Black Hole Marsh

black hole from air

Black Hole Marsh is a new nature reserve on the Axe. It was bought in 2008 by the District Council and following a planning approval, the Countryside Service proceeded to create a saline lagoon on what was previously a drained agricultural field, with little wildlife interest.

The lagoon was created by excavating a large shallow scrape and creating islands within it, all surrounded by an earth bund. The Environment Agency worked with local engineering company, Stonemans, to create an innovative self regulating tidal exchange gate, which allows water of just the right salinity to enter the lagoon.

Within the first year, the lagoon attracted breeding Oystercatchers and is already well populated with the crustaceans and molluscs that support a wide range of wildfowl and waders. Regular birds to be seen include Dunlin, Black Tailed Godwit and Ringed Plover. Rarities often stop by, such as the Glossy Ibis that passed through last year.

You can visit Black Hole Marsh by walking from Seaton and entering the site by Marsh Lane adjacent to the cemetery or by parking at Colyford Common Memorial Hall and walking through Colyford Common, following the white marker posts. New banks and a reedbed and pond were created in June 2010, to screen paths by the lagoon and you will shortly be able to enjoy a bird hide in the centre of the lagoon, reached by a screened boardwalk, both of which are funded through Natural England's Higher Level Stewardship grant.

A grant from the "Making it Local" programme has been agreed for a field studies room and hide by the reedbed where people can get up really close to nature, and for a car park to serve Black Hole Marsh, allowing disabled access to the site. Further applications will be made for more viewpoints, paths and hides in the near future.

Page last updated on 11 August 2010