John Weston Nature Reserve
John Weston Nature Reserve is a nature reserve north of Walton-on-the-Naze in Essex. It is managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust. This site is named after its former warden, who died in 1984. It has rough grassland, blackthorn and bramble scrub and four ponds. Nesting birds include the lesser and common whitethroat, and there are flora such as slender thistle, pepper saxifrage and fenugreek Fenugreek (; ''Trigonella foenum-graecum'') is an annual plant in the family Fabaceae, with leaves consisting of three small obovate to oblong leaflets. It is cultivated worldwide as a semiarid crop. Its seeds and leaves are common ingredients .... There is access from Naze Park Road. References {{coord, 51.873, 1.290 , type:landmark_region:GB-BNE, display=title Essex Wildlife Trust ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Walton-on-the-Naze
Walton-on-the-Naze is a seaside town on the North Sea coast and (as Walton le Soken) a former civil parish, now in the parish of Frinton and Walton, in the Tendring district in Essex, England. It is north of Clacton and south of the port of Harwich. Frinton-on-Sea is to the south of the town. The town has a population of 12,054 (according to the 2011 census). In 1931 the parish had a population of 3071. It attracts many visitors, The Naze being the main attraction. There is also a pier. The parish was earlier known as Eadolfenaesse and then as Walton-le-Soken. The name 'Walton' is a common one meaning a 'farmstead or village of the Britons', while 'Soken' denotes the soke (an area of special jurisdiction) that included Thorpe, Kirby and Walton, which were not under the see of London but under the chapter of St Paul's Cathedral. Walton had a HM Coastguard team and was home to the Thames MRCC (Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre), organising rescues from Southwold to Herne ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Greater London to the south and south-west. There are three cities in Essex: Southend, Colchester and Chelmsford, in order of population. For the purposes of government statistics, Essex is placed in the East of England region. There are four definitions of the extent of Essex, the widest being the ancient county. Next, the largest is the former postal county, followed by the ceremonial county, with the smallest being the administrative county—the area administered by the County Council, which excludes the two unitary authorities of Thurrock and Southend-on-Sea. The ceremonial county occupies the eastern part of what was, during the Early Middle Ages, the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Essex. As well as rural areas and urban areas, it forms ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Essex Wildlife Trust
The Essex Wildlife Trust (EWT) is one of 46 wildlife trusts which cover the United Kingdom. The EWT was founded in 1959, and it describes itself as Essex's leading conservation charity, which aims to protect wildlife for the future and the people of the county. As of January 2017, it has over 34,000 members and runs 87 nature reserves, 2 nature parks and 11 visitor centres. Essex has one of the longest coastlines of any English county, with saltmarshes, lagoons, mudflats, grazing marshes, reedbeds and shingle. Its ancient forests were formerly important to the local economy, with wood being used for fuel, construction and bark in the tanning industry. Coppicing is being re-introduced by the EWT to encourage woodland grasses, flowers, invertebrates and birds. A few grasslands on the heavy clays of south- and mid-Essex are still grazed according to traditional methods, supporting a mixture of pasture and fen. Some brownfield sites, often on contaminated soil, have populations of na ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lesser Whitethroat
The lesser whitethroat (''Curruca curruca'') is a common and widespread typical warbler which breeds in temperate Europe, except the southwest, and in the western and central Palearctic. This small passerine bird is strongly migratory, wintering in Africa just south of the Sahara, Arabia and India. Unlike many typical warblers, the sexes are almost identical. This is a small species with a grey back, whitish underparts, a grey head with a darker "bandit mask" through the eyes and a white throat. It is slightly smaller than the common whitethroat, and lacks the chestnut wings and uniform head-face color of that species. The lesser whitethroat's song is a fast and rattling sequence of ''tet'' or ''che'' calls, quite different from the common whitethroat's scolding song. Like most "warblers", it is insectivorous, but will also take berries and other soft fruit. This is a bird of fairly open country and cultivation, with large bushes for nesting and some trees. The nest is built ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Common Whitethroat
The common whitethroat or greater whitethroat (''Curruca communis'') is a common and widespread typical warbler which breeds throughout Europe and across much of temperate western Asia. This small passerine bird is strongly migratory, and winters in tropical Africa, Arabia, and Pakistan. Taxonomy The English ornithologist John Latham described the common whitethroat in 1783 in his ''A General Synopsis of Birds'' but introduced the binomial name ''Sylvia communis'' in the supplement to this work which was published in 1787. The specific ''communis'' is Latin for "common". The common whitethroat is now placed in the genus ''Curruca'' that was introduced by the German naturalist Johann Matthäus Bechstein in 1802. This species may appear to be closely related to the lesser whitethroat, the species having evolved only during the end of the last ice age similar to the willow warbler and chiffchaffs. However, researchers found the presence of a white throat is an unreliable morpho ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Slender Thistle
''Carduus tenuiflorus'', known variously as slender-flower thistle, sheep thistle, shore thistle, slender thistle, winged plumeless thistle, winged slender thistle and winged thistle, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to Europe and North Africa, and an introduced species elsewhere. Description ''Carduus tenuiflorus'' may exceed in height. Its tall stem is ridged with wings and has long spines which may be several centimeters in length. The dull olive-green leaves are lobed and wrinkled and may fold and crease themselves. The inflorescences may hold up to 20 flower heads which are somewhat rounded, covered in wide, spiny phyllaries, and packed with pale pink to bright purple long-tubed disc florets. This is a tenacious weed of roadsides, fields, and disturbed areas. Distribution ''Carduus tenuiflorus'' is native to western North Africa in: northern Algeria; Morocco; and Tunisia, and much of Europe in: Belgium; France, including Co ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pepper Saxifrage
''Silaum silaus'', commonly known as pepper-saxifrage, is a perennial plant in the family Apiaceae (Umbelliferae) (the carrot family) found across south-eastern, central, and western Europe, including the British Isles. It grows in damp grasslands on neutral soils. Description ''Silaum silaus'' is an erect, glabrous umbellifer with woody, stout and cylindrical tap roots, which are hot and aromatic. ''S. silaus'' has dark grey or black petioles at the top; petiole remains are found at the bottom of the stem, which is solid and striate. Its umbels are 2–6 cm in diameter, are terminal or axillary, and compound, with 4 to 15 angled rays of 1–3 cm; the peduncle is larger than the rays, and both are papillose. The flowers are mostly hermaphroditic. ''Silaum silaus'' has 2–4-pinnate leaves, which have a triangular and lanceolate outline, a long petiole and the primary divisions are long-stalked. Segments are 10–15 mm long, shaped from lanceolate to line ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fenugreek
Fenugreek (; ''Trigonella foenum-graecum'') is an annual plant in the family Fabaceae, with leaves consisting of three small obovate to oblong leaflets. It is cultivated worldwide as a semiarid crop. Its seeds and leaves are common ingredients in dishes from the Indian subcontinent, and have been used as a culinary ingredient since ancient times. Its use as a food ingredient in small quantities is safe. Although sold as a dietary supplement, there is no clinical evidence that fenugreek has therapeutic properties. Commonly used in traditional medicine, fenugreek can increase the risk of serious adverse effects, including allergic reactions. History Fenugreek is believed to have been brought into cultivation in the Near East. It is uncertain which wild strain of the genus ''Trigonella'' gave rise to domesticated fenugreek. Charred fenugreek seeds have been recovered from Tell Halal, Iraq (carbon dated to 4000 BC), and Bronze Age levels of Lachish and desiccated seeds from ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |