Essex Rivers Hub

This land is owned by Thurrock Council and a tenant grazier grazes his horses here. This stretch of river is surrounded by pasture land. Previously there have been attempts to create habitat such as reedbeds for wildlife, but these efforts have been unsuccessful and are now causing issues with overland runoff, which may be leading to contamination issues within the Mardyke.

The area (land use)

The dominant land use for this stretch of river is pasture.

Horses were the main livestock recorded.

Channel characteristics

The river channel consists of mainly silt, and riffles are absent.

At the time of recording the flow of water was sluggish and the channel was 1-2m / 2-5m wide and 0.5-1m in depth.

For most of this stretch the channel profile is shallow.

Bankside trees were occasional, marginal plants and in-channel plants are occasional. Woody debris was noted to be rare.

Engineering

The channel has been straightened and man-made enhancements are present along this stretch of river.

Field drains were recorded as present and barriers / culverts are present.

Condition

Areas of trampling / poaching were present and areas of erosion were present at the time of the survey.

Wildlife

Moorhen, mallard, feral pigeon, egret, crow, heron, brimstone butterfly, tortoiseshell butterfly and peacock butterfly were seen during the survey and a chiffchaff was heard.

Additional Information

Lots of rubbish was seen along this stretch and is possibly a result of recent flooding washing it in from other areas.