262 
THE BIRDS OF WEST THURROCK MARSH. 
BY PERCY W. HORN. 
I F we take a map of Essex and look at the southern boundary 
of the county we shall note that, midway between Purfleet 
and Grays, the river makes a sharp bend, enclosing a tract of 
land which is roughly in the form of an obtuse-angled triangle, 
having for its base or N. side the L.T. and S. Railway, and for 
its remaining sides the River Thames. 
Practically the whole of this area is below sea-level, and 
doubtless at one time was a huge salt marsh. 
It is still termed a “ marsh ” but its low-lying fields, protected 
from the encroachment of the river by a sea-wall, and intersected 
by numerous dykes, are now grazing land, occupied by flocks of 
sheep and cattle. 
Two small corners, however, have escaped the reclaiming 
hand of man and still retain something of their old-time character. 
The first corner is a swampy reed-bed of considerable size, lying 
inside the sea-wall towards the Purfleet end of the triangle. This 
area lies too low for drainage, and it will probably remain a 
swamp until enterprising authorities begin to dump the rubbish 
of the metropolis into it. 
The other small corner lies at the apex of the triangle where 
it juts out into the Thames. On the map it is marked Stone 
Ness. More commonly it is called “ the Beacon/’ because of the 
hideous skeleton lighthouse which disfigures it. 
Here the sea wall, on account of the presence of a creek with 
numerous ramifications, turns landward right across the pro¬ 
montory until it reaches the other side, leaving an extent of some 
fifty acres exposed to the mercy of the tides. Normally the 
water does not rise above the level of the creek, but at spring 
tides the whole salting is inundated to a depth of two or three 
inches right up to the base of the sea-wall. Lying at some 
considerable distance from habitations, the salting is seldom 
visited except by a casual collector of driftwood, hence it is not 
surprising to find that migratory shore-birds using the Thames 
estuary have come to look upon this little salting as a pleasant 
oasis in the desert of cement factories which lies on either side. 
Commonest of the birds on the marsh are the Gulls. 
They seldom alight on the salting, but they have a most 
