Open Day on Two Tree - Healthy Life Essex

On Sunday 17 May, Glen and I attended the third annual Open Day on Two Tree Island. Gazebos and refreshments provided shelter and warmth as the weather yo-yoed between sunshine and showers. A small parcel of land, east of the island was covered with over 10 stands promoting the work of Essex organisations and free guided walks offered a chance to see the Avocets. The island is leased to the Essex Wildlife Trust (EWT) as a nature reserve. They look after this important site together with the South East Essex Conservation Volunteers and Two Tree Island Volunteers. An RSPB volunteer told us about the new resource centre at Wat Tyler Country Park scheduled to open this summer and confirmed an area of scrub cleared by Greengrid Task volunteers in 2008 is now a wildlife pond. 

Plans for the new Belfair’s Woodlands Resource Centre were on display and leaflets were available from the Leigh-on-sea Farmers Market stand. Items for sale included plants from The South East Essex Organic Gardeners and goods supporting the work of the Essex Badger Protection Group. Paul Terry and his colleague from Southend Borough Council distributed free pink sacks, an ‘Eat Well, Waste Less,’ guide to using leftovers and leaflets on recycling.

The Southend Dormouse Group boards provided a good insight into their work and we learnt about the necessity for strict monitoring procedures of this shy creature. It was good to hear that there are now a hundred nest boxes in Belfair’s Woods.   

Members of the public are unlikely to see a dormouse as they are nocturnal and it’s illegal to open a box without a licence. There are now three licence holders in the Southend group. Once a month, the licensees are joined by 6 or 7 volunteers for the one-day task of box inspection and counting. Examples of old nests, normally built in a bramble hedge, showed how cosy and warm a ball of leaves and twigs can be. Grey squirrels have been known to eat dormice and the volunteers mentioned finding teeth marks on the nest boxes.

Dormice are docile creatures; a bite from their weak jaws wouldn’t hurt, unlike the bite from the more aggressive edible dormouse. This species is more prevalent on the continent and was once eaten by the ancient Romans. Wild edible dormice are now considered a delicacy in Slovenia.  

We moved away from the Dormouse stand to a stall covered in identification charts, magnifying glasses and two plastic bowls of pond life. As we pored over the diagrams, another visitor shared his enthusiasm for Essex history and it’s diversity of wildlife.

The gentleman had fond memories of travelling from Woolwich on the Paddle Steamer for an annual family holiday in Southend and remembered spending a happy week digging in the mud. He and his partner, both members of a local branch of the University of the Third Age (U3A) shared their knowledge of the area. Trips form a large part of the programme with visits to local museums and lectures by staff at tourist attractions. During a talk given by a member of staff member at the Sealife Centre, they learnt that pink seahorses and New Zealand barnacles can now be found under the pier due to the rise in sea temperature.  

We discovered the Thames is now one of the cleanest rivers in Europe and home to over 118 different species including salmon, porpoise and a colony of seals. The friendly Thorpe Bay resident revealed that church wardens are a good source of local information. On a recent visit to Barling, the warden disclosed the area was inhabited by a Germanic tribe 3000 years ago, long before the Romans settled there.  

The Thorpe Bay branch of the U3A has only been going for a year and already has 28 groups, covering many topics. Members come from all walks of life to share common interests and new groups are actively encouraged.

In spite of the weather, the day was well supported by local residents; the weather illuminated this beautiful stretch of Essex coast, illustrating why so many people enjoy the richness of culture, wildlife and great skies in this area.