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ABPmer
Quayside Suite
Medina Chambers
Town Quay
Southampton
SO14 2AQ
2008
Managed realignment
United Kingdom
Strangford Lough
-5.6876859
54.530555
Lagoon
Saltmarsh
0.5 Hectares
Biodiversity Enhancement
Habitat Creation
To the east of the Castle Espie site, a 0.5 ha area of saltmarsh that created on former grassland by breaching the embankment. The topography of the land behind the breach has been adjusted by creating a series of scrape.
This is one of three main areas of coastal restoration at Castle Espie. In addition to this relatively new area of saltmarsh and mudflat habitat there is a 1 ha saline lagoon and another larger 1.6 ha area of marsh and mud to the west. These latter two areas are each regulated tidal exchange sites. There is also a a freshwater lagoon at the centre of the site
The whole of is a Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) reserve on the western shore of Strangford Lough that has been developed on a 19th-century industrial site. Ordnance Survey maps from 1834 show three limestone quarry pits close to the shoreline at the site.
In 1864, the land was purchased by the Murland family with the intention of reopening the quarries and a levee was constructed to reclaim land from the lough. This permitted three further quarry pits to be opened, from which clay and limestone were extracted (Hanna, n.d.). As these pits fell into disuse, they became flooded.
In 2007 the site received funding for a wetland restoration project from the UK Heritage Lottery Fund. This was primarily for the purposes of creating an improved habitat for birds.
ABPmer
Quayside Suite
Medina Chambers
Town Quay
Southampton
SO14 2AQ