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Wow factor
Accessibility
Photo potential
Vange Marshes
| Directions: |
Turn off the A13 at the Pitsea Junction and follw signs for Wat Tyler Country Park. Travel down Pitsea Hall Lane straight over the mini roundabout and then across the railway crossing. Drive approximately half a mile to Wat Tyler Country Park. Park your car in the car park and walk back along Pitsea Hall Lane to the railway crossing and take the public footpath, following it as it crosses over the railway line into Vange Marsh. Grid reference: TQ731871. |
| Accessibility: |
The reserve is open at all times. |
| Costs: |
Free |
| Best time to visit: |
Spring |
Venue information
Vange Marshes is a mosaic of wetland habitats. Fresh and saltwater lagoons attract breeding avocets, common terns, little ringed plovers and redshanks. The site also pulls in large flocks of wintering black-tailed and bar tailed godwits, curlews and passage migrants. It’s also a great place for wintering gulls. The reed beds hold good wintering numbers of bearded tits and its possible to get extremely close views of these birds. Reed buntings and sedge and reed warblers also breed in numbers in the reed bed.
Venue verdict: Reasonably good for photography, with the usual long lens caveat that applies to birds.
Ratings: 3