BROADCASTER and wildlife campaigner Bill Oddie opened the first phase of a new south Essex wildlife sanctuary off the River Roach.

Jubilee Marsh, on Wallasea Island, was officially opened by the TV conservationist along with environment minister Rory Stewart and European environment commissioner Karmenu Vella.

The opening saw the completion of the first phase of the RSPB’s Wallasea Island Wild Coast project, a beautiful haven for wildlife in the Rochford district.

Marsh warden Rachel Fancy said: “We’ve noticed an increase in visitor numbers since July, though the habitat will take time to develop, as it takes between 18 months and two years to get good vegetation cover washed in by the sea.

“The next phase is to see how this develops, but we are also looking to create more habitats with more soil on the south side of the island.”

It has been achieved with help from the London Crossrail scheme which used three million tonnes of unwanted soil from tunnels dug by the train project to raise the level of the land.

The land was originally farmland lying below sea level and increasingly difficult to defend from rising sea levels.

As well as flood defences, the project has also seen the creation of intertidal habitats benefiting species such as brent goose, dunlin and avocet, a lagoon with an island for spoonbill bird nesting, as well as habitats for black-winged stilt and Kentish plover.