Its flora includes saltmarsh plants such as lax flowered sea-lavender, sea rush and golden samphire.

[2] Ray Island was the setting for the novel Mehalah: A Story of the Salt Marshes by Sabine Baring-Gould, who was the rector of East Mersea for 10 years from 1871.

Baring-Gould describes the island thus in the first chapter: The marshy landscape also formed part of the inspiration for The Essex Serpent, by Sarah Perry.

[2] A bear is said to have escaped from a ship onto the island and killed a group of fisherman who had landed there.

There is also the tale is of a drunkard who chased his wife and daughter into the marshes but he was drowned by the rising tide.