On Saturday afternoon, I stood on a shingle beach with waves crashing against the shore. I always feel invigorated by the power of the sea and this was a great way to clear the head following the surprising election result 24 hours earlier.
Behind me was c200 hecatares of new wetland habitats which now provide homes to birds such as little tern, grey plover, avocet and even a spoonbill. With colleagues from the RSPB’s Board, Council of trustees and our South East team I was visiting Medmerry - the largest known open coast managed realignment project – as part of our Council weekend.
It’s a site that I last visited in 2012 prior to the sea wall being breached. I’ve seen the video and told its story many times, but I hadn’t been back to the site since the sea had been let in. I wasn’t disappointed. Today, it’s a spectacular example of what can be achieved with determination, expertise and a little help from the power of the sea. Prior to the breach, the Environment Agency constructed 4.24 miles of new floodbank inland from the sea between Selsey and Bracklesham on one of the largest undeveloped stretches of coast anywhere between Southampton and Brighton.
It is primarily a flood risk management project protecting 300 homes from coastal flooding. But it is also providing compensatory habitat for that which is lost through coastal squeeze and sea level rise. The Environment Agency is obliged to recreate 100 hectares a year under the terms of the EU Nature Directives and the Medmerry scheme is a major contribution to this target.
At Medmerry, things are going so well that we were able to celebrate the successful breeding of black-winged stilts last year. Yet, the site will evolve over time as the sea shapes its future. Trees and scrub will eventually die unable to cope with the salt water but the birds will come in big numbers as it becomes an important home for nature on the densely populated south coast.
I encourage you to pop in to pay a visit. And if you do go, you should make a weekend of it as we did. Go and see the little terns protected by the Birds Directive at Pagham Harbour and pop in to the wonderful Natura 2000 site Pulborough Brooks to hear nightingales, see snakes and enjoy the woodland flowers.
Sites protected and created and species being recovered thanks to the Nature Directives – those European laws that are so vulnerable today (see here).
Over the coming days I shall explain how you can help defend the laws that defend our nature. But for now, I’m going to bottle my moment by the seaside and channel the power of nature to spur me on over the weeks ahead.