Under pressure from the rising tides, the saltmarshes of the Essex coastline have been in steady decline since the 1970's. At present, around a third of a square mile of saltmarsh is lost each year along the Essex coastline alone: it is anticipated that half the world's saltmarsh area will be lost within seventy -five years. And after the saltmarshes have gone the sea will be freer to advance inland. The pattern of land-loss occuring in Essex has its parallels across the soft coasts of Britain and Ireland, and across the world.

The Wild Places by Robert Macfarlane