider buying wildflower turf instead for instant impact.

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WILD SPRING 2021

Sprinkle seeds

Create a wildflower border, mini-meadow or plant a tub with insect friendly wildflower seed.

SPRING Section Wildlife title Garden here

TOP TIPS

John More

Living Landscapes Coordinator

Take notice

Assess your space, what actions could you take to make it better for wildlife this season?

Compost with care

Take care not to harm any animals which may have been sheltering over winter when you start to use the compost.

Make a rock garden

Place some flat stones in a loose pile to create a habitat for mini-beasts and other invertebrates.

Go peat-free

Our gardens have an important role in the fight against climate change. Help preserve vital peatland by going peat free.

Ditch the chemicals

Search for natural alternatives and avoid any herbicide or pesticide use in your gardens or vegetable patch.

Connect routes

Ensure hedgehog and toad holes are clear of obstructions and debris, or create a new 13cm x 13cm hole for them.

Early cut your mini-meadow

Your mini-meadow may need an early cut to give your wildflowers a better chance over dominant grasses – be sure not to damage any early spring flowers though.

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HOW TO HELP WILDLIFE

Wildflowers photo: Chris Gom ersal

l/2020VISION

Your step-by-step guide to make a wildflower bomb!

Start spring with a BANG! Get mucky and make your very own wildflower bomb to give insects a helping hand and add a pop of colour to the green spaces near you.

Whether it’s a plant pot, flowerbed, wild patch in your lawn or an entire meadow, sowing wildflowers provides vital resources to support a wide range of insects that couldn’t otherwise survive in urban or built-up areas.

What will you need:

• Native flower seed mix of your choice • clay • peat-free compost • mixing bowl • water • Please check the guidance on when best to sow your chosen native seeds.

Start Step 1

Add five parts clay, four parts peat-free compost and one part seeds to your mixing bowl.

Wildflowers photo: Gillian Day

Step 2

Slowly knead together with your hands, adding a few drops of water if you need, until everything sticks together with a gritty, dough-like texture, not too sloppy.

Step 4

Unleash the seeds!

Step 3

Roll the mixture into firm balls (or use a fun mould), then leave the balls to dry out in a sunny spot.

Throw or dig your seed bombs in areas you think could use brightening up. They can be used when still wet or after you’ve let them dry, just make sure you check when the seeds should be sown.

Send your images of your seed bombs and anything else you’ve been doing to enable wildlife to thrive where you live to magazine@essexwt.org.uk, or let us know what you’d like to try next!

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WILD SPRING 2021

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Celebrating Women in Conservation

Celebrating

Women in conservation M

onday 8 March is International Women’s Day, a global day that has been celebrating the achievements of women since 1911. Today, the day belongs to all groups and organisations collectively, celebrating women and promoting gender equality.

Essex Wildlife Trust is supported and staffed by incredible women, making up 42% of our volunteers and 69% of our staff that work in every department area to help Essex Wildlife Trust do more for nature. We wanted to highlight just a few of these inspirational women working in conservation and celebrate their achievements.

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WILD Spring 2021

Celebrating Women in Conservation

After completing my Ecology degree, I started volunteering at Abberton to build up my practical skills. On my first day the Education Officer, Annabel Kendrick, needed a hand with a school group – and the rest, as they say, is history! Later, after completing a year as a Learning Support Assistant in a local primary school, I joined the team at Langdon in 1996, the year the first centre opened, meeting David Bellamy at the official opening that summer!

What I love most about my role is the people – from the dedicated staff and amazing volunteers who have supported and inspired me, to the visitors, families and young people I have worked with, who make me smile every day with their fresh look at the natural world – you can’t help but feel happy when you look at a puddle the way a three-year-old does!

Karen McKay

Education and Community Officer Joined the Trust in 1993 as a volunteer, 1996 as a staff member.

Favourite species: Spiders, especially the wasp spider and the nursery web spider.

There have been some hilarious moments since I started working at the Trust (being fed Monster Munch whilst wearing the badger suit at Lakeside!) and some emotional moments (watching the old centre come down) but my proudest moment was achieving my Forest School Leader qualification in 2015, thanks to Laura Harvey’s inspiring training. It has opened up a new area of engagement for me, which I believe truly connects all who take part; children, parents and teachers, with the natural world, in both physical and emotional ways.

Working in conservation is all I have ever wanted to do, from the age of 17, and 35 years on I am still very passionate about making a difference. I have volunteered and worked for wildlife charities since leaving university, it’s hugely important that I do my absolute best for the organisation and our members. As a teenager the threat was acid rain, we now have the climate crisis, the role of conservation charities is more important than ever and to be part of the solution is really important to me.

What I love most about the role is the variety, it’s a cliché but no two days are the same, and what ever you do, it’s all about the organisational goals, not about profit or personal gain, I can’t imagine not working for a charity, it’s very motivational. We have an amazing team of staff and I love hearing about and developing their ideas that will take Essex Wildlife Trust forward to achieve bigger and better.

