The grounds of Blackwater sailing club (BSC) have a surprising number of different habitats and therefore a large and varied flora and fauna. Ultimately this site is intended to document what is present at the club, where it is found and in some cases there will be links to descriptions and pictures on other sites. It is also hoped to produce a habitat map for the site.

Documentation will be a long and ongoing task; and may take a number of years to complete. The project will use the expertise of club members e.g. those interested in birds, ecology and botany to compile species lists or describe habitats. Are there any budding entomologists (insect experts) or fresh water ecology types out there? Don't forget the many different species of crabs, fish and barnacles too. You will be surprised how much is out there.

Use the guides listed here (some are in the Sun Room) to help you identify what is at the club.

BSC club members completing an ecology or biology based degree may wish to take the opportunity to survey part of the club as part of their final year project. Examples might include comparison of lake and pond in terms of macro/micro invertebrates, or some work on insects again perhaps a comparative survey. These projects would help fill gaps in the species lists below.

Habitats  |  Species lists  

Habitats at the Blackwater sailing club include:

• Managed grassland - most is mown but some is succeeding into scrubland; some will have become salt tolerant 

• Broad leaved woodland / scrub and hedges

• Fresh water pond, lake and reed bed

• The estuary with tidal mudflats and sea wall

• Urban - buildings are habitats too e.g. birds nesting under the bungalow eves and lichens on the roof, some species thrive in disturbed habitats so will be found e.g. where digging has recently taken place.

One family of flowering plants - the grasses, dominates grasslands however these habitats may also contain flowers from other families. Grasses will often be found on areas that would not be classified as grasslands, they are often very tolerant to harsh conditions and are able to colonise disturbed or exposed sites.

Grassland flowers provide a food source for flying insects that are in turn fed on by other animals such as birds and small mammals. All of the grassland at BSC has been managed at some time e.g. by planting or mowing and the habitat is therefore described as improved grassland. Traditionally improved grassland is viewed as a species poor habitat, however the variety of adjacent habitats means that BSC grassland contains quite a variety of plant and animal species.

There is an area of grassland around the sail training lake, and to the south of the main entrance road. There is also a small strip of grassland that runs to the south of Ballast Hole and the sea wall and north of the ponds. Some of the dominant grasses include annual meadow, and green bristle grass, flowering plants include birds foot trefoil and the spear leaved orache.

Scrub can describe a mosaic of young trees, shrubs and rough grassland. A number of different scrub habitats can be found at the BSC.

There is an area of scrubland that is interspersed with grassland around the sail training lake. This habitat is dominated by gorse, grey poplar?, field maple, and hawthorn, there is also some dog rose (more info), bramble, pendunculate oak seedlings, ash, and cherry trees. This habitat is quite unusual in that gorse, traditionally a heath land plant is interspersed by field maple a tree commonly found in hedges, hawthorn, and poplar. The lake was dug and gravel extracted in 1983-85 and it is probable that most of these species were planted to quickly improve site ascetics after earth works. The result of these plantings is an interesting mix of native plants that may support quite a rich diversity of associated species.

Hedgerows can be described as a boundary, or part of a boundary that comprises a row of bushes or low trees growing closely together, and which have been managed through cutting to maintain a more or less dense, linear barrier. The hedge can include mature trees.

Hedges are important habitats for a wide range of flora and fauna; a large percentage of lowland mammals breed in hedges, as do many birds, and butterflies. In countryside with little or no woods, hedges are essential for the survival of many bird species. They provide a valuable sheltered route way allowing wildlife to move more freely across country between fragmented woodlands. Hedges function as screens against bad weather, act as windbreaks, and help control soil erosion.

There are several hedgerow habitats at BSC; hedges bound some of the south, west, north, and east of the grounds. There is also a hedge type habitat around part of the ponds. Dominant species in these hedges include hawthorn, which has attractive flowers that can be seen in April or May.

A pond is a small area of still, fresh water. It differs from a river or stream because it does not have moving water, and from a lake because it has a small area and is no more than around 1.8m deep. Some ponds are formed naturally, filled either by an underwater spring, or by rainwater – sometimes known as ‘dewponds’; other ponds are man-made. More info on ponds

There are two adjacent ponds at the Blackwater sailing club, they can be found to the north of the car park and south of Ballast Hole. The ponds have partially submerged plants at their margins, duckweed on their surface, and no doubt a rich diversity of invertebrates living in the water. Ducks, coots, and moorhens have been seen feeding on these ponds.

