Government urged to make Colchester's The Wick an SSSI

Buglife, Butterfly Conservation, Colchester Natural History Society, Essex Field Club, Essex Wildlife Trust and the community-led Friends of Middlewick have presented evidence to the Government’s environmental advisor Natural England.

In the document, the six organisations say the 76-hectare site “clearly meets” the strict criteria used to identify Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) – the most important places for wildlife.

Nature - Campaigners say the Wick in Colchester's existing nature merits it becoming an SSSI (Image: Grace Darke)

The Middlewick Ranges is a former Ministry of Defence (MOD) firing range, which has since become used by the public as a nature space. 

The MOD currently has the land on sale for development, with 1,000 new homes being planned. 

Martin Pugh, deputy chair of the Friends of Middlewick Ranges said: “Middlewick Ranges Local Wildlife Site is treasured locally but is of national importance”.

“Those well-trodden sandy slopes and acid grassland are now a curiosity in Essex which has lost so much of this irreplaceable habitat.

"Home to a premier UK Nightingale population, European protected Barbastelle Bats and a myriad of wildlife, including notable and rare invertebrates, biodiverse gems like Middlewick simply must be retained, protected and enhanced."

Beetle - a Stag Beetle in the Wick, which are common in the South of England but rare and even extinct elsewhere in the country (Image: Wayne Richard Baker)

Jamie Robins, programmes manager of Buglife added: “Against the background of a nature emergency, with our insects in steep decline, it is more important than ever for Natural England to protect our most important wildlife sites”.

“SSSIs are the backbone of conservation in England and bold action is needed to protect the precious habitats that we have left.

"If the Government is to meet its ambitious 30 x 30 targets, it must designate special sites such as Middlewick Ranges and secure their future.”

Dr Jeremy Dagley, the director of conservation at Essex Wildlife Trust also said stress the Wick is of outstanding importance for Essex and the South East region. 

He said: “The grassland and its underlying carbon-rich soils have lain undisturbed for over two centuries and this has allowed high levels of biodiversity to develop and flourish”.

“It is of the same ecological importance as acid grasslands of fully protected SSSIs, like Epping Forest.”