The Geedon Saltings on the top bank of Geedon Creek, is one of the largest areas of tidal saltings in Essex, an increasingly rare habitat. The Saltings are part of the Fingringhoe Wick Nature Reserve, managed by Essex Wildlife Trust. One of the major attractions of the reserve is the presence each year of large numbers of Nightingales, famous for their song which includes exceedingly rich high trills, middle notes and low burrs. The reserve organise special evening events to enable people to enjoy the Nightingale's song if you are interested. The mainland areas above the channel and the creek are also home to the Fingringhoe and Middlewick Ranges, owned and operated by the Ministry of Defence. The area is a 'live firing location' and restrictions apply. Although not an issue for me today. it will be tomorrow when I start coming back down the River Colne and if firing is underway it will occasion a wide sweep inland to avoid it.
There were plenty of early Spring flowers out and a number of small blue and brown butterflies were to be found on the seawall and in the grasslands surrounding it. There has been a small resurgence of some butterfly species in Essex such as the Speckled Wood, Brown Argus, Red Admiral, Painted Lady and Clouded Yellow. Others, while still to be seen in the county, are not as numerous as once they were including common species such as the Skippers, Meadow Brown and Common Blue.
As I was wild camping I wanted to arrive late, reducing the risk of getting moved on. To pass some time and to have dinner I stopped at the Quayside Bar and Gurkha Restaurant. You guessed it, they were not serving food when I arrived. While I was sitting having coffee and waiting for the food to start I passed the time chatting with the barmaid. After I had been there about half an hour she advised me she had just heard on the radio there was to be a huge storm overnight. Looking outside I was shocked to see how dark it had become in the time I had been sitting in the restaurant. The last thing I wanted was to be trying to get a tent up in the middle of a storm so I went back in, grabbed my gear and headed down the river.
I must have nodded off because the next thing I knew sometihing was setting about the tent and giving it a good hammering. As I came out of sleep I realised it was a herd of cows and their calves and for some reason they were not happy with my tent. Whether I was blocking a regular path, preventing them accessing a particular area of grazing, or the thunder and lightening were upsetting them, I don't know but they were not happy coos. I sat in the middle of the tent trying hard not to make any noise in case my presence made it worse. Having worked on farms I know the damage one cow can do, never mind a herd of about fifty. I was never so scared in my life. It was about two in the morning and this went on to about half past the hour. Even when they retreated and moved off a little distance I remained in the tent absolutely petrified they were coming back to finish off the job. It was about this time I realised that the groundsheet of the tent was almost floating on the top of the ground water that had gathered from the heavy rain. In an area where the watertable is already high, six or seven hours of heavy rain is enough to turn dry land in to a quagmire. Could it get any worse?
Some days on an adventure things don't go according to plan!