86 THE ESSEX NATURALIST
infilled, colonised by halophytic vegetation such as
Salicornia (Marsh Samphire) and Spartina stricta and
gradually raised to neap tide level to form a typical salting.
Reclamation at this stage by building a wall to exclude the
inundations of spring tides and storms converts it into true
marshland.
This evolution in its various stages of development can be
observed in the present coastline where man has not as yet
interfered. A lagoon formerly existed (1873) to the west
of Eastness, stretching for two-thirds of a mile towards Lion
Point, the present site of Jaywick Sands. Further west at
Lee-over-Sands a small lagoon still exists between the beach
and the sea wall. At its eastern end it is being infilled and
colonised by Salicornia, Statice limonium (Sea Lavender)
and Glaux maritima (Sea Milkwort). The ridge on its sea-
ward side is formed of sand and shingle and colonised by
Psamma (Marram grass) and Suaeda maritima, which forms
low bushes.
Stretching northward from Colne Point is a sand and
shingle spit bordering the western edge of the St. Osyth
Marsh. The origin of this feature is not easy to explain. It
may have arisen as material carried by longshore drift west-
wards from Lion Point to Colne Point suddenly encountered
a change in the direction of the shore-line. The waves would
tend to become refracted to the northward, carrying the
sand and shingle with them and in this way lengthen the
spit. Recent changes in the form of the spit are given in
Fig. 5. Since the first accurate large-scale survey was made
in 1847, the lengthening of the distal end (Sandy Point) has
proceeded slowly. At times the main shingle ridge has been
attacked by storm waves approaching directly onshore and
broken up into a number of segments. (1921 Survey.)
Rebuilding has taken place in more quiescent times.
The surveys also show that there has been considerable
erosion near Colne Point, the high water line moving land-
ward a distance of up to 200 feet between 1871 and 1949.
Part of this erosion has been caused by the removal of shingle
for road metal and ballast. There has also been a general
lowering of the level of the foreshore, the foundations of the
old beacon erected in the last century now being almost
completely uncovered.