26 July 2023
It’s under an hour’s drive from Colchester and twenty minutes’ walk from the busy Promenade Park in Maldon, but this island is a wilderness. The causeway to reach the tidal island is covered approximately three hours each side of high tide; it can be covered for longer during spring tides or stormy conditions. Hence it’s necessary to plan a visit carefully taking note of the tide tables for Maldon.
We set out from near Byrhtnoth’s statue in the park. Byrhtnoth was a principal voice in rejection of the policy of appeasement of the Vikings and confronted them at the Battle of Maldon in which he died.
The mudflats are interesting including wrecked barges and wading birds.
We had done our research and were visiting as the tide was falling. The causeway was above water and we walked across.
Immediately it felt as if we were in a different world. The large areas of saltmarsh are an important habitat for specialist plants which can withstand salt water in different concentrations depending on the amount of rainfall. The saltmarsh is also an important area of carbon storage, reducing the effects of climate change. Moreover research has shown that the vegetation and physical features of creeks and sediment surfaces of saltmarshes make them effective in reducing wave and tidal energy compared with man-made sea walls; this helps to reduce the risk of flooding and erosion elsewhere.
Unfortunately we weren’t able to walk as far onto the island as is usually possible. Maintenance work is being carried out to re-profile the embankments to cope better with overtopping by very high tides and future sea level rises. This is intended to increase the area of healthy saltmarsh – both improving the condition of the current saltmarsh and increasing the area of saltmarsh.
The need for urgent maintenance is explained on the National Trust website about the site now. Unfortunately I’d researched weeks before our visit, as I’d been so busy lately having adventures, and this information wasn’t on the website at that stage. It will be worth another visit once the work is complete as it would normally be possible to walk further along the island track. However the work being carried out is important in order to preserve this important habitat for plants and birds as well as ensuring that it can continue to help mitigate the effects of climate change.
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