THE ESSEX MARSHES 



All along the low-lying coast of Essex, from the 

 mouth of the Thames at Tilbury Fort to the towns 

 of Harwich and Dovercourt, there stretch thousands 

 of acres of salt-marshes, the haunt in former days 

 of myriads of wild-fowl, and still of considerable in- 

 terest to the naturalist. A glance at the ordnance 

 map of the county will show the great extent of these 

 "marshes" and "salterns," especially near the estu- 

 aries of the larger rivers, the Crouch, the Blackwater, 

 and the Colne. A " marsh," it should be noted, differs 

 from a " saltern," in being a tract of land reclaimed 

 from the sea, and protected against the inroads of the 

 tide by an artificial bank or sea-wall. These marshes, 

 which make valuable grazing-land, are intersected by 

 numerous dikes or ditches, known locally as " fleets," 

 bordered in many places with dense jungles of reeds 

 and rushes. " Saltings," on the other hand, are those 

 stretches of marsh and mud land which have not been 

 enclosed by a sea-wall, but are more or less flooded 

 during the period of high tide. 



To most persons this vast region of marsh-land 

 would doubtless seem desolate enough, especially in 

 the dreary days of winter when the wind is sighing 

 among the recd-beds, and the peewit is uttering its 

 mournful cry. But to the lover of nature these same 

 marshes, in winter and summer alike, are of the deepest 



