Walking the week before with ‘the guinea pigs’ I was able to iron out the faults for the same walk the following week with a different group of walkers.  This time we started down by the river, walked in a northerly direction and eliminated the horrid noisy road section; it also shortened the walk by 1.5kms bringing it in-line with our usual walking distance of 8kms.  Joy has set the scene and described it wonderfully and there is little else I can add.  We too had beautiful weather.  The incoming tide was low when we arrived and as we walked beside Fen Creek the waters followed us along pushing the black-headed gulls away from there feeding ground.  A small flock of Canada Geese glided peacefully along.

Woodham Fen, 37 acres in total, is an interesting area and the southern part of the Fen, the Saltings and Scrapes is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.  It is a saltmarsh land that is one of the oldest and unchanged saltmarshes in the country.  The area changes from saltmarsh, to upper saltmarsh and then to grassland thus benefiting many different types of plants and habitats.  Small bogs and lagoons are present making the terrain very difficult to walk over but we kept to well-trodden paths through the grassland although one footpath marker did point the way across the saltings and into the creek!

By the time we ended the walk the tide was well up, the large flock of swans had split in two with some remaining on the south side of the river, including the black swan, but many had congregated around the slip near the car park and were being fed by enthusiastic youngsters; a sole dinghy was being wheeled down the slip to be launched. Ending the morning the group sat with their picnics enjoying this typical English riverside scene on a typical sunny summer’s day.

Diane Caulkett