There are lots of achievements I am proud of, but being offered the role of Reserves Manager back in 2000 is my proudest, because it was the culmination of nearly 10 years of hard work, including dry stone walling in pouring rain, miles of fencing (ever tried putting a fencepost in solid limestone?) and years of on the job learning from many experienced colleagues, which was all worth it!

Coastal realignment, Abbotts Hall Farm photo: Terry Whittaker/2020VISION

Lisa Smart

Head of Visitor and Commercial Operations Joined the Trust in 1998.

Favourite species: Swift.

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Celebrating Women in Conservation

Keeley Hazelhurst Chair of the Board of Trustees Joined the Trust in 2016.

Favourite species: I do love an old oak tree (stability, longevity, nurturing, protecting).

What I love most about my role is being an enabler. I have no experience or skill in conservation per se, but I can make informed decisions, weigh up different scenarios, lead teams to reach the best solutions and drive progress. The Trust is full of really dedicated and experienced conservationists, educationalists, facilitators and volunteers and to be supporting this amazing team to fulfil their goals and to make a real impact in the county is an honour.

Driving the strategy has been the biggest achievement. Identifying and understanding what is important to the Trust and our members, supporting the team to develop an ambitious and challenging strategy, and now starting to see the results and impact that they have made. What an amazing feeling, to see the evolution of the Trust and the realisation of what can be achieved with direction, teamwork and the outstanding commitment of the entire team.

Monday 8 March is

International Women’s Day, a global day that has been celebrating the achievements of women since 1911.

Kelly Osborne

People Support Development Manager (FTC) / Volunteer Development Manager Joined the Trust in 2016.

Favourite species: Long-tailed tit.

Lily Cha mbers

Communications Assistant Joined the Trust in 2018.

Favourite species: Stag beetle.

I began as a Communications Intern at Essex Wildlife Trust after previous relevant job experience, volunteering experience and a degree in Zoology.

After a year in this position I was given the opportunity to progress to an Assistant.

I love how varied my role can be. I am involved with inspiring campaigns, filming vital conservation work at reserves, writing press releases about important wildlife news and I regularly get to interact with our passionate followers on social media. I have especially loved leading on the Trust’s popular photography competition and the exciting 30 Days Wild campaign. Both increase in popularity year on year which is fantastic to see.

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WILD Spring 2021

I studied Biology at university and really enjoyed the Global Change and Animal Behaviour modules.

After graduating I went on to volunteer for the RSPB and then managed to get a position as a Trainee Reserves Officer with the Leicester and Rutland Wildlife Trust. From there I have worked and volunteered with lots of different conservation organisations to get to my current role.

To work with so many people who are passionate about getting the best for nature and the environment is really inspiring. Every day is different and presents a new challenge but to see everything achieved by volunteering and working for something so important keeps me going.

When I started my role at the Trust we had no central database of information for volunteers, getting this in place has made a world of difference to how we stay in touch and has been so important during this past year. I also love running induction sessions as it is a great chance to share the work that we do and get people excited about working with us. Also running outreach and engagement sessions to get people to come and volunteer with us is really exciting.

Celebrating Women in Conservation

June La mbert

Admin Support Volunteer at Hanningfield Nature Discovery Park Joined the Trust in 2018.

Favourite species: I love moorhen babies and this year I saw them being fed – so lovely!

I started volunteering at Hanningfield through a friend who was working there, and I just went along to support her.

She has changed jobs since then, but I kept on and am still really enjoying it. I am a wheelchair user and never thought I would be able to be a volunteer at a nature reserve so it was a great surprise to me to see how much I could contribute.

I love supporting wildlife conservation, engaging with the staff, visitors, and members. I enjoy the office environment and feeling useful. Spending time outdoors is good for our mental wellbeing and I can benefit from that also. I enjoyed participating in the Media training and am trying to get more involved in that area as well.

There are several things that I have been proud of being involved with: being a member of the Volunteer Strategy Group and the Inclusion Group. The feedback I received after delivering an online Creative Writing Workshop session - ‘Natural Wellth as part of Wellbeing week made me feel fantastic and gave me a real sense of achievement.

Essex Wildlife Trust is supported and staffed by incredible women, making up 42% of our volunteers and 69% of our staff that work in every department

area to help Essex Wildlife Trust do more for nature.

After learning about the many issues that our wildlife is currently facing, I made it my mission to actively contribute to helping nature. Living in Essex, I had the amazing opportunity to work for the wonderful Essex Wildlife Trust! I absolutely love playing an active part in helping different species and habitats to thrive.

Watching Abberton grow as a nature reserve and seeing all the amazing wildlife that live there, makes me very proud and happy!

My proudest achievement so far has to be planting over 6,500 trees during the winter of 2019/2020 with our amazing volunteers, creating a wonderful new scrub habitat for wildlife to enjoy in the years to come. We got very very muddy, it was great!

Katie Goldsbrough Ranger

Joined the Trust in 2019.

Favourite species: Brown long-eared bat.

