Cindery Island

Cindery Island lies at the mouth of Brightlingsea Creek, off the town of Brightlingsea on the Colne estuary in Essex. It is a small, low island of saltmarsh and shingle, well known to the sailors and oyster fishermen of the creek.

Landscape

The island is low and flat, covering about 16 acres, and has been shrinking as the tides wear at its edges. The Essex coast is the most indented in England, a long fringe of estuaries, creeks, saltmarsh and low islands, many of them reclaimed with sea walls centuries ago and some since returned to the tide.

More about Cindery Island

Brightlingsea is the only member of the Cinque Ports outside Kent and Sussex, as a limb of Sandwich, and has long been a centre for oysters, boatbuilding and sailing. The island shelters the creek where yachts and fishing boats moor.

Brightlingsea is the only member of the Cinque Ports outside Kent and Sussex, as a limb of Sandwich, and has long been a centre for oysters, boatbuilding and sailing.

Visiting

There is no public access to Cindery Island. It is well seen from the Brightlingsea waterfront and the ferry to Point Clear and Mersea. You can collect Cindery Island as a sighting in your Island Passport.

Wildlife and area

The Essex estuaries hold huge numbers of wintering brent geese, dunlin, black-tailed godwits, grey plovers and curlews, and redshanks, oystercatchers and shelducks nest on the marshes. Nearby islands include Mersea Island, Cobmarsh Island and Great Cob Island.