In 2022, Natural England commissioned surveys of terrestrial invertebrate assemblages occurring in habitat close to the Thames in Essex. The surveys were required to inform proposals to enlarge the Mucking Flats and Marshes Site of Special Scientific Interest. The area considered for survey, encompassed both the estuarine corridor and inland sites under both private and public ownership between Stanford Le Hope in the east, to Tilbury docks in the west. This area includes an extensive array of post-industrial habitats with restored landfill/quarry, flooded pits, grazing marsh and transitional coastal grasslands and inter-tidal habitats, scrublands, and woodland.
The survey was mostly undertaken during June and July 2022 using timed sweep, timed vacuum and pitfall sampling methods. Pan/water traps, direct searching and spot sampling techniques were also used. 1,012 invertebrate species were recorded from combined survey compartments. 135 species were of recognised conservation importance in the UK. A larger number of beetles (Coleoptera) were recorded from sample data, than any other taxon, followed, in order of abundance, by two-winged flies (Diptera), true bugs (Hemiptera), bees, ants and wasps (Aculeate Hymenoptera) and spiders (Araneae). Many species were of limited range in the UK but are well represented and characteristic within the post-industrial brownfields and coastal grasslands of south Essex.