I left teaching in 2013, and landed a skills for the future traineeship with Natural England, working on National Nature Reserves.

They gave me all the training: practical, academic and on the job experience, for two years. I learnt so much in two years it was phenomenal. This was the job I wanted to do when I left university, but my parents couldn’t afford to support me while I volunteered.

But I eventually made it and it really is the best job in the world!

Ruth Angrave

Landscape Conservation Area Officer (North-West) Joined the Trust in 2019.

Favourite species: Orange-tip butterfly as they are a sign of spring.

I love being outside, working on special sites that make a difference for wildlife and people. I have had some amazing encounters just because I am working in wild places. My most recent achievement I am proud of is getting approval to allow the planting of small leaved lime at West Wood nature reserve. This wood has been devastated by ash die back and the small leaved limes will not only help with the replacement of the ash but also hopefully make the woodland a little more resistant to climate change, as small leaved lime are a more southern species that can cope better with a warmer climate. When we got the approval from Natural England to plant some I actually did a little happy dance!

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Inspiring

Nature Nursery

a lifelong

love of nature I

magine a place where children can learn outdoors in a natural environment; a place to be independent and confident; a place to be playful and curious; a place to grow and be nurtured; a place to be happy...

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WILD SPRING 2021

Nature Nursery

Photo: Eleanor Church / Lark Rise Pictures

WILD Spring 2021

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Nature Nursery

Being outdoors has been found to increase children’s sense of wellbeing, their happiness and their confidence.

E

ssex Wildlife Trust has been leading Forest School sessions for children since 2008, and Forest School training since 2014, training over 240 practitioners and many early years childcare providers and encouraging schools in Essex to offer forest school sessions as part of their core curriculum. Research shows that a deep love of nature is the result of direct contact with wildlife and the natural world, and that children learn best through being outdoors and active. Yet most of the schooling still takes places indoors and is often sedentary.

Our mission is to transform education by taking it outside, starting with the earliest form of schooling: the nursery.

This September, the Trust is launching its new exciting venture to encourage a lifelong love of nature in children, our very own outdoor Nature Nursery.

Outdoor nurseries, also known as forest kindergartens, nature nurseries, or forest pre-schools are an innovative kind of educational childcare, growing in popularity throughout the UK. No two outdoor nurseries are the same but the main focus is that children will spend the bulk of their time outside, learning in the natural world.

Three years ago, members of the Trust’s Outdoor Learning Team researched the Scandinavian origins of Forest School in Denmark, Sweden and Finland and learnt about their early years provision. What they learned is that an outdoors Nature Nursery is the natural next step from Forest School and the benefits for children are phenomenal.

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WILD SPRING 2021

Photo: Paul Harris/2020VISION

Being outdoors has been found to increase children’s sense of wellbeing, their happiness and their confidence. It also allows for increased opportunities to acquire the key skills in their Early Years’ curriculum, while instilling a love of nature, conservation and wildlife at a young age. Research has shown that children who use woodlands when they are young, are more likely to do so as adults. This will provide the foundations for future generations to feel connected with our natural world.

Essex Wildlife Trust’s first Nature Nursery will provide outstanding outdoor educational childcare provision for children under the age of five. The nursery is still required to be Ofsted registered and will follow the statutory Early Years curriculum, however, 80-90% of learning will take place in the outdoor environment. Children will learn through child-led, nature-based exploration and activities are led by qualified Early Years professionals who are passionate about the natural world.

This pioneering project in Essex fits within Essex Wildlife Trust’s 2020-2025 strategy, to nurture a lifelong love of nature. Not only will learning take place outside, we will also provide conservation focused outdoor childcare, where the children and families will form a community, learning conservation techniques to look after the site. The Nature Nursery will then be used as an example to inspire and train other Early Years providers to take learning outside, and it will form part of a centre of excellence for Outdoor Learning for Essex Wildlife Trust.

Nature Nursery

The Nature Nursery site Based at the home of Essex Wildlife Trust’s main offices in Great Wigborough, the Nature Nursery is nestled amongst fields and hedgerows, with a meadow, woodland, orchard and a garden with vegetable beds. These varied habitats will provide different learning opportunities and the children and families can learn skills and a deep understanding of conservation practices.

The meadow will be managed using Essex Wildlife Trust’s flock of sheep and there will be an area set aside to show woodland regeneration and compost bins for waste, so children can grow their own fruit and vegetables and then experience the full life cycle of natural materials.

To provide shelter when it’s needed, there is a sustainable yurt built by the Long Valley Yurt company, complete with a log burner and solar panels and there is a wonderful Scandinavian style outdoor kitchen built sustainably using chestnut posts, oak supports, spruce walls and cedar roof tiles, with the addition of a pizza oven and a kitchen preparation area. These shelters are built with sustainability at its heart and they will create snug places for outdoor play and naps, cooking and socialising.

