Blue House Farm - management of coastal grazing marsh

Blue House Farm lies within the Essex Coast Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA), which encourages land owners to retain and recreate coastal pastures and where possible to increase areas of conservation wetlands. Like most coastal grazing marsh the land was extensively drained for agriculture. The Essex Wildlife Trust, which bought the site with a grant from the National Heritage Lottery Fund (http://www.hlf.org.uk/index2.html) are putting in sluices to raise and control water levels, to improve the area for the wildlife. The level of grazing is also being controlled to help secure the characteristic wildlife. The Trust is working towards a balance between good livestock farming (involving traditional stocking levels) and good conservation.

The site provides an excellent example of management and restoration of coastal grazing marsh. It is accessible at all times via public footpath along the seawall. A new permissive footpath is being created giving access to bird hides overlooking the fleets. See http://www.essexwt.org.uk/welcome.htm for information about the reserve.