I don’t suppose that anyone much apart from those living in South East Essex has ever heard of Two Tree Island. It is located to the north east of Canvey Island and to the south west of Leigh-on-Sea. It is linked to Leigh-on-Sea by a bridge and covers 257 hectares. The name of the island comes from two large elms that were a prominent feature until they were brought down by storms in the early 1960s. The island is bisected by the only road which runs north/south.
It is a very flat island. The island was originally a salt marsh but it was reclaimed from the sea in the 18th century, when a seawall was built around the salt marsh, and used as rough grazing and subsistence farming until a sewage works was built at the eastern end in 1910. It was bought by Southend Borough Council in 1936 and used as a rubbish tip until 1974 when the eastern part of the island was leased to the Nature Conservancy Council (now English Nature) as a nature reserve. It is now managed by Essex Wildlife Trust.
The island now consists mainly of grassland, reed beds, lagoons and scrub. It is a great place for watching wildfowl and wading birds such as curlews, dunlins, redshanks and grey plovers and brent geese in the winter out on the mudflats. Their favourite food is eel grass, which grows in abundance round here. Apparently slow worms, common lizards and adders live on the island.
Two Tree Island is very popular with local dog walkers, so watch where you are treading! There is a free car park in the middle of the island.
The island now consists mainly of grassland, reed beds, lagoons and scrub. It is a great place for watching wildfowl and wading birds such as curlews, dunlins, redshanks and grey plovers and brent geese in the winter out on the mudflats. Their favourite food is eel grass, which grows in abundance round here. Apparently slow worms, common lizards and adders live on the island.
Two Tree Island is very popular with local dog walkers, so watch where you are treading! There is a free car park in the middle of the island.
Salt marsh
The saltmarsh plants include sea purslane, common sea-lavender, sea arrow-grass, common saltmarsh-grass and sea aster.
Information Board
Jetty
This jetty is at the southern end of the island.
This is a place where some locals come to sit and think and eat fish and chips! Looking north east towards Leigh-on-Sea
Fishing boats Renown IV and Liberator shown in the foreground. The first boat called Renown went to Dunkirk in 1940 to help evacuate British troops from the beaches to larger ships waiting in deeper water but hit a mine and sank.
Two Tree Island from the Cockle Sheds at Old Leigh
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