Blog by Kieren Alexander, Site Manager for RSPB Old Hall Marshes

Work is progressing nicely on the beneficial reuse project at Horsey island, with almost 25% of the material delivered by the Sospan Dau so far.
 
The Sospan Dau is being skippered by a joint venture of Van Oord and Boskalis Westminster who have undertaken many such projects around the globe and are experts in this type of operation. They are able to access the disposal location at every high tide once they have found enough of the correct material from the Harwich Haven authority channel deepening source site, in this case sand and shingle. The material is then pumped ashore using a short length of floating pipe held in place by ropes and a small tugboat. This allows accurate disposal of the material and into the area it should be placed. 

You can track the boat here:

​Or here,
 
MarineTraffic: Global Ship Tracking Intelligence | AIS Marine Traffic
 
However, the best view is from the air and we were able to access Horsey last week and take this Drone footage. This shows the Sospan Dau approaching the island and discharging the material. 

​At the moment the material resembles a large flat sand and shingle pancake. It will be shaped and sculpted by tide and wind over winter, moving landwards and westwards and in time building up the existing beach.
 
Although it doesn’t look like it now, the existing beach at Horsey is manmade, it was created in the 1990’s by the original Sospan Dau after a similar scheme where material was transported from a deepening project carried out by Harwich Haven Authority and the Environment Agency. It was after this that little terns colonised the beach and made this an important colony. However, the same forces that created the beach are also slowly causing it to be less suitable for nesting birds, it is slowly flattening out and lowering. This makes it much more vulnerable to storm events and high tides over the breeding season, which can lead to the complete loss of a breeding season. This work will make this scenario much less likely in the future in this location.

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In case you missed it, here is the link to first part of Horsey Island Recharge Project blog.

Blog by Kieren Alexander, Site Manager for RSPB Old Hall Marshes

Work will shortly commence on an exciting project at Horsey Island in Essex to secure and enhance the most important little tern colony in Essex. Using sand and shingle materials from the major channel deepening conducted by Harwich Haven.
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Funded by the EU Life+ project and the Environment Agency and with a major contribution from Harwich Haven Authority. This project aims to secure the future of the most important little tern colony in Essex, ensuring that it is secure from climate change and sea level rise for the next 50 years. 

​Horsey Island is a private island in the north of Essex, it was first recharged in the 1990’s using sand and shingle from a previous deepening operation conducted by Harwich Haven Authority. More recently it has evolved into the most important little tern colony in Essex, ably wardened by the Ranger employed by Tendring District Council. Its unique offshore location means that it is relatively free of disturbance from people and mammalian predators this has allowed little terns to thrive and develop a productive colony.
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However, over time the beach has moved westward and landwards and gradually flattened out. This has meant the beach is increasingly vulnerable to high tide events especially over the breeding season. This means that to ensure that we can continue to provide habitat for little terns we need to recharge the recharge. 

This is done by dredging sand and shingle then transporting it to the island, it is then deposited either via blowing it out over the bow or connecting a pipe and pumping it directly on to the foreshore. This is then moved around by the wind and tides until it settles on the existing beach raising the beach. This type of scheme is also known as a beneficial reuse scheme.

Not only will this project secure the future of the little tern colony, but it will also help to reduce erosion of saltmarsh, also a valuable and protected habitat. It will also maintain Horsey’s role as a wave break in the embayment, absorbing wave energy and helping to maintain the socio and economic and recreational opportunities this wonderful part of the Essex coast supports.
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The work is due to commence on or around the 30th of September and will last approximately a month. We will be updating the blog during the operation to track progress.