Rail link rubble is a habitat haven

After 10 years of restoration, a nature reserve designed to combat coastal habitat losses is almost complete.

The Wallasea Island Wild Coast project in Essex has transformed 1,700 acres of coastal wetland, creating new habitats such as saltmarsh, much of which had been lost to the sea.

Conservationists now hope for the return of species that historically bred in Britain, such as the spoonbill and Kentish plover, and attract new visitors, such as the blackwinged stilt.

In partnership with Crossrail, the RSPB has put 3million tons of material excavated from the new rail link beneath London to good use on the Essex coast to create a sea wall, and small islands and lagoons.

Within three years of work starting, avocets and ringed plovers, brent geese and birds of prey have returned after an absence of 400 years.