RSPB Minsmere is a nature reserve owned and managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) at

Minsmere Minsmere is a place in the English county of Suffolk. It is located on the North Sea coast around north of Leiston and south-east of Westleton within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB. It is the site of the Minsmere RSPB reserve and the origina ...

, Suffolk. The site has been managed by the RSPB since 1947 and covers areas of

reed bed A reedbed or reed bed is a natural habitat found in floodplains, waterlogged depressions and estuaries. Reedbeds are part of a succession from young reeds colonising open water or wet ground through a gradation of increasingly dry ground. As ...

lowland heath Lowland heath is a Biodiversity Action Plan habitat as it is a type of ancient wild landscape. Natural England's Environmental Stewardship scheme describes lowland heath as containing dry heath, wet heath and valley mire communities, usually below ...

acid grassland Acid grassland is a nutrient-poor habitat characterised by grassy tussocks and bare ground. Habitat The vegetation is dominated by grasses and herbaceous plants, growing on soils deficient in lime (calcium). These may be found on acid sedimentar ...

, wet grassland, woodland and

shingle Shingle may refer to: Construction *Roof shingles or wall shingles, including: **Wood shingle ***Shake (shingle), a wooden shingle that is split from a bolt, with a more rustic appearance than a sawed shingle ***Quercus imbricaria, or shingle oak ...

vegetation. It lies within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the Suffolk Heritage Coast area. It is conserved as a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

, Special Area of Conservation, Special Protection Area and

Ramsar site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

heath and grassland habitats, with particular emphasis on encouraging nationally uncommon breeding species such as the bittern,

stone-curlew The stone-curlews, also known as dikkops or thick-knees, consist of 10 species within the family Burhinidae, and are found throughout the tropical and temperate parts of the world, with two or more species occurring in some areas of Africa, Asia, ...

, marsh harrier, nightjar and nightingale. The diversity of habitats has also led to a wide variety of other animals and plants being recorded on the site. Before becoming a nature reserve, the area was the site of an ancient abbey and a Tudor

artillery battery In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to fac ...

. The marshes were reclaimed as farmland in the 19th century, but were re-flooded during World War II as a protection against possible invasion. The reserve has a visitor centre, eight bird hides and an extensive network of footpaths and trails. Entry is free for RSPB members. Potential future threats to the site include flooding or

salination Soil salinity is the salt content in the soil; the process of increasing the salt content is known as salinization. Salts occur naturally within soils and water. Salination can be caused by natural processes such as mineral weathering or by the ...

as climate change causes rising sea levels, coastal erosion and possible effects on water levels due to the construction of a new reactor at the neighbouring Sizewell nuclear power stations.

Landscape

The area around Minsmere consists of the wide valley of the

Minsmere River Minsmere River is a river in the English county of Suffolk which flows into the North Sea at Minsmere. The river is formed from the River Yox at Yoxford before flowing through Middleton, Eastbridge and Minsmere. It flows to the south of Minsmer ...

with Dunwich cliffs to the north and Sizewell cliffs to the south. Two extensive sandbanks lie off the coast, and the beach is sand overlain with shingle. The cliffs have a maximum height of about and are amongst the most rapidly eroding in the UK, at an annual rate of . From 500 BC to 700 AD, the sea level in Suffolk was about higher than it is today, and the low-lying areas of the present coast were then tidal estuaries. The river mouth was finally closed in the 18th century as sand and shingle deposits formed off the coast.Axell & Hosking (1977) pp. 19–21. The higher land consists of a deep layer of gravel and sand, the legacy of the beach formed by the sea before it retreated. The geology of the wetland areas below the topsoil is marine clay with darker freshwater deposits from the Minsmere River.Axell & Hosking (1977) p. 22.

History

Before 1947

In the Domesday Survey in 1086 Minsmere was known as ''Menesmara'' or ''Milsemere''. It is recorded as having six households headed by freemen with one plough team. The manor, which was in the Hundred of Blythling, was held by Roger Bigot.

