A family has spoken of their shock after arsonists targeted a memorial in Leigh.

A bird hide at Two Tree Island was targeted by arsonists last month.

Echo:

Blaze - the hide at Two Tree Island was targeted by arsonists last month

Echo:

Destroyed - the remnants of the hide

The hide, which contained a picture board for birdwatchers to identify species, was completely destroyed.

The £1,500 board was supplied by a family from Westcliff in memory of Marion Boulton who died in 2015 at the age of 83.

Her husband, Michael Boulton, 83, tragically died in the same year a few days after a fire at his home in Arundel Gardens.

His daughter-in-law, Sarah-Jayne Boulton, 42, and son Billy, 44, who lost everything in the house fire having moved in to look after Michael, have been left distraught at the act of vandalism.

Mrs Boulton said: “It hurts so much as Billy’s dad passed away a few days after a house fire that he was in. Not only did Billy lose a dad, we lost everything so to lose Billy’s mum’s memorial to vandals burning the hide to the ground is sickening.

“The memorial was a lovely board with all the different birds that you could see in the hide on it which cost £1,500 which we paid willingly as Marion loved nothing more than walking her dog around two tree island.”

Mrs Boulton added: “We’ve been in touch with Essex Wildlife Trust trying to get something sorted. The lady from the trust has been amazing.

“We’ve had so much support and offers of help. It has taken us a while to go and see it. We’re absolutely gutted by what happened.

“We hope that these people never do anything like this to anyone ever again. I’ve no idea what they were thinking or whether it was an accident but I hope they learn from it.”

The fierce fire was spotted by keen photographer Marie Bull who was out with her husband

Marc Outten, landscape conservation area manager for the Essex Wildlife Trust, said: “Essex Wildlife Trust has no real further update other than we are looking at options for the nature reserve.

“There is obviously a concerned that replacing the hide with another wooden structure could result in another hide being burnt down. We have had a significant public response enquiring about the hide with many people airing their upset of the sad incident.”

A Justgiving page has been set up to raise funds to replace the hide with a less combustible structure.

To donate, visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/sara-yayne-baalham1