A lake is different than a pond in several ways. The water in a lake is too deep for plants to grow except for around the shore. Ponds usually have rooted plants that grow from shore to shore. Ponds have a uniform temperature throughout, but a lake has two distinct layers. Lakes have an upper layer affected by air temperature and a deeper water temperature that may be warmer or colder than the upper layer depending upon the season.

The STL is known to contain fish (small ones at least), provide a habitat for visiting ducks, and a grass snake has been seen swimming there at dusk. The presence of fish indicates that invertebrates are also present. The lake is fringed by swathes of common reed and sedge.

At the club there is some of the above habitat fringing the estuary part of the site. This is a varied habitat with animals, plants and algae as residents. Some of this habitat will not be submerged under salt water, but may be sprayed with salt on a regular basis leading to a salt tolerant community. The littoral rock will be submerged on a regular basis by the sea on a tidal rotation, with the added stress of wetting, drying, and different salinities through time. In short this a tough place for organisms to live and will have a highly adapted mixture of species.

The species that characterise the above water (supra-littoral) area include salt tolerant flowering plants for example specially adapted grasses and golden samphire. The hard shore that is regularly submerged by the sea will be home to specially adapted multi-celled algae known to you as the seaweeds e.g. bladder wrack, few flowering plants will live here. Animal life may include crabs, relatives of the land snail, and a specially adapted type of woodlouse known as the sea slater that has gills.

The below water line hard shore is limited due to the silted nature of beaches, the slip and area around the bungalow would be included in this habitat, look out for bladder wrack, egg wrack and sea lettuce seaweeds here. The hard / rocky area that is not covered by the sea is more extensive and includes the sea wall.

Tidal mud flats and the estuary

The Blackwater Estuary is recognised as being of international importance for wildlife and nature conservation, providing a range of rich and important habitats.  North of the River Thames, the Blackwater is the largest estuary in Essex and one of the most expansive complexes in East Anglia.  It is also a valuable asset in terms of heritage, landscape and marine environment, as well as recreation, tourism, fishing, agriculture and riverside industry.

The south Essex coast is a complex of estuaries, tidal creeks, saltmarshes and vast tidal mud and sandflats off the low-lying peninsulas and islands of the outer Thames Estuary.  The central part of this estuarine complex, comprising the Blackwater and Crouch-Roach Estuaries separated by the Dengie Peninsula and Foulness Island, is largely rural and undeveloped.  The very large intertidal mudflat and shingle bank system of Maplin Sands is particularly isolated since much of it has only very restricted access from the Ministry of Defence establishments on Foulness.

In several places, such as Bridgemarsh Island in the Crouch Estuary, sea walls have failed and wet grassland has reverted to saltmarsh and mudflat; at Northey Island and elsewhere in the Blackwater sea walls have now been deliberately breached to permit saltmarsh re-establishment. The first managed retreat experiment (setting seawalls back to create saltmarsh) in the United Kingdom was carried out at Northey Island in the River Blackwater (adapted from from the JNCC and Maldon.gov website).

The mud flats at BSC are very much influenced by the tide. Only a small area of water (where the river Blackwater continues to flow) remains at low tide, whereas at high tide the mud is completely covered. This phenomena means that the mud flats outside beyond BSC represent a constantly changing environment for the organisms that live on or visit the area.

Keen birders will know that the mudflats are a important resource to birds that visit the estuary at low tide, and that the mix of birds seen changes with season. Of all the organisms for which the BSC provides an observation point, the shear number of unusual bird species that can be seen is very exciting for those that are interested. Bird diversity indicates that the mud must be providing a valuable food source, and therefore that there are many invertebrate species living within the mud. Further out towards sea, there will be more water in the estuary for more of the day, there will probably be more fish and other marine organisms found as you sail further out of the estuary.

Urban wildlife

Its is amazing how many organisms have learned / adapted to live alongside man, often choosing habitats that are similar to those they would choose in nature. Lichens (a symbiosis between an alga and a fungus), can be found on roofs when they might normally be found on natural rock. Birds may nest in buildings where normally they would choose trees. Many Animals interact with man in some way and examples might include wasps feeding on your food, or foxes and sea gulls feeding on rubbish.  Foxes have set up home on the site with a den in which they rear their young.