Lunch time: Children will prepare for lunch, this could be at sunrise café; around the log circle or in the yurt if the weather is particularly bad. Children will be involved in all aspects of lunch, including preparing food and composting the scraps. They will eat in small groups with their key person and once a week there will be a soup/stew cooked on the fire using produce harvested from the children’s garden.

After lunch: Children will be given the freedom to develop their own learning through the different areas of the site.

They might use the mud kitchen, experience the sensory garden, record the growth of plants, harvest seeds, write and paint in the meadows or sit in the story nook.

Daily, supervised groups of children will access the adjacent woodland across the bridge for ‘Forest School’ in a relaxed environment. Here, children will lead their own learning and develop physical skills through climbing trees, making dens, digging mud pits and threading rope.

Meet our new Nursery Manager Hi everyone! I’m Melanie, the new Outdoor Nursery Manager for Essex Wildlife Trust and I am passionate about the natural world and early years education. I have over 23 years of experience in childcare and have worked in a variety of schools and nurseries, with 15 years of experience as a Nursery Manager, including opening a flagship nursery in central London for a large American childcare company for 92 children. I managed a team of 30 dedicated staff with a successful Ofsted inspection and we had an excellent reputation in the local area for the highest quality care for all children. I am delighted to be part of this venture at the Trust, I have enjoyed establishing strong relationships with families already registered to start in September and I have lots of plans for open days and events over the summer months.

Throughout the day, staff will support early literacy skills and children will have access to a wide range of reading materials including books and poems. During the afternoon, children who require a sleep will be able to bed down in a cosy ‘nest’ outside, in the yurt, in the woods or simply snoozing in a hammock in the orchard.

End of the day: The children will all be encouraged to look after their environment, by carefully putting things away and caring for the vegetable patch. Once gathered around the log circle, children can share stories and anything they have made or found throughout the day. This is an ideal opportunity for children to reflect on their own learning.

Opening September 2021

A typical day in the Nature Nursery: Morning: Children are welcomed into the Badgers Garden by their key person, with breakfast available. Once all the children have arrived, they will gather around the log circle, where staff will introduce their nature based activities.

Staff will also observe children, take photos and gather evidence to support the assessment of children. There will be rolling healthy snacks and fresh drinking water available throughout the day.

Meet Melanie and the team and discover our new Nature Nursery on an open day by registering your interest online at www.naturenursery.org.uk.

If you have any questions about the Nature Nursery, do get in touch by calling 07730 217262 or email info@naturenursery.org.uk.

WILD SPRING 2021

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Our English Pink Gin is flavoured with strawberries and raspberries from the Tiptree Fruit Farm, and a touch of red hibiscus flowers. English Vodka is distilled from East Anglian potatoes. Last but not least, our English Spiced Rum is distilled with aromatic quince and charred woods from the Tiptree Fruit Farm, then rested in English oak.

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Wild Thoughts

Gillian Burke @gillians_voice

It was the best little hide! A hibiscus bush with the perfect little-girl-sized hollow, where I would spend whole mornings, watching butterflies and jewel-like sunbirds flitting and darting nervously from flower to flower. I had no access to field guides and no idea what the birds were called. To be perfectly honest, it didn’t really matter because I was quite content with just watching and occasionally trying to draw what I saw in a little notebook. This was my Kenya in the late seventies. No internet, no clubs, no daytime telly, no distractions — just the world outside to explore and discover.

With time and freedom on my side, I got to know the many moods of the natural world.

Beautiful flowers hid thorns, lush green grass hid snakes, the same wondrous sun, that gently warmed up the day, would birth violent afternoon storms that, in turn, gave way to the cooling sweet smell of the earth. I loved it all. All this gave me a profound sense, even as a little girl, that everything in nature had its place.

My younger self had yet to learn that this is what biologists call diversity — the single word that describes the infinite possibilities, expressions and connections of life on earth.

From a biologist’s perspective, all this variety is not just the spice of life, it is the source of nature’s resilience and adaptability.

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WILD Spring 2021

Viewed with this lens it is hard, therefore, to believe that there is still the need to debate diversity in the conservation and environmental sector but clearly we do. From senior leadership roles to volunteer positions, just 0.6% are from black, mixed and other ethnic groups. This is a famously quoted figure and one that likely extends to underrepresentation from white working class backgrounds as well.

One thing that we can all agree on is that we have the fight of our lives right now in meeting the twin challenges of the climate and ecological crisis. As 2020 is set to go down in history as ‘one hell of a year’, there is a precious opportunity to set a course for a truly 21st century mind-set. If we are ever really going to walk the walk and actually do things differently, we are going to need the full power of diverse voices and perspectives to forge resilience and adaptability in a fresh, new system that serves everyone and everything, and exploits nothing and no one.

The Wildlife Trusts are committed to putting equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of our movement. Find out more: wildlifetrusts.org/wild-about-inclusion

WILDER IS HEALTHIER

Research published

by The Wildlife Trusts in 2019 showed that children experience profound and diverse benefits through regular contact with nature.

