Bradwell - Sunday 17th February 2002

Bradwell is an area on the southern shore of the Blackwater estuary consisting of some 30 acres of shell bank, together with extensive saltings. The shell bank is continuous between Tip Head and Gunner's Creek, but further south consists of a series of small cockle spits, many of which are separated by deep creeks and gullies. The adjoining saltings in some places are several hundred yards wide. The reserve is run jointly by the Trust and the Essex Birdwatching Society. The latter also operates Bradwell Bird Observatory, situated in the grounds of Linnett's Cottage on the edge of the reserve.

Directions
Head for Bradwell-on-Sea (a mile inland!) via Latchingdon or Southminster, following the B1010/B1018 from Chelmsford or Maldon. Turn right in Bradwell by the church and follow East End Road to its end and park at Easthall Farm. The reserve is entered via the Saxon chapel of St Peter's on the Wall – a distance of about 800m from there.
 

Species Seen    

  1. Red-throated Diver
  2. Great Crested Grebe
  3. Cormorant
  4. Mute Swan
  5. Brent Goose
  6. Common Shelduck
  7. Wigeon
  8. Mallard
  9. Shoveler
  10. Goldeneye
  11. Red-breasted Merganser
  12. Harrier (poss. Marsh)
  13. Sparrowhawk
  14. Kestrel
  15. Merlin
  16. Red-legged Partridge
  17. Common Pheasant
  18. Oystercatcher
  19. Grey Plover
  20. Common Ringed Plover
  21. Lapwing
  22. Curlew
  23. Common Redshank
  24. Turnstone
  25. Knot
  26. Sanderling
  27. Dunlin
  28. Herring Gull
  29. Black-headed Gull
  30. Feral Pigeon
  31. Stock Dove
  32. Wood Pigeon
  33. Collared Dove
  34. Tawny Owl
  35. Great Spotted Woodpecker
  36. Skylark
  37. Meadow Pipit
  38. Pied Wagtail
  39. Wren
  40. Dunnock
  41. Robin
  42. Blackbird
  43. Fieldfare
  44. Mistle Thrush
  45. Great Tit
  46. Blue Tit
  47. Magpie
  48. Rook
  49. Carrion Crow
  50. Starling
  51. House Sparrow
  52. Chaffinch
  53. Greenfinch
  54. Reed Bunting
  55. Corn Bunting





The secluded and wonderfully placed
Bradwell Bird Observatory

 

 


Along from the Bird Observatory the woods
in which the bird ringing takes place.

Local History
The remote little chapel of St.Peter's-on-the-Wall is all that remains of the Christian community formed by St. Cedd in 653 AD. Cedd was an Anglo-Saxon, trained by Aidan at Lindisfarne and sent south as a missionary. The community was both missionary and monastic and St.Peter's may be considered the first cathedral of Essex. The monastery at Bradwell, like that of Burgh Castle in Suffolk, was built on the site of an old Roman fort called Othona, from which a present day community takes its name. (See further information on The Othona Community.) St.Cedd was so successful in his first year at Bradwell that in 654 AD he was recalled to Lindisfarne and consecrated Bishop of the East Saxons. He died of plague in 664 AD at Lastingham, Yorkshire, where he had founded another monastery.

The chapel was being built mainly from reused Roman materials, but only the rectangular nave remains today. In the 15th century it became a chapel-of-ease to the newer church which had been built in the village of Bradwell and in the 17th century the chancel was pulled down and the nave turned into a barn. The chapel was reconsecrated in 1920 and in recent years has become the focus of an annual pilgrimage and regular services during the summer months.