Two Tree Island
Leigh on SeaMap Ref: TQ 824 852
Public Transport - Leigh on Sea station (Fenchurch Street line) is 20 minutes walk away and is also served by a number of bus services.
Dogs allowed if under effective control.
Directions
Turn left off the A13 down to Leigh station, then cross the bridge over the railway and follow the road past the golf range and over the bridge onto the island. There is a car park immediately over the bridge.
This 640 acre island is situated south of Leigh on Sea train station. It was reclaimed from the sea in the 18th century when a seawall was built around the saltmarsh, the enclosed area being used for rough grazing and subsistence farming. The island is now bisected by a roadway that neatly divides it into two halves. Essex Wildlife Trust now manages the island as a nature reserve. The island itself consists of grassland, scrub, reedbed and lagoons and supports a wide variety of birds, particularly migrants.
Designation:
Site of Special Scientific Interest
Special Protected Area
National Nature Reserve
What to look for:
The saltmarsh has a good range of saltmarsh plants including Sea Purslane, Common Sea-lavender, Sea Arrow-grass, Common Saltmarsh-grass and Sea Aster.
The mudflats support dense beds of Eel-grass and the mudflats provide food for thousands of wildfowld and waders. These overwinter on the shoreline including Brent Geese. Waders such as Curlew, Dunlin, Redshank and Grey Prover can also be seen in significant numbers.
The reserve is also a good habitat for a number of insects including the three species of carder bee, butterflies including Marbled White, Small Skipper and Essex Skipper.
Birds such as Green Woodpecker, Kestrel, Short-eared Owl, Skylark, Meadow Pipit and Fieldfare can all be seen. Slow Worms, Addrs and Common Lizard can also all be found.
During the winter, Kestrels hover over the grassland and Short Eared Owls visit, hunting for Field Voles whilst large numbers of Access
Avocets also nest on Two Tree Island and for two consecutive years their eggs were stolen days before hatching. Essex Wildlife Trust in partnership with Southend-on-Sea Borough Council and Essex Police now coordiante an Avocet egg watch, which has resulted in a number of chicks each year. Current numbers in 2009 stand at 22.
To avoid disturbing the birds, please keep strictly to the marked footpaths in the eastern section.
Did you know?
The name of the island originates from two large elms that were a prominent feature until they were brought down by storms in the early 1960s.