It’s essential that all children (and adults too) have the opportunity to experience nature in their daily lives, but 42% of people from minority ethnic backgrounds live in the most greenspace deprived areas, compared to just 15% of white people*. We need at least 30% of land to be restored for nature, helping wildlife recover and bringing nature into everyone’s daily lives.

Gillian Burke is a biologist and wildlife presenter and has recently become vice president of The Wildlife Trusts.

*England’s green space gap, Friends of the Earth

ILLUSTRATION: C. IZUNDU

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What’s on this Spring

Spring

What’s on this

I

t’s hard not to get excited by spring; nature’s alarm clock is waking even the sleepiest of species, fresh buds are emerging, colourful flowers are blooming and wildlife is back to its bustling day job.

You can almost feel the kinetic energy in the air as the landscape once again becomes a hive of activity, welcoming back migratory species and new life with open arms.

As wildlife reawakens, so do our senses.

The countryside becomes awash with vivid meadows and carpets of breath-taking wildflowers, magical birdsong melodies chime into our mornings as well as the dull buzz of busy insects and the sharp scent of wild garlic drifts in the breeze.

This is the season for new beginnings, so shake off any remaining winter blues, lace up your walking boots and get out to enjoy this zestful season in all its enchanting glory. Over the following pages we will highlight spring’s must-see species and spectacles to look for out of your window, in your garden or at your local nature reserve. We have been patiently waiting for the charms of spring all winter, so don’t miss out on showtime!

Find out more for MARCH, APRIL and MAY >>> 46 |

WILD SPRING 2021

What’s on this Spring

Species

Nightingale

Common toad

Common toad photo: Linda Pitkin/2020VISION

Spectacles

Nightingale photo: Chris Gomersall/202

0VISION

Hawthorn blossom

Wild daffodil 0VISION

Wild daffodil photo: Ross Hoddinott/202

Brown hare photo: David Tipling/2020VISION

Hawthorn blossom photo: Chris Lawren

ce

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What’s on this March

March What’s on this

Nature reserve to visit

If you live locally, this month visit our Warley Place nature reserve in Brentwood to witness the spring spectacle in full swing. From March the reserve puts on quite a show of blooming flowers, coming alive with hundreds of daffodils, crocuses, winter aconites and magnolias. The once famous Edwardian garden belonging to Ellen Willmott is now maintained for nature and has become a hub for various flower species, insects, birds and even bats. If this reserve isn’t in your local patch, you can find your nearest by typing your postcode into the reserves page on our website.

Wild daffodils photo: Ross Hoddinott/2020VISION

Species Common toads

The exuberance of nature in spring is contagious, species are suddenly on the move and looking for mates.

Starting earlier than most, the wonderful common toad can be active from as early as February. During spring you can begin to hear the familiar croaking of common toads as they look to impress mates, followed shortly after with jelly-like spawn filling ponds and lakes.

Toad spawn appears in long chains attached to vegetation, so it can be easily differentiated from the large round clumps of frog spawn.

Wild daffodils

Warley Place nature reserve photo: Kate

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WILD SPRING 2021

Waterfield

Bright, bold daffodils are beginning to bloom across the county. Their brilliant yellow trumpet flower is enough to brighten any day and they magnificently sound the arrival of spring. Popping up to brighten gardens, roadside verges, meadows and woodlands, the sight of daffodils rippling in the spring breeze is a real seasonal treat.

Section titleMarch here What’s on this o: Hawthorn tree blossom phot N Guy Edwardes/2020VISIO

Why not try one of our online events?

In March we are offering an online course all about natural crafts you can enjoy with your children. If you’re stuck for ideas to entertain your child and would like a hands-on educational experience for the family, this course is for you.

Visit our website to book your place.

Spectacles Mad March hares

Get a ringside seat for the match of the season. Known for their incredible speed ‘mad March hares’ are also well-known for their boxing abilities. Instead of usual competition between competing males, this punch-up occurs between a female hare snubbing the over-attentive advances of a male hare. Look out for them across fields, coastal marshes and heathlands in Essex.

The hawthorn tree

Recognised for their juicy plump sloe berries in winter, the hawthorn tree starts spring with a glorious display of snowy white blossom.

Usually menacing in appearance because of their long thick spines, the explosion of delicate white flowers brightens up hedgerows across Essex at this time of the year. Unlike hawthorn trees, a blackthorn will flower first then unfurl its leaves, so look out for them blooming this month.

Common toad photo: Nick Upton/2020VISION

Hare photo: Andy Rouse2020VISION

WILD SPRING Spring 2021

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What’s on this April

April What’s on this

Nature Reserve to visit If you live locally, this month visit our West Wood nature reserve in Thaxted. Wander around this spectacular woodland and enjoy a rich variety of insects and spring flowers including the rare oxlip.

During spring the ponds at this reserve are abuzz with dancing dragonflies and damselflies while great crested newts carry out their exciting courtship dances just below the surface. If this reserve isn’t in your local patch, you can find your nearest by typing your postcode into the reserves page on our website.