Ranulf de Glanvill Ranulf de Glanvill (''alias'' Glanvil, Glanville, Granville, etc., died 1190) was Chief Justiciar of England during the reign of King Henry II (1154–89) and was the probable author of ''Tractatus de legibus et consuetudinibus regni Anglie'' ( ...

, King Henry II's Lord Chief Justice, founded a

Premonstratensian The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...

abbey on the marshes at Minsmere in 1182. The area was embanked to protect the abbey from the sea and to reclaim farmland, but still suffered several years of severe flooding in the 14th century. The site was abandoned in 1363, and the stone from the buildings was used to rebuild Leiston Abbey at a new location further inland. The remains of the abbey church,

fish pond A fish pond or fishpond is a controlled pond, small artificial lake or retention basin that is stocked with fish and is used in aquaculture for fish farming, for recreational fishing, or for ornamental purposes. Fish ponds are a classical g ...

and other buildings can still be detected below ground, but the only visible structure is the ruined chapel of St Mary, built within the nave of the former church. The lower section of the chapel was built soon after the demolition of the abbey in 1363, and the brick upper parts are thought to have been added by former abbot John Green, who lived there as a hermit when he retired from his post in 1527. The site was abandoned in 1537 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the only further construction being a pillbox that was built inside the chapel during World War II. The ruins are a scheduled monument of national importance. Peat cutting took place at Minsmere from at least the 12th century, and a 1237 description of the coastline describes Minsmere as a port. In a survey of 1587, an early Tudor period

, constructed sometime after 1539 at Minsmere,Good & Pluviez (2007) p. 15. was in ruins; the survey recommended that it be rebuilt. A coastguard station operated at Minsmere in the 1840s in an attempt to control smuggling along this stretch of the coast.White (1855) p. 505. In about 1780 a sandbank closed the mouth of the Minsmere River, creating a large freshwater wetland on its inland side. The reeds that grew there were cut for

thatching Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...

, and access was improved by using sand from the higher alluvial areas to build tracks across the marshes.Axell & Hosking (1977) p. 25. These marshes were enclosed and drained for agricultural use in 1812 and 1813, following the passing of the relevant Act in 1810,Good & Pluviez (2007) p. 30. with the main

sluice Sluice ( ) is a word for a channel controlled at its head by a movable gate which is called a sluice gate. A sluice gate is traditionally a wood or metal barrier sliding in grooves that are set in the sides of the waterway and can be considered ...

being built to control drainage to the sea. The New Cut, a canal south of the river, was built as part of the drainage works, joining the river again at the sea sluice. The canal was used to transport the thatch crop inland by barge, its bridges being built particularly high to enable the bulky cargo to pass beneath. The drainage was improved after 1846 using steam-powered pumps.White (1855) p. 308. These were made by Richard Garrett & Sons of the Leiston Iron Works.

There were four windmill sites on the levels. The Eastbridge Windpump was a smock mill built in the mid-19th century, probably by the

millwright A millwright is a craftsperson or skilled tradesperson who installs, dismantles, maintains, repairs, reassembles, and moves machinery in factories, power plants, and construction sites. The term ''millwright'' (also known as ''industrial mecha ...

Robert Martin of Beccles. It stood north of the New Cut. The mill worked a three throw pump with square pistons. The windpump was working until 1939 and collapsed in February 1977. The remains were rescued by the Suffolk Mills Group in July 1977 and the mill was rebuilt at the Museum of East Anglian Life in Stowmarket in the early 1980s. The Sea Wall Mill stood north of the New Cut but closer to the coast than the Eastbridge Windpump. It was a smock mill built in the early 19th century. The mill worked by wind until it was tailwinded in January 1935, breaking the windshaft and rendering the mill sail-less. The

scoopwheel Rim driven Scoop wheel of the Stretham Old Engine, Cambridgeshire A scoop wheel or scoopwheel is a pump, usually used for land drainage. A scoop wheel pump is similar in construction to a water wheel, but works in the opposite manner: a waterw