Abrehart Ecology Ltd was commissioned by Natural England to undertake a botanical survey of rare and uncommon species between Tilbury Fort and Mucking village. The aim was to update records and assess the number and distribution of species across the survey area, to account for land use changes over the past two years in a dynamic landscape. Records were made from the six areas within the May to June 2024 survey window. The field survey involved walking the survey compartments at appropriate times of year to obtain maximum coverage of the survey areas, targeting habitats and plant communities likely to support target species.
Forty-two species of interest of locally uncommon and rare plants were recorded as part of this survey and 200 records were made. The Winter and Spring preceding the survey had been wet and cool, and the abundance of some species may have increased compared to other years. The majority of the records came from the ‘Ashfield’s Complex’ and the ‘Enovert Landfill’ compartments (G and C respectively). These both supported extensive areas of grasslands that were in various stages of succession, with large areas recently worked with significant exposed soil. Large areas of established grasslands were also present. The most frequent of the rare species of interest was X Agropogon littoralis which was found across the ‘Ashfield’s Complex’ and ‘Enovert Landfill’ compartments.
Changes in communities across the surveyed sites indicated that the most significant changes were where tree and shrub planting had been carried out across the north and eastern sides of the ‘Enovert landfill’ site. In addition to this several areas of both the ‘Ashfield’s Complex’ and ‘Enovert Landfill’ had a range of developing and maturing grasslands.