The reserve, 600 acres of coastal grazing marsh, sea walls and saltings shows how traditional coastal farming with grazing livestock can encourage a superb variety of wildlife. The whole area is part of the Essex Coast ESA (Environmentally Sensitive Area) and is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), in particular because of its overwintering birds. It became an Essex Wildlife Trust reserve in 1993.

A public footpath follows the sea wall from Tollesbury Marina (please park in the car park at Woodrolfe Green) round the sea wall and back through the village. On this 5.5 mile walk you can appreciate the Essex coast, the history which formed it and the wildlife it supports. The route is exposed to the elements so be prepared.
If you have a dog then it must be kept under strict control because of the risk to grazing livestock.

Background
The grazing marshes at Tollesbury Wick were reclaimed from the sea by the construction of the sea wall. To the inside of the sea wall is the borrowdyke (a long ditch dug out to provide material for the sea wall), and to the outside is a narrow fringe of saltmarsh and expanse of mud and shingle.
A low sea wall was thrown up several hundred years ago and firmly consolidated by the 1860s. This was followed by the construction of Tollesbury Light Railway, which eventually opened in 1904. Remains of the terminus at Tollesbury Pier are still visible in the south west corner of the reserve. The proposed development of seaside properties did not occur and the branch line closed to passengers in 1951. Two years later the 1953 floods prompted further raising and strengthening of the sea walls. Other features of historical interest include the Red Hills and Second World War constructions. In spite of all these developments that have come and gone, traditional grazing with sheep and cattle continued. Until, that is, the pressure for arable land saw 146 acres drained and ploughed. Fortunately, most of the marshes survived and now the Essex Wildlife Trust seeks to reinstate them as an example of the best grazing marshes in Essex, combining good farming and good conservation.

From the car park at Woodrolfe Green follow the road for 350 metres to the Sail Lofts. Pick up the public footpath on the sea wall, past Tollesbury Marina, and make for the reserve entrance. The sea wall stretches out along Woodrolfe Creek and sweeps around the horizon enclosing the main body of the marsh. Beyond it you can pick out: the town of West Mersea; Bradwell Power Station; and, on rising land behind Marsh Farm buildings, a Second World War observation tower.

Along the sea wall to the Leavings
There is a good section of reed bed in the borrowdyke just inside the reserve which is always worth a look and a listen for reed warblers and reed buntings, as well as dragonflies in summer. 200 metres further on is the only sluice for the whole marsh, where precious water gushes out at low tide after heavy rain. Little terns are often seen searching for ten-spined sticklebacks, which thrive in the salty borrowdyke along with eels and many insects. The folding, that flat land between borrowdyke and sea wall, is good in summer for plants like grass vetchling and spiny restharrow, and for grasshoppers and crickets, notably Roesel's bush cricket, with its persistent free wheeling song. Regain the public footpath on the sea wall to keep a watch on the saltmarsh, which is purple with sea lavender in summer, and the muddy creeks which hold a good range of birds.

The Leavings Hard
Across the creek is Great Cob Island, with common terns in summer, and the RSPB reserve of Old Hall Marshes beyond. The creek has more boats than birds in summer, but at other times is a vast larder for waders like black-tailed godwits, curlew and dunlin, and wildfowl like shelduck, Brent geese and mergansers.
Looking landward, across the borrowdyke, the first marshes are rather uniform because 146 acres here were levelled, drained and grew arable crops for 15 years before being put back to set-aside and then returned to marsh. No doubt skylarks will be overhead in the nesting season to test the spots in your eyes, and on the ground there will be nesting lapwing and redshank. The populations of voles which build up here attract overwintering predators like hen harrier, merlin and short-eared owl alongside the resident barn owl, little owl, and kestrel. These nearby fields are taken for hay and grazed to keep them relatively short for Brent geese and wigeon.
Dogs must be kept on a lead or under close control from the next stile because of grazing livestock.

Shingle Head Point
The Second World War block house is a good vantage point to scan the Blackwater estuary for overwintering duck, geese and waders. You may be lucky to spot eider, long-tailed duck, great northern diver or a common seal. Between late April and early July please do not ven-ture onto the shin-gle itself becauselittle terns, oyster-catchers and ringed plovers will be nest-ing. The shingle and shells here and further on support the yellow horned-poppy.
To landward you now look back over traditional grazing marsh which has never been ploughed. The fleets which snake across it are the original saltmarsh creeks prior to reclamation. Many of the small lumps and bumps are long established ant hills of the meadow ant so typical of grazing marshes. You will often spot a hare here or a fox nonchalantly going about his business.

Big Fleet and Blockhouse Bay
Here the sea wall points into the centre of the marsh and Big Fleet meets the borrowdyke. This fleet forms a sweet water reservoir and a habitat for dragonflies and nesting marshland birds. A few hundred metres onto the marsh is a prominent mound - an ancient Red Hill where salt was concentrated in Roman times. To seaward is a wider area of saltmarsh than the thin eroded strip which remains in front of most of the sea wall. Loss of saltmarsh is a serious problem because of the risk of the sea wall being undermined.

Tollesbury Pier and Mill Creek
The remains of the pier mark the failed aspirations of Victorians to develop a Clacton or Southend here. The pier deck was removed in 1940 to pre-vent an enemy landing. The terminus station for this, the Crab and Winkle Line, was just inside the sea wall, and the level shows just how much the sea wall has been raised since the 1953 floods.
To the east of the railway embankment is an area of grazing marsh where the Trust aims to create some wet marsh areas by installing sluices and directing water from the big fleet. This is the first wet area of a scheme under the Essex Coast ESA, which is designed to bring grazing marshes back along the Essex coast.
If you have not seen many butterflies and other insects then this last section of sea wall is one of the best as you head back along the edge of Mill Creek, and at the head of the saltmarsh you will find shrubby seablight, the largest of saltmarsh plants. At the head of Mill Creek pick up the foot-path which brings you to the track and public foot-path through Mel Farm and thence onto Mell Road back to Tollesbury village.
'The Crescent' provides a short cut back to your car, but spend a little time in Tollesbury village if you can - its a fine self-sufficient village with a long history of sailing, wildfowling, smuggling, oysters, railways and everything else which goes with Essex coast life. And good pubs for lunch if you time it right.
 

Essex Wildlife Trust
The support of our 13,500 members enables the Trust to look after Tollesbury Wick and over 80 nature reserves throughout Essex.

Support the Trust by becoming a member
Details of membership and guides for some of the Trust's other nature reserves are available from any of the Trust's conservation centres or from:

Essex Wildlife Trust Fingringhoe Conservation Centre, Fingringhoe, Colchester CO5 7DN. Tel: 01206 729678.

 One of the 47 Trusts that form The Wildlife Trusts
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