Community action/Essex

Essex Wildlife Trust is one of 46 Wildlife Trusts which cover the United Kingdom. Essex Wildlife Trust was founded in 1959, and it describes itself as Essex's leading conservation charity, which aims to protect wildlife for the future and the people of the county. As of 2026, it has 40,000 members, runs almost 100 nature reserves and 11 Nature Discovery Centres.

Essex has one of the longest coastlines of any English county, with saltmarshes, lagoons, mudflats, grazing marshes, reedbeds and shingle. Its ancient forests were formerly important to the local economy, with wood being used for fuel, construction and bark in the tanning industry. Coppicing is being re-introduced by the Trust to encourage woodland grasses, flowers, invertebrates and birds. A few grasslands on the heavy clays of south- and mid-Essex are still grazed according to traditional methods, supporting a mixture of pasture and fen. Some brownfield sites, often on contaminated soil, have populations of nationally scarce species, particularly invertebrates.

Wallasea Wetlands is a reclaimed wetlands area located in Essex, England. It has been created as part of a government-funded wetlands scheme to halt the decline of wild and endangered birds caused by the drainage and development of former wetland sites. It is the largest man-made marine wetland area in the United Kingdom.

The wetland spans an area of 115 hectares (1.15 km²) and is sited on Wallasea Island, which borders two rivers (River Crouch to the north and River Roach to the south-east). They provide winter grounds for wading birds, as well as breeding and nursery areas for aquatic wildlife, such as bass, mullet, flatfish and herring and even some types of dolphin. The area will also help to reduce the flooding of properties near the River Crouch by providing a run-off area for floodwaters.

In the process being termed "managed re-alignment", the seawall that protects croplands and property was re-established in more tenable positions, three miles behind the new wetlands, which will provide habitat for birds like oystercatchers, avocets and little terns, according to the press release issued at the time.

Walkers and birdwatchers will be able to enjoy the scenery by means of a new footpath that has been built on the top of this new relocated sea wall. Construction was completed in 2006 and by 2011 the land had evolved into wetland, mudflats, saline lagoons and seven artificial islands, allowing the wildlife to reside on these areas.

An extension to the scheme, using 2,400 shiploads of spoil excavated from London's Crossrail tunnels, was completed in July 2015, when an additional area of land was opened to tidal flow. This formed the Jubilee Marsh (160 ha / 400 acres), a nature reserve managed by the RSPB. The whole project was completed in 2025.

The Thames Chase Community Forest is a community forest of 9842 hectares (24,320 acres/38 square miles) located in 47 sites in London and Essex, England. Established in 1990, the community forest is administered by the Thames Chase Trust, with a stated aim "to renew and regenerate the landscape at the edge of East London and South Essex by creating a varied wooded landscape for local people to influence, create, use, enjoy and cherish".

The Thames Chase Forest Centre is located near Upminster. Forestry England manage the 56 hectares (140 acres) of new woodlands, meadows and ponds at the site for the benefit of people, nature and the climate.

Essex ( ESS-iks) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the south, Greater London to the south-west, and Hertfordshire to the west. The largest settlement is Southend-on-Sea.

The county has an area of 3,670 km² (1,420 sq mi) and had an estimated population of 1,929,610 in 2024. The south of the county is densely populated, and includes Southend-on-Sea in the south-east and Basildon in the south-centre. The centre and north of the county is more rural, and its principal settlements include Chelmsford in the centre and Colchester in the north-east. The districts of Chelmsford, Colchester and Southend hold city status. For local government purposes Essex comprises a non-metropolitan county, with twelve districts, and two unitary authority areas: Thurrock and Southend-on-Sea. The county historically included north-east Greater London, the River Lea forming its western border.

Essex is a low-lying county with a flat coastline. It contains pockets of ancient woodland, including Epping Forest in the south-west, and in the north-east shares Dedham Vale national landscape with Suffolk. The coast is one of the longest of any English county, at 562 miles (905 km). It is deeply indented by estuaries, the largest being those of the Stour, which forms the Suffolk border, the Colne, Blackwater, Crouch, and the Thames in the south. Parts of the coast are wetland and salt marsh, including a large expanse at Hamford Water, and it contains several large beaches.