Howlands Marsh

Mouse over links for pictures; click for detail page.

One of the best surviving coastal grazing marshes in Essex, consisting mainly of low-lying hummocky grassland, split up by dykes and fleets. It supports some unusual coastal plants and large numbers of wildfowl and waders vist in winter.

The grassland contains much reed, sedge, glaucous bulrush and sea clubrush, and a variety of other plants include spiny rest-harrow and, particularly on the many anthills, spring whitlow-grass. Uncommon plants such as slender hare's-ear, knotted parsley and sea barley grow on and near the seawall.

Among the plants in the dykes and fleets are great water-dock, lesser water-parsnip, tufted forget-me-not, marsh bedstraw and brackish water-crowfoot. In places on the saltmarsh are sea wormwood and some golden samphire, as well as the more usual saltmarsh plants.

Reed warblers, lapwings, skylarks and reed buntings breed here. In winter brent geese graze among hundreds of wildfowl along with small flocks of curlews. When the tide is low, large numbers of shelduck, dunlin and redshank feed on the exposed mud in the creeks. Little egrets and marsh harriers are frequent visitors.

The marshland also supports a great variety of invertebrates, including some rare species.