Barrington Point

Crouch seawall east of Burnham Wick sluice

Pannel's Brook and solar farm

One of the former land drains from the time when this was all sterile arable - now Wallasea RSPB Reserve, seen from the seasonally opened Pools Path.

The line of the former land drain can be seen. The RSPB is transforming Wallasea from an area of sterile arable to an invaluable diverse mixed wetland. Taken from the relatively new and seasonally open Pool Path.

The following adapted from the RSPB website Link "The reserve covers more than 740ha, with all of the arable farmland now transformed to saltmarsh, mudflats, lagoons and grazing marsh. There are six walking trails – Jubilee Marsh, Allfleets Marsh, Marsh Flats, South Trail, New Pool Trail and Beagle Trail, making over 15km of trail on the reserve. At the ends of Allfleets Marsh trail and Jubilee Marsh trail are two shelters providing a comfortable place to sit overlooking the river. To create this magical landscape of marshland, lagoons, ditches and sea, more than three million tonnes of earth was brought by boat from the tunnels and shafts created by the Crossrail scheme in London. This allowed us to raise the land above sea level and place the soil in a way that created a new 115-hectare intertidal area of saltmarsh, islands and mudflats (known as Jubilee Marsh). In addition, Crossrail helped us create saline lagoons, a creek network and grazing marsh. All of which means Wallasea Island is now a wildlife-rich habitat and a great place to visit. Wallasea Island sits within a Special Protection Area which covers the Crouch and Roach estuaries, and which is special for overwintering waders and wildfowl including Brent Geese. Our work here increases the habitat for these birds both whilst roosting and feeding, as well as creating new grassland areas (wet and dry). The intertidal areas have been designed with climate change in mind, with long shallow slopes from the new seawall providing space for the saltmarsh to creep up as sea levels rise."

Looking south, see also: TQ9693 : Jubilee Marsh Trail - RSPB Wallasea Island

Looking north, see also: TQ9793 : Jubilee Marsh Trail - RSPB Wallasea Island

A section of one of the dead-straight, north-south land drains which divided up the island prior to the RSPB's "Wild Coast Project. This is one of only a few remaining and the most easterly. Assorted ducks and geese are taking advantage of this less visited part of the island

Just out of Burnham-on-Crouch at Ringwood Bar walking along the coastal path one comes to the first of a series of abandoned rotting boat carcasses. It looked to me like the remains of a Viking longboat which it most certainly was not. Doubtless the wind here would once have propelled the boat along the river Crouch, now it propels the wind turbine, one of many, seen on the horizon. A changing face of industry.

View from footpath East of Burnham-On-Crouch with Wallasea Island in background.

Confluence of the Roach and Crouch estuaries. About as far as you can get from any habitation in Essex - by land at least.

Sign on sluice. Dredger in background

I don't quite know what's happening here. The land behind the existing sea wall appears to be at least in part being removed and a new sea wall built to the south. The sucker ship and the big dumper obviously have some role in this. Some 3 months after this picture was taken the sea wall was breached close to this point TQ9794 : The Sea Returns, TQ9694 : Breaching the Sea Wall and a large area of farmland was returned to the sea. The ships were in fact exchanging soil for "uncontaminated" mud dredged up offshore.

The round yellow objects in the middle distance are disused buoys. The dredger at Ringwood Point can be seen in the distance.

A new sea wall running roughly straight between this point and Grasslands Point is under construction and the area south of the old sea wall is being dug out to provide new salt marsh.

Wreck on the beach

River Roach at confluence with Crouch

Probably the only land drain on Wallasea that isn't straight and doesn't run north/south.