HORSEY ISLAND RECHARGE PROJECT Part 3

The works at Horsey have recently completed with a little under 50,000m3 of sand and shingle deposited on the foreshore.

This was our first visit to look at the work at low tide and it the change is quite remarkable. An entirely new beach has been created. This drone photo taken from a recent survey shows what has been achieved in the month-long campaign. 

Credit: JT Pullen

The material deposited will be fantastic for little terns and other beach nesting birds and looks on first inspection to be the perfect material with a fantastic mix of sand, shingles, and gravels. Remarkably the material is already moving inwards and will slowly wrap itself around the existing beach, hopefully in time for the next breeding season. When this process is complete it will look virtually indistinguishable from the existing beach but higher and more resilient.

We will continue to monitor the movement of the material with regular drone flights. We hope to write this scheme up as a case study and encourage future schemes by taking a strategic approach to BuDS throughout Kent and Essex.

The Sospan Dau and its crew have now moved on the Blackwater estuary where they are carrying out similar works to those at Horsey. If you want to learn more about this works, the Mersea Harbour protection society have a great website here: https://savemerseaharbour.org/.

This work will also stop coastal erosion and create new habitat for little terns within the estuary. All in all, over these two campaigns 150,000 m3 of sand and shingle will be deposited and there will be lots of exciting new habitat in place for next spring. 

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