A sea wall in Essex was deliberately breached this week in a £7.5M project to create the largest man-made marine wetland in the country. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs project on Wallasea Island, near Southend, has created 115ha of wetland to replace similar bird habitats lost to development during the 1990s. Around 600,000 tonnes of non-polluted dredging that would have been dumped at sea was used to create the habitat, which will reduce wave surges. The old, weak sea walls were breached after new defences were built inland. Pictured: Plant in place ready to finish creating the main breach