Cudmore Grove - polder experiment

This site lies off the south east coast of Mersea Island in the outer reaches of the Colne Estuary, Essex. The site is one of a number of experiments to encourage the establishment of saltmarsh (by creating polders) in areas of erosion. Five H-shaped brushwood enclosures were built on the foreshore.

Caption: Wooden groynes placed on the mudflats. The work was undertaken in 1988/9. This picture was taken in July 2002 and shows that there is no saltmarsh present at that time. It is not known if saltmarsh became established and has since been lost.

Comment: The results of early monitoring showed that by 1990 (some 14 months after installation) cord grass Spartina, present when construction took place, was still present. Some evidence of accretion in sheltered parts of the construction was also observed but it was too early to tell if these represented a net gain of sediment.