April 1st heralds the start of a four year European grant in association with the National Trust on Orford Ness. The LIFE+ grant will allow us to undertake much needed works on the island including replacing all of the tidal sluices which were hand made by the previous site manager John Partridge. I have many photos in the office of John and his team of volunteers holding back the sea with pallets and sheets of plastic whilst building the sluices. After doing a great job for well over 20 years sadly the time has come to replace them.
Alongside the sluices we will move several hundred tonnes of soil to recreate many of the eroded islands which will improve the habitat for the breeding birds found on the island.
The work on the island won’t affect the visitor events and we hope to have a project website up and running soon with lots of information and interactive material including nest cams on Orford Ness.
When it’s up I will post a link on the main Havergate page.
Aaron, Site Manager