Basic HTML Version
70
|
TRAVELLER
the place, which is just 2.4km long by 800m wide.
The 16th-century village centre, a cute collection
of half-timbered cottages enclosed by white picket
fences, includes the old Sweet Shop, which now snugly
accommodates two people. Opposite is the games
room in a former cowshed where, outside, ragwort fills
the shell of a V2 rocket that landed here in World War
II. Inside are books galore, a pool table, record player
and classic collection of vinyl albums. Adjacent is
a 12-seat cinema with surround sound and a fine
selection of DVDs. Outside, a red postbox endearingly
states that collection is “according to the tide”.
This is what makes the place so alluring. It’s
decidedly lacking in the majority of 21st-century
technology. I cannot hear a single mobile phone,
television or car engine and that is pure bliss. In short,
it’s the perfect place to come to enjoy that latest travel
trend: the digital detox.
That’s not the only reason you’d want to visit. Osea
is a haven for rare and abundant wildlife. Taking a
hike is the best way to see it, admiring the views in
the chill, with only the piercing calls of oystercatchers
for company and perhaps the odd Thames barge to
be seen in the distance. If birds are your thing, winter
is a good time to visit, as the Blackwater Estuary
attracts around 75,000 that fly over for the colder
months, including up to 1,000 knots (wading birds).
“During January and February, you’ll find large flocks
of knots, as well as wintering raptors, such as the hen
harrier and merlin,” says Chris Tyas of the RSPB.
“There’s really nothing better than watching a hunting
peregrine falcon stirring up the waves, and wildfowl at
this time of year.”
Further along the shingle shore is a nod to the
past. The large, derelict pier here is a throwback to
the days when a steamship called
HMS Annie
used
to carry 151 day-trippers from the nearby town of
Maldon to the island. Nowadays, most visitors arrive
on Osea by driving across the 1.6km-long wet, wiggly
ribbon of causeway, fringed with green bladderwick
seaweed, at low tide. Built by the Romans, this route is
accessible for just four hours in every 12.
The experience of walking across and watching the
birds – little egrets, curlews and redshanks – feeding
nearby as you wait for the next section to recede
is a tad surreal. But it is the best way to catch the
wonderful heady aroma of salt, mud and seaweed that
smells like oysters.
Joanne Day, Osea’s
marketingmanager,
enjoys the view;
below,
many birds
winter on the island,
making it a
twitcher’s paradise
“There’s nothing better than
watching a hunting falcon
stirring up the waves”
066-072_ej_Osea Island lg.indd 70
08/1