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WILD Spring 2021

What’s on this April

Species Bluebells

This month look out for woodlands carpeted in delicate native bluebells. A tell-tale sign that you are walking amongst an ancient woodland, the unrolling of these special flowers and the pastel purple/blue hue across the woodland floor is an uplifting addition to any nature walk.

Adder

Warmer days bring the return of sunbathing serpents. Being cold-blooded, reptiles must warm up using external sources, so now the temperature has risen and hibernation is over, keep an eye out for them whilst they bask. One exciting species to add to your list this season is the adder, this is the UK’s only venomous snake species and can be identified by the striking black zigzag pattern that runs across their length.

Cuckoo photo: Jon Hawkins - Surrey Hills Photography

Adder photo: Danny Green/2020VISION

Spectacles A breath of fresh air

The eruption of new life makes this season a truly special one. Whether it’s a fluffy cygnet frantically paddling to keep up with its parent, a brave fox cub exploring its surroundings or a demanding chick impatiently calling for its next meal, spring is a wonderfully fruitful season.

Spring in full swing

April is the peak time of the year for the arrival of lots of exciting migratory species. Swallows, house martins, yellow wagtails and turtle doves are amongst the spring birds to arrive in Essex at this time of the year, busily getting to work to find a mate, claim territory and build a nest. April also sees the return of cuckoos, their unmistakable call echoes throughout woodlands to signal that spring is in full swing. Look out for males perched on high branches calling to attract mates.

If you haven’t checked out one of our live wildlife webcams, now is the perfect time to see what you can spot.

With four to choose from, you may witness a playful badger cub exploring life outside the sett, a nesting barn owl attentively caring for its eggs, hundreds of roosting pipistrelle bats taking shelter in their summer roost or a swallow preparing for its brood. Visit our website to see what you can spot!

Bluebells photo: Jon Hawkins - Surrey Hills Photography

WILD Spring 2021

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What’s on this May

May

What’s on this

Nature reserve to visit If you live locally, this month visit our

Copperas Wood nature reserve in Wrabness. Walk among bluebells, yellow archangel and red campion, all of which flourish at this ancient woodland situated on the Stour Estuary. Look up to the canopy for your chance to spot a vibrant purple hairstreak butterfly resting above.

If this reserve isn’t in your local patch, you can find your nearest by typing your postcode into the reserves page on our website.

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WILD SPRING 2021

Blackbird photo: Jon Hawkins - Surrey

Hills Photography

What’s on this May

Species Water vole

The beloved water vole, one of our most endangered mammals, is most active during spring. They can be seen foraging or heard plopping into nearby water along rivers, streams, ponds and lakes.

Sometimes confused with brown rats, water voles have a blunt, rounded muzzle, smaller ears and a furry tail. Look out for piles of cropped grass and burrows in riverbanks.

Nightingale

May is the prime time to hear the impressively complex melody of the nightingale. This scarce, robin-sized songster that has arrived to breed in Essex all the way from Africa, has a song second to none. This month they can be heard singing throughout the night and day in an effort to try and secure a mate.

Nightingale photo: Chris Gomersall/2020VISION

Common blue damselfly photo: Rachel

Scopes

Spectacles Dawn chorus

Set your alarm and get outside to be astounded by the all-encompassing dawn chorus at its peak. The early risers include song thrushes, blackbirds, robins, tits, warblers and skylarks, all of which sing valiantly to stake their territories and attract mates.

Insects are back

A glorious assortment of insects are back on the wing and busily going about their business in spring. Butterflies gently flutter past, stopping momentarily to pause on a flower, iridescent damselflies flitter erratically over aquatic vegetation and bees noisily make their way from flower to flower, loading up on pollen. It’s that special time of year when you can’t walk a metre without coming into contact with wildlife.

Help wildlife this month and start your very own fundraiser for the wildlife and wild places in Essex.

From a sponsored wildlife walk or a virtual nature-themed quiz evening to birthday donations, there are tons of fun ways you can raise money for the Essex species and locations you care about. Head to our website for more fundraising ideas.

Water vole photo: Terry Whittaker/2020VISION

WILD SPRING 2021

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Time Tunnel

We travel back to...

1991

...to give you a glimpse of our past and see what was happening at the Trust.

What was happening globally in 1991: • The Hubble Telescope was launched after a seven year delay. Unfortunately it was defective and later required a repair mission to fix it.

• The U.S.S.R. came to a formal end at the end of December, after Gorbachev announced his resignation and the Soviet Union ceased to exist.

• Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the band Queen died from complications to AIDS. • The world population reached 5.37 billion while the population of Britain was 57 million.

30 years ago, our Spring 1991 magazine had just been sent out, celebrating its refreshed look and updating our members about the work of the Trust. We announced we would be going forward under the new name of Essex Wildlife Trust, having previously been called the Essex Naturalists’ Trust.

Abberton Reservoir Wildfowl and Visitor Centre, Colchester Staff and volunteers in our newest Centre are delighted that yellow wagtails are back to nest once more beside the reservoir.

