Benfleet and Southend Marshes
Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Essex / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Benfleet and Southend Marshes is an 8.1-square-mile (21 km2) Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Essex. It consists of mudflats, salt marshes, scrub and wild grassland, and includes the Southend-on-Sea foreshore. It has been so recognised for its biological (including ecological) value, rather than geological.[2][3] A definition five percent larger forms the Benfleet and Southend Marshes Ramsar site[4] and Special Protection Area.[5][6] In the centre-west, more than ten percent of the Site is the Leigh National Nature Reserve (NNR),[n 1][7][5] which has been appraised in detail in A Nature Conservation Review as a site of national importance.[2] The SSSI and NNR include the eastern half of Two Tree Island, in Leigh on Sea which is managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust.[7][8] A narrow majority of the Site is the Southend on Sea Foreshore Local Nature Reserve.[n 2][9][10]
Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
Location | Essex |
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Grid reference | TQ854847 |
Interest | Biological |
Area | 2099.7 hectares |
Notification | 1987 |
Location map | Magic Map |
Designations | |
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Official name | Benfleet & Southend Marshes |
Designated | 14 February 1994 |
Reference no. | 648[1] |
The marshes and mudflats have internationally important numbers of wildfowl and wading birds, including the dark-bellied brent goose, grey plover, redshank and red knot. Scarce invertebrates, such as the white-letter hairstreak and marbled white butterfly, have adapted to specific habitats in the marshes.[2]