Two Tree Island is split into two areas, an eastern and a western side. The car park for both areas is situated just beyond the island bridge visible in the picture above. The eastern part of Two Tree Island consists of a a small tidal island with the adjoining saltmarsh (170 acres) and a large area of inter-tidal mudflats (464 acres). It is part of Leigh National Nature Reserve.
Two Tree Island typifies the history of many Essex coastal sites. It was reclaimed from the sea in the 18th century when a sea-wall was built around saltmarsh, and was used for rough grazing until 1910 when a sewage farm was built on its eastern tip. In 1936 Southend Borough Council acquired the whole island and used it as a rubbish tip until the 1970s. The island itself consists mainly of grassland and scrub, with the former rubbish tip supporting a number of interesting alien plants and 'escapes'. A wide variety of birds is seen, and particularly migrants. Kestrels hover over the grassland and Short-eared Owls visit during the winter, hunting for field voles. Grass snakes and lizards are seen. Insects of note include the marbled white butterfly, Roesels bush-cricket, the house cricket and the lesser marsh grasshopper. The saltmarsh along the southern shore of the island is one of the best surviving in the Thames estuary. Among many typical sea-wall and saltmarsh plants it has golden samphire, sea wormwood, sea aster, common and lax-flowered sea lavenders and sea purslane. The mudflats support dense beds of eel grass and provide a valuable feeding ground for wildfowl and waders, including the dark-bellied brent goose. The concentration of thousands of these birds arriving on their autumn migration is of international importance. Waders such as curlew dunlin redshank, grey plover and knot occur in significant numbers outside the breeding season. The nearby Leigh cockle sheds bring winter flocks of turnstone close inshore and attract some of the rarer gull species. Management consists mainly of work on the island: keeping paths and grassland mown, controlling the growth of invasive scrub (hemlock is a particular threat), tending hedges and maintaining hides. More soil cover is being added to exposed patches of the old tip so that plants will be encouraged to colonise.
History Two Tree Island was reclaimed from the sea in the 18th Century by building a sea-wall around saltmarsh. It was used for rough grazing until 1910 when a sewage farm was built on its eastern tip. In 1936 Southend Borough Council acquired the whole island with the object of using it as a rubbish tip. In 1974, having completed tipping on the eastern part of the island, the Council granted a long lease to the Nature Conservancy Council (now English Nature) covering the reserve as it now stands, and it was designated a National Nature Reserve (NNR).
Directions The island is south of Leigh. Turn off the A13 down towards Leigh station, then cross the bridge over the railway and follow the road past the golf range and over the bridge on to the island. There is a car park immediately over the bridge and the main reserve entrance is about 200m further on the left. Hadleigh Castle Country Park is on the right. Twenty minutes walk from Leigh station (BR Fenchurch StSouthend), which is also served by a number of bus services.Best times to visit Migration periods and winter for birds the Brent Geese are normally here from late September to mid-November; July for saltmarsh colours and butterflies. Wildfowl and waders may also be seen before and after high tide from Old Leigh and from the foreshore as far as Chalkwell station. To avoid disturbing the birds, please keep strictly to the marked footpaths in the reserve The western side of Two Tree Island consists of common land with wonderful walks down to the lagoon where visitors can watch the waders from a hide.
Some of the birds to look out for on the island are:
With kind thanks to the Essex Wildlife Trust |
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