[2] However, the site was for many years a large sandbank going by the name of "Old Warp"[3] and is shown on the 1734 Customs Map of the Humber where Read's Island now lays, and extending further downstream.

It says that two wrecks, including one which locals deliberately scuttled, helped to form the island off South Ferriby.

[6] Flooding in 2007 left the island depleted of areas for avocets to breed, so a programme of rebuilding was instituted.

[9] With the Humber Estuary being a drain for a large part of the Midlands, including the River Trent and all of its tributaries, and the River Ouse draining a major part of Yorkshire, England, and being very tidal, it was a simple task and a matter of waiting a few years for some strategically placed piles of bricks and concrete (Warping) to start off this island by allowing the rich silt to build up.

[12][13] In 1871, the Humber Conservancy agreed to buy the island from the Crown Estate for a sum of £1434.4s.3d[14](equivalent to £935,000 in 2015)[note 1] and the land was rented out to the tenant farmers.

[4] The major part of Read's Island is in the parish of Winteringham despite the closest village being South Ferriby.