Horsey Island in Hamford Water, Essex, is a place of mystery and innovation, accessible only with permission from the farmer and the tide. The causeway is crossable for just four hours every 12, and the journey takes 20 minutes, wading through deeper sections marked by spindly posts. The surrounding mudflats, riddled with creeks and bladderwrack, create a dreamlike atmosphere.
A Literary Connection
The island's dreamlike quality is heightened by a sense of déjà vu: it is the setting for Secret Water, part of Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series. The author's descriptions of the River Wade, where children are trapped by rising water and rescued by the Mastodon, come to life here.
Farming and Conservation
Horsey is home to a family of four, five dogs, hundreds of sheep, and visiting cattle. Thousands of birds nest on the island, including swallows, skylarks, lapwings, oystercatchers, avocets, redshank, black-headed gulls, and little terns. Joe and Vicky Backhouse steward the land with care, allowing wildflowers to flourish where sheep are excluded.
An innovative project uses 50,000 cubic metres of mud dredged from Felixstowe port to raise a dwindling marsh area suffering from overgrazing by winter geese. 'We use less than 1% of dredged mud for any beneficial purpose. In Spain they use 90%,' Joe says. As sea levels rise, this small part of England is rising too.
