Conservation ESA
The North Kent Marshes Environmentally Sensitive Area

The KWCA has two areas entered into the ESA scheme: the marsh at Cooling and Harty Fields.

The ESA forms an almost continuous coastal marshland fringe extending from Whitstable in the east to Gravesend on the Thames estuary in the west, including the Medway estuary and the Isle of Sheppey. The marshes are typically two to five kilometers wide but they broaden on the Hoo peninsular and on the southern side of the Isle of Sheppey. The ESA extends, in total, to 13,715 hectares and is bounded by a belt of higher ‘upland’ which forms a pronounced landscape feature defining the southern boundary. Most of the marshes have been enclosed by sea walls (‘inned’) since medieval times to prevent flooding.

The marshes are a distinctive, exposed, flat landscape of pasture land, with mudflats and saltings beyond the sea wall. In combination, they provide a habitat of international significance for over-wintering and breeding birds. Part of the ESA has been designated as a Special Protection Area under the EC Directive on Conservation of Wild Birds (79/409) and as a Wetland of International Importance under the 1971 Ramsar Convention. The marshes, ditches and dikes contain important aquatic flora and invertebrates, and most of the area has been designated as a National Nature Reserve or Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

Download the full PDF (300k) report ENVIRONMENTALLY SENSITIVE AREAS SCHEME which details environmental monitoring in the North Kent Marshes ESA, as reported to Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF), now DEFRA, covering the landscape, wildlife and areas of historical interest.

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