The full description of this cache trail and a PDF file may be obtained from Tollesbury Wick Marshes Cache Trail.
Extracts from the Visitor Guide to the Tollesbury Wick Marshes Nature Reserve.
The reserve, 600 acres of coastal grazing marsh, sea walls and saltings, shows how traditional coastal farming with grazing livestock can encourage a superb variety of wildlife. The whole area lies within the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) major agri-environmental scheme, the Essex Coast Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA). Its conservation importance has attracted both national and international designations.
The reserve is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), and forms part of the Mid-Essex Coast Special Protection Area (SPA) for wild birds and a Wetland of International Importance/Ramsar Site, in particular because of its overwintering birds. Its estuarine and unusual marine communities on the fringes of the reserve form part of the Blackwater Estuary National Nature Reserve (NNR), as well as part of the Essex Estuaries Special Area of Conservation (SAC). It became an Essex Wildlife Trust reserve in 1993.
The grazing marshes at Tollesbury Wick were reclaimed from the sea by the construction of the sea wall. To the inside of the sea wall is the borrowdyke (a long ditch dug out to provide material for the sea wall), and to the outside is a narrow fringe of saltmarsh and expanse of mud and shingle.
The origins of the sea wall go back probably to the late Middle Ages. It was clearly marked on the Chapman and Andre map of 1777, and firmly consolidated by the 1860s. This was followed by the construction of the Tollesbury and Kelvedon Light Railway, which eventually opened in 1904. Remains of the terminus at Tollesbury Pier are still visible in the south west corner of the reserve. Its proposed development as a yachting centre did not occur and the branch line closed to passengers in 1951.
Two years later the 1953 floods prompted further raising and strengthening of the sea walls. Other features of historical interest include ancient man-made mounds and Second World War constructions. In spite of all these developments that have come and gone, traditional grazing with sheep and cattle continued, until, that is, the pressure for arable land saw 146 acres drained, ploughed and levelled. Fortunately, most of the marshes survived and now Essex Wildlife Trust has reinstated them as an example of one of the best grazing marshes in Essex, aiming to combine good farming with good conservation. Since 2000, the Trust has built up a flock of Shetland and North Ronaldsay Sheep. It now also owns a suckler herd of Shetland cattle, an endangered traditional breed that, like the sheep breeds, is ideally suited to the rough grazing on the marshes.
If you have a dog then it must be kept under strict control because of the risk to grazing livestock and the disturbance to wildlife.
Shinglehead Point
The Second World War pillbox is a good vantage point to scan the Blackwater Estuary for over-wintering duck, geese and divers. You may be lucky to spot Eider, Long-tailed Duck, Great Northern Diver or a Common Seal.
From late April to the end of July please do not venture onto the shingle itself because Little Terns, Oystercatchers and Ringed Plovers will be nesting. The shingle and shell banks here and further on also support the nationally scarce Yellow Horned-poppy.
To landward you now look back over traditional grazing marsh which has never been ploughed. The fleets which snake across it are the original saltmarsh creeks prior to reclamation. Many of the small lumps and bumps are long established ant hills of the Yellow Meadow Ant so typical of grazing marshes. If you are lucky you may spot a Brown Hare or a Fox going about their business.