The faded resorts and coastal towns of Tendring in Essex offer few job opportunities but many of its 20-somethings are set on finding their way in an area with one of England’s oldest populations
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Photographs by Polly Braden
The village where 22-year-old Millicent has lived all her whole life is often her most closely guarded secret – at least until first impressions have been established. “It’s almost like a superpower,” she says. “I wait until people are comfortable with me, and then I’ll do the big reveal.”
It doesn’t matter where she goes, the story is always the same. “I’ll go to meet new friends and at some point I’ll tell them I’m from Jaywick,” says Millicent. “And it’s as if they go through the five stages of grief. They’ll say: ‘Oh, you’re not … oh, I’m so sorry’.”
Kyle, Matt and Finn at Jaywick’s Martello Tower, now an arts site
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
09/09/2025 - 05:00
09/09/2025 - 05:00
Sea levels are rising in New England at some of the fastest rates in the world. On a quiet ribbon of saltmarsh in Rhode Island, septuagenarian Deirdre isn't prepared to accept the loss of her beloved saltmarsh sparrow, which risks becoming extinct by 2050 due to elevated high tides inundating nests and drowning fledgling birds. Leading a team of citizen scientists, Deirdre unravels the secret to finding delicate nests amid thick marsh grass, while they design and deploy a low-cost 'ark' to try to raise vulnerable sparrow nests to safety. Will this be the year they manage to save them?
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09/09/2025 - 04:30
Sea levels are rising in New England at some of the fastest rates in the world. On a quiet ribbon of saltmarsh in Rhode Island, septuagenarian Deirdre isn’t prepared to accept the loss of her beloved saltmarsh sparrow - the species is facing extinction before 2050 due to elevated high tides inundating nests and drowning fledgling birds. Leading a team of citizen scientists, Deirdre unravels the secret to finding delicate nests amid thick marsh grass, while they design and deploy a low-cost ‘ark’ to try to raise the sparrow nests to safety.
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09/09/2025 - 04:30
In Rhode Island, a small team of researchers and volunteers is fighting, against the odds, to stop one of the most endangered US birds from drowning in ever higher tides
• Photographs by Jason Jaacks
Knee-deep in water, the young man lifts his arms. His wrists are grabbed, next his ankles, then he feels himself flying through the air, nearly horizontal, before plunging into New England’s pungent tidal waters.
Grinning and still dripping, he receives a homemade certificate documenting his induction into the Needle in a Haystack Society.
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09/09/2025 - 04:00
Underwater curtains and ice thickening divert attention from cutting fossil fuel use, warns climate research group
Proposals to fight the impact of the climate crisis at the poles, from giant underwater curtains to scattering glass beads across the ice, have been dismissed by a group of scientists as an “unimaginably expensive” and “dangerous” distraction.
Geoengineering, which includes blocking sunlight with airborne particles and thickening ice with pumped seawater, has become highly divisive among scientists. Its proponents argue that, with cuts in carbon emissions going far too slowly, exploring options for “emergency brakes” would be valuable.
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09/09/2025 - 01:06
SA Health says people should avoid discoloured foam but not avoid the beach because of the benefits to mental and physical health
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South Australians living with asthma or other types of respiratory illness have been warned of a “potential risk” posed by a toxic algal bloom dominating the state’s coastline at a Senate committee inquiry into the natural disaster.
The Senate committee had its first public hearing on Tuesday, and heard there were now toxins in the bloom that could exacerbate asthma; that very little was known about the species in the bloom, and that even its cause was not fully understood.
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09/08/2025 - 23:00
The results of Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count are in, and while the numbers are a vast improvement on 2024’s record lows, the charity has warned that urgent measures are still needed to reverse long-term decline
Britain’s butterflies bounce back in annual count – but only to average levels
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09/08/2025 - 23:00
Biggest insect survey in world finds UK’s hot summer led to increase in numbers of many species, but overall trends are still concerning
Top 10 most-sighted butterflies in 2025’s Big Butterfly Count – in pictures
Butterfly numbers have bounced back after the dismal summer of 2024, but the hottest summer on record delivered only an average number of the insects in the annual Big Butterfly Count.
More than 125,000 citizen scientists joined the biggest insect survey in the world this summer, counting an average of 10.3 butterflies in each 15-minute count in parks, gardens and green spaces across Britain.
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09/08/2025 - 22:05
The Greens senator says the fact South Australia's algal bloom is yet to be declared a national disaster reflects the need for a new set of criteria for climate disasters, as the Senate begins an inquiry into the toxic event.'If this had been on the northern beaches of Sydney or on Bondi, would it have taken so long for the government to respond?', Hanson-Young said. 'Frankly, I think it probably wouldn't have'
Bubble shield deployed in ocean to protect giant cuttlefish from deadly SA algal bloom
SA’s algal bloom ‘one of the worst marine disasters in living memory’, and driving force could rival black summer, experts say
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09/08/2025 - 18:00
Defra says blanket ban on ‘destructive’ fishing practice disproportionate as MPs urge minister to reconsider
Seabed bottom trawling, described by the chair of a Commons committee as a “destructive” fishing practice, will continue in English marine protected areas (MPAs), the government has announced.
Despite having official designation as protected areas for creatures including dolphins, puffins and seahorses, damaging industrial methods are still allowed to take place.
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