Essex Wildlife Trust creating new habitat at Abbotts Hall

Essex Wildlife Trust has revealed plans for conservation work at Abbotts Hall nature reserve on the Blackwater Estuary near Colchester.

Environmentalists warn action is needed to protect and restore saltmarshes, as part of efforts to store carbon and tackle the climate and nature crisis.

A first of its kind report has revealed the role coastal habitats such as saltmarshes have in storing carbon.

Habitat - the conservation of the natural saltmarshes will create new habitat (Image: PA Media)

But experts have warned that 85 per cent of the UK’s saltmarshes have been lost since the mid 19th Century.

And those that remain are threatened by coastal development, pollution from agricultural run-off and sewage, and climate change which brings more extreme storms and rising sea levels.

Rachel Langley, head of marine and coastal recovery at Essex Wildlife Trust, said: “Saltmarshes are key blue carbon habitats, and they are key estuarine habitats, particularly important along the Essex coast and other areas in the UK.

“They are important as habitat in their own right, in terms of saltmarsh species, and that in turn supports biodiversity of wider species such as wildfowl and waders.

“Saltmarsh provides shelter and a feeding ground for young fish species, and also provides benefits in terms of flood alleviation for communities and terrestrial habitats along the coast.

“And it also sequesters and stores carbon, so all of those team together to make it a really important coastal habitat.”

A 'managed realignment' scheme at Abbotts Hall in 2002 saw old sea walls breached at five spots along a 3km (1.9 mile) stretch to create nearly 125 acres - equivalent to 60 football pitches - of new saltmarsh and intertidal habitat, as well as the creation of coastal grassland and other habitats, including a freshwater lake.

As well as creating habitat for wildlife and carbon storage, the project also aimed to protect nearby Salcott from coastal flooding, by providing sea water with an inlet before it reached the village.