I sea water

Just like King Canute, we cannot hold back the tide. Especially when the tide was bigger in some places than the worst on record.

Eastern England was lashed by the sea. "I ain't seen the like since '53," muttered old salts dressed in oilskins standing on the shingle by the shoreline in my imagination. There was nothing imaginary about the destructive power of the storms. Thousands of pounds worth of property has been damaged and expensive coastal defences were damaged. Largely they held and areas of coastline identified as defences of last resort lived up to expectations. Including many RSPB reserves.

Moving North to South along the coast. Frampton was bruised but will heal quickly. Snettisham was not so lucky. A concrete path was washed away and freshwater lagoons are now salty sea water ditches. One hide now sits at a 45 degree angle and another has vanished without trace!

Waves swept effortlessly over Titchwell's sea wall defences. Part of the beach board walk has been washed away and the dunes more or less flattened. Again, freshwater pools and the wildlife they supported have been replaced by sea water. We'd undertaken extensive landscaping in this area to prevent storm damage and have been pleased by the fact that the effort prevented anything more serious from happenning. The freshwater habitats and species which depend on them will recover, as long the storm surge doesn't become the norm.

At Berney Marshes, the waves were a good third of a metre (a foot) over the sea wall. Staff are now pumping the saline water back over the wall.

The River Yare rose high, but has dropped back and waves lapped over Strumpshaw Fen.

At Minsmere the beach was turned upside down, round about and thrown back down again. Primary sea defences were breached but secondary defences largely held. The reserve was quyickly re-opened for visitors.

Dingle's shingle banks and sea walls were breached with waves crashing over the grazing marshes behind the defences. Outward drains we'd installed to manage water levels were blocked by the debris torn from the shingle banks, so repairs will take a while.

Havergate Island's sea walls have got a number of holes and a couple of our hides are no longer where they had been, but we've not been able to get an inspection team out there as it's still too rough to launch our boat. Having said that, we believe Boyton and Hollesley escaped major damage because the breaches at Havergate reduced the volume of water that would otherwise have swept along the estuary. Low-lying Snape wetlands are now temporarily Snape seawater wetlands.

It all could have been far worse but for the work and planning that's gone into bolstering natural defences. Things like shingle beaches, salt marshes and reedbeds all help ease storm surges. Where these are supported by grazing marshes and pools, storms are more likely to be slowed and managed. It's part happy coincidence and part design. These are exactly the sorts of places where you'll find a great range of wild creatures. The mosaic of habitats contains a wealth of creatures and different plants. They're also the sorts of places that were once considered empty and non-productive, so we lost lots of it to housing and reclaimed farmland.

It's predicted that we could see far more extremes of weather. Investment in natural defences should be top of a national priority list. Our east coast did us proud, saving other areas from damage, including the Thames Estuary and Kent. Nature is an awesome power. Using nature against itself is far cheaper than repairing and insuring lives, infrastructure and livelihoods. It's far prettier and way more interesting too.