Lands Of Discovery

It might sound strange, but the places where our armed forces once operated are some of our least damaged landscapes. Rich in history, and in wildlife, today these ex-military reserves are great days out, and Essex is particularly well blessed with them

AS WELL AS offering the opportunity to see amazing wildlife, many of our nation’s ex-military reserves have an intriguing past. From Civil War battlefields to World War II airbases, places which have been protected in the past for very different reasons, have also offered a much-needed sanctuary for nature.

The best place in Essex where nature is thriving on a former military site is Gunners Park, run by Essex Wildlife Trust. Several derelict late 19th century military buildings at Gunners Park are home to nesting swallows and common lizards, basking in the sunlight. The site was used from the mid-19th century until the early 1980s by the School of Gunnery and later the Coast Artillery School, primarily for training Royal Artillery servicemen. The site is also a fantastic place for rare dune plants, invertebrates, butterflies and passage migrants.

The Gunners Park nature reserve incorporates the Shoebury Old Ranges Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and the Coastguard Station Grounds Local Wildlife Site, totalling 25 hectares.

The nature reserve incorporates more than 12 habitats, ranging from unimproved coastal grassland to remnant sand dunes and derelict buildings. The rarity and fragility of a large part of the site saw it designated as an SSSI in 1987, to protect the rare fauna and flora including the nationally scarce Sandwich Click Beetle (Melanotus punctolineatus), Bulbous Meadow Grass (Poa bulbosa) and the Cuckoo Wasp (Hedychridium coriaceum).