These canary-bright early migrants are a foretaste of exciting bird watching to come. Since its opening last November, many hundreds of people have visited the Centre. The shop has been busy, except when deep snow buried the landscape and shore-to-shore ice gripped the reservoir.

The old Abberton Reservoir Wildfowl and Visitor Centre, newly built in 1991.

Photo by Laurie Forsyth.

Thorndon Countryside Centre

Thorndon.

A busy scene at National Tree Week at Photo by Janet Millington.

Otters in Essex

Thorndon in winter’s iron grip.

Photo by Susan Till.

National Tree Week events were a great success. There were estimated 360 children participating during the week, with a further 600 on the Sunday. February snows prevented the team from opening for three days. Visitors to the Country Park able to penetrate the drifts found a winter wonderland. Unusual bird sightings in the severe weather included waxwing, brambling and black redstart: there are fears that the hungry local kestrel may have accounted for the latter.

In Essex, as elsewhere, the otter declined drastically from the 1950s onwards. There were five sightings in the 1970s, but it is unlikely that any wild otters have been seen in Essex (or Suffolk) since 1980. Although they survived in a small number of Norfolk rivers, Dr Chris Mason, who has studied the East Anglian otter population for some years, believes that wild otters became extinct in East Anglia in 1989.

VISION Otter photo: Andy Rouse/2020 The decline of otters has been linked to pollution of our rivers and to habitat loss.

It seems unlikely that this magnificent animal will be seen again in our county until we have a greater understanding of the effects of pollution and disturbance, and until we have made great improvements in the quality of our water courses.

As we celebrated in our winter 2020 magazine, our 25 year monitoring programme showed that the otter has now returned to every river in Essex, a great conservation success story.

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WILD SPRING 2021

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UK News

UK NEWS Minke whales are seen regularly off our coasts each summer

UK UPDATE

Sightings up during seaside staycation surge HUMPBACK WHALE TAILFIN © GUDKOV ANDREY/SHUTTERSTOCK; BREACHING MINKE WHALE © TOM McDONNELL

Our 2020 Marine Review

T

n More than 30 bottlenose dolphins were seen ‘partying’ off the Teeside coast n Large numbers of Atlantic blue-fin tuna recorded along England’s south coast n Baby Risso’s dolphin photographed off the coast of Anglesey, North Wales n Humpback whale filmed off Yorkshire coast, which has become a hotspot for whale-watching

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WILD Spring 2021

he Wildlife Trusts’ Living Seas teams are the eyes and ears of the UK coast, but this year their observations were joined by a surge in sightings from the public, as more people spent time around our coasts.

In this bumper year for sightings, highlights included the first orcas in Strangford Lough, Ulster, since the 1970s, and a rare ‘run’ of Atlantic bluefin tuna up the English Channel from Cornwall to Sussex. These impressive fish can weigh hundreds of kilograms and were sometimes joined by porpoises, minke whales and dolphins in a huge feeding frenzy.

Joan Edwards, The Wildlife Trusts’ director of living seas, says: “In 2020 people flocked to the sea as soon as lockdown restrictions were lifted — they needed the coast like never before.

Wildlife Trusts around the country were reporting a surge of public interest in marine life and coastal species — people delighted in seeing marine life and it lifted the hearts of millions in this most difficult year.”

It wasn’t all good news for wildlife however. Although more people were spotting sea life, the restrictions of 2020 meant a lot of scientific monitoring work had to be cancelled, including more than

100 Trust Shoresearch surveys. These vital surveys help map and monitor the wildlife around our coasts, and the lack of data as a result of their cancellation could make it harder to assess the health of many of these plants and animals.

Wildlife Trusts were also unable to run many of their beach cleaning projects, though they were superceded by the hugely increased efforts of individuals and smaller groups during 2020. Cornwall Wildlife Trust, for example, reported that those people living within walking distance of beaches still carried on cleaning right through the lockdown.

Working to clean up our marine environment is essential, with marine wildlife in greater peril than ever from plastic, nurdles, litter, discarded fishing gear and now disposable Covid masks too.

Better news for wildlife included the successful reintroduction of sand lizards to Fylde sand dunes, Lancashire, making it the most northerly population in England, and the discovery of a previously un-recorded seagrass bed off Northern Ireland’s Ards Peninsula.

Read the full marine review, with many more amazing stories from around our coasts, at wildlifetrusts.org/marine-review-20

UK NEWS

UK UPDATE

LIZ BONNIN © ANDREW CROWLEY; BUFF-TAILED BUMBLEBEE © CHRIS GOMERSALL/2020VISION; BROWN TROUT © LINDA PITKIN/2020VISION

Wildlife Trusts welcome new president Broadcaster and biologist, Liz Bonnin has been elected as president of The Wildlife Trusts. Liz will be championing The Wildlife Trusts’ new 30 by 30 vision to protect 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030. Liz says, “It is a critical time for the natural world, and I hope that through lending my voice and support, and by working together, we can help to enforce the changes that must take place in order to secure a brighter future for our wild places.”

