Saved by the bund...

Following the tidal surge of the 5 December the seawall that surrounds Blakeney Freshes was breached in more than thirty places. 

This left the freshmarsh vulnerable and at risk to saltwater flooding (in fact saltwater has crept in over a further three occasions), which poses as risk to grazing livestock and also delays the recovery of freshwater life. 

When the footpath works were undertaken in a partnership between Environment Agency, Norfolk Trails, Natural England and ourselves many of the breaches were raised just to provide a safe path. 

This left just three really low points, so we decided to build a temporary bund around each of these low points to protect the site whilst the longer-term thinking goes on.

The first step was to survey the area for both height and breeding birds.

 Once done, we were able to start the works.

Using a local contractor the bunds were built at a height we felt would keep out a higher than average tide, should they need to be tested!

Then on the 15 June only a week after the works were completed they were tested and held.

We were debating whether to do this work because it was only temporary and still cost a fair amount of money, but we are all really pleased we took the decision to!

Graham Lubbock
Coastal Ranger