Shoebury Garrison

31/03/2026

No need to panic 😅

20/03/2026

Such a shame to receive messages like this 😞 No respect for anything 🌳 🌳

Thankfully there are plenty of good samaritans out there who help us to make sure the Garrison and Gunners Park are lovely places to live and visit 🙏🏻 Essex Wildlife Trust Gunners Park and Shoebury Ranges Nature Reserve

19/03/2026

🌳 🌳 🌳

16/02/2026

🦢❤️ 🦢

Hi all, by popular request a pre-spring update on the Gunners swans. We currently have a pair and a lone individual resident on the lake. It's now the very start of breeding season so we suspect the pair will become more territorial and potentially kick the other lone swan and any other interlopers off.

The female of this pair was born here in 2024 and is the rare 'polish' colour morph, which some of you will remember hatched out white rather than grey. The male she's paired up with did briefly pair up with her mother, the old female swan which lived at Gunners for over a decade raising many lovely cygnets before she was sadly killed by a dog attack in spring 2025.

On that sad note please dear visitors it is so important to keep dogs close to you and to stick to the paths in spring and summer so the birds can raise their young in peace.

On a sunnier note, we're delighted to have a pair once again after last year's tragedy so fingers crossed for swan babies!

08/10/2025

🐑 🐑 🐑

Look.....who's. ..... BAAAAAAAAck

Folks we've brought a flock of sheep onto the Gunners Park SSSI (the fenced off bit west of the lake) for a few months.

These sheep belong to the Essex Wildlife Trust and we use them as part of our conservation work to restore the rare coastal grassland by grazing off the rough grass and thistles to provide space and light for rare plants and flowers to thrive. It will also improve the habitat for ground nesting birds, lizards, bees and butterflies.

Animal welfare is top priority so the sheep will be checked every single day by trained staff to make sure they are in tip top condition.

The sheep are behind a locked gate so should not come into contact with dogs or people. They are wild sheep not used to being hand fed and they do not need extra food.

If you see anyone harassing the sheep please call the police immediately on 999 or 101 to avoid delays.

Thank you & we hope you enjoy seeing them

21/06/2025

From Shoeburyness Residents Association :

10,000 HIGHLY PRICED HOMES ON THE HORIZON:

We did not have any Councillors or MP's at last nights meeting, but it was well attended with experts who were able to share great ideas and informatiuon that proves what we are being told is a pack of lies.

We did have two wildlife conservationists who provided details about this land, with names of insects, plants & other living organisms already providing an ecosystem.. We had a Planning expert share details about how to fight the process and we had angry residents who shared their views about being referred to as Nymby's or Bananas.

We had Emma from the Oracle give a very passionate speech about why our Green spaces are so important and how her childhood memories played an important part in her adult life.

I was able to share information about how all the Shoebury Developments have received promises in the past, none of which have been delivered. I was also able to share facts about existing sites, like Seaway, Queensway, Fossett's Farm, Fossitt's Way, Roots Hall, Museum, amost of which have no partners to develop and have already cost us Tax Payers millions in Consultants fees and other costs.

We shared details of the HAYS Festival 2025, which provided non-political facts about the Housing industry and how our Government is not being honest with their electedtorate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxA_LoaDG44&t=4s

Finally Kim & Andrew gave an excellent update about who is involved and how we can challenge the Council. They took us through the process & details of what has been released etc.

It was a hot evening, so everyone was thanked for giving up their time.

We know there are other demonstrations & meetings being held in Southend, some of which are run by Political parties, which we are unbale to attend, but we would encourage you to make your voices heard in any way you can.

We know from Gunners Park, how beautiful that land was, with trees, animals, birds & insects all helping to reduce our anxiety & stress, but look at it now and imagine what it will be in the future?

Remember, once this land is gone, it can never be returned.

For those that walk, ride, run or take your dog over Gunners Park or sit on a bench beside the pond, passionately looked after by Essex Wildlife - how would you feel if you lost this? Is it worth fighting for it's survival?

16/05/2025

Sad news 🦢 😢

24/04/2025

Thankfully there are good people out there who won’t let antisocial behaviour win 🙏🏻💙

15/04/2025

🦢 🦢

REQUEST: Nesting season (April to July) is a very tricky time for swans and other ground nesting birds like coots, moorhen and mallards as the eggs and chicks are vulnerable to trampling or abandonment so as always we need to ask please:

1. Walkers keep to the paths

2. Keep dogs away from the waters edge and close by your side.

It only takes a second for an unguarded egg or chick to be swooped off by a predator so it's really important not to scare nervous parent birds off their nests.

THANK YOU

Swan update!

Hi folks, good news - our resident swan pair have built an excellent nest and will hopefully be sitting on eggs.

Were particularly excited by this as you may remember our long term resident male swan died last year (natural causes). Nature doesn't skip a beat though and our female soon found herself a new partner and they seem to have formed a fantastic bond.

Our cygnets from last year have flown off to find their own territories and start their own families and while it's always sad to see them go this is completely normal for swans and we're happy to have seen them grow into healthy adults.

REQUEST: Nesting season (April to July) is a very tricky time for swans and other ground nesting birds like coots, moorhen and mallards as the eggs and chicks are vulnerable to trampling or abandonment so as always we need to ask please:

1. Walkers keep to the paths

2. Keep dogs away from the waters edge and close by your side.

It only takes a second for an unguarded egg or chick to be swooped off by a predator so it's really important not to scare nervous parent birds off their nests.

THANK YOU & fingers crossed we get some cygnet babies soon