Saltmarsh
Annual Review · 2027

A year of keeping the dark dark

How a small trust protected four wild places, counted what came back, and what it will ask of you next.
Report of the trustees · March 2028
Saltmarsh
Contents
  1. 01The coastp. 03
  2. 02The glasshousep. 06
  3. 03What we ask nextp. 09
Figures are for the year to 31 December 2027 and are unaudited.
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Chapter 1
01
The coast
Eleven kilometres of black-sand shore, closed to vehicles for the first full year.
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The coast
What came back when the trucks stopped

In January the last access track to the black-sand shore was closed to vehicles. By June, the volunteers walking the tideline every Sunday were counting nests where there had been tyre ruts.

Ringed plovers nested on the upper beach for the first time in nine years. The dune grass, crushed flat for a decade, has begun to hold the sand again after the autumn storms.

We did very little. That was the whole plan.

None of it was planting. It was mostly leaving the place alone, and paying four wardens to make sure everyone else did too.

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The year in numbers
Four places, counted every month
11 km
of shore closed to vehicles, all year
38
plover nests on the upper beach, up from none
1,240
volunteer days on the tideline and in the pond
Saltmarsh Trust monthly surveys, January to December 2027
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Chapter 2
02
The glasshouse
A Victorian fern house, saved from demolition and open again on Sundays.
The pond, in October
Koi from the old estate, rehomed in the restored lily pond. They were here before the trust and will likely outlast it.
Pond survey, week 41
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“
My grandmother courted in that glasshouse. I didn't think I would ever stand in it again, let alone take my own grandchildren.
Margaret IlsleyVolunteer since 2025
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Chapter 3
03
What we ask next
Darkness, not more visitors: a dark-sky reserve over all four places by 2030.
Thank you
To 312 members, 86 volunteers and every person who walked past the shore instead of driving onto it.
saltmarsh.example/jointrustees@saltmarsh.example