High rainfall, storm surges and high winds have been big news across the country recently and despite some of our other reserves in East Anglia suffering from the weather, (particularly the storm surge) the South Essex reserves have held up well, although there is plenty of water for the kids to go splashing in…
It is a credit to the reserves we manage here that they can cope with so much water. In many ways they look their most striking when the ditches and pools are brimmed full, providing some of the best Wildlife spectacles around. All that water attracts large numbers of birds that like to graze on the wet grasslands, such as Widgeon, Canada Geese and Graylag Geese.
Greylag Geese by David Lee
With so much rainfall recently we have not had to move too much water around the site. Instead, the reserve wardens monitor the levels and keep an eye on the weather reports. Constantly monitoring the water movements on sites such as Bowers Marsh and West Canvey Marsh allows us to manage them accordingly, and with the recent wet weather we will try and hold on to as much of the water as possible for hopefully…the dryer months to come.
Steven Roach - Warden