Alongside Liz Bonnin’s appointment, The Wildlife Trusts have also welcomed biologist and Springwatch presenter Gillian Burke as vice president, as well as four new ambassadors: environmentalist and birder, Mya-Rose Craig; actor and presenter, Cel Spellman; actor and

UK HIGHLIGHTS 2 Discover how The Wildlife Trusts are helping wildlife across the UK

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1 A dam good job

podcaster, David Oakes; and professor of biology and bumblebee expert, Dave Goulson.

Ulster Wildlife are using coconut fibre logs to create dams on Cuilcagh Mountain, re-wetting and restoring large areas of peatland. The boggy areas created will capture and store carbon, helping combat the climate crisis, and provide a better habitat for wildlife. This work, done in conjunction with local farmers, is part of a project to restore 16 hectares of degraded peatland on Cuilcagh.

2 Shark sanctuaries

Scottish Wildlife Trust welcomed the designation of a new suite of protected areas in Scottish seas. Four new Marine Protected Areas will help safeguard species like basking sharks and minke whales, alongside 12 new Special Protection Areas created to benefit Scotland’s iconic seabirds. It is essential now that these areas are backed by effective management measures.

Neonicotinoids are a threat to bees and other pollinators

Bad news for bees The Government has agreed to authorise the use of the highly damaging neonicotinoid thiamethoxam for the treatment of sugar beet seed in 2021. The Wildlife Trusts strongly oppose this decision. In 2018, the UK Government supported restrictions on the neonicotinoid pesticides across the European Union due to the very clear harm that they were causing to bees and other wildlife.

3 River restoration The neonicotinoid will be applied by “seed-dressing”, which results in only 5% of the pesticide going into the crop.

The rest accumulates in the soil, from where it can be absorbed by the roots of wildflowers and hedgerow plants, or can leach into rivers and streams.

To find out more, take a look at our Wild LIVE episode on the use of neonicotinoids wildlifetrusts.org/wild-live

Surrey Wildlife Trust are working with a wide range of partners to restore the natural course of the Rye Brook, near Ashtead, helping to encourage brown trout upstream and capture flood waters. Riverbanks were reprofiled and natural bends and meanders were added, as well as a large riverside pond, to create more habitat for wildlife, including spawning areas for brown trout.

WILD Spring 2021

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Wildlife quiz time Answers from Winter 2020: Across: Down 3. Meles meles 1. Charm 4. Deciduous 2. Peregrine falcon 5. Brown hare 7. Polecat 6. Stonechat 10. Vixen 8. Fingringhoe 12. Ten 9. Slow worm 11. Irruption

How is your general knowledge on the wildlife and wild places of our country? Test yourself with our nature crossword.

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When damselflies mate, they form a heart with their abdomen.

How romantic!

Damselflies photo: Zoe Kent

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Clues Across

Clues down

3 Over half of the world’s population of these iconic wildflowers grow in the UK. They tend to erupt in ancient woodlands during April/May. (8)

1 The umbrella-like clusters of cow parsley flowers are what colour? (5)

5 Which of our garden birds can be heard making a repetitive ‘tea-cher, tea-cher, tea-cher’ call? (5,3)

2 Toads and frogs go through four stages in their life cycle. When they age to the next stage they experience ___. (13)

7 This beautiful yellow flying butterfly is one of our earliest to emerge in spring. (9)

4 What is the tallest bird in the UK, reaching heights of 130cm? (5)

8 What is the only spiny mammal in the UK? (8)

6 The largest type of deer we have in the UK is the ___. (3)

9 What is the rarest wild mammal in the whole of the UK? (7)

Sky-bound swifts

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Swift photo: David Tipling/2020VISION

Swifts will eat, drink, bathe, sleep and even mate in mid-air. A fledgling who has just left the nest may not come into contact with anything solid for two or three years! A life lived almost entirely in the sky.

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GROWING GNASHERS

Unlike human teeth, a rabbit’s teeth will grow constantly throughout their lifetime. Their top front teeth can grow at a rate of up to 3mm a week!

10 The UK’s only venomous reptile. (5)

11 How many different types of owl do we have in Essex? (4) 12 Which bird was voted the UK’s favourite in the last “Vote for Britain’s National Bird”? (5)

The answers will be revealed in our Summer 2021 edition of WILD Rabbit photo: Tom Marshall

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WILD SPRING 2021

Discover our

Po

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Listen to our NEW podcast, The Wildlife Explorer, on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Each month we will be delving into the world of wildlife in Essex, the work of the Trust and the wild places our county has to offer. Every episode will have fun facts, informative features, special guests and top tips on how to help wildlife.

Send your questions to communications@essexwt.org.uk to have them answered by Trust experts.

Grab a cup of tea and enjoy listening! Help us inspire more people by subscribing, liking, sharing and leaving a five star rating.

WILD Spring 2021 Love Essex • Love Wildlife

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Nightingale photo: Chris Gomersall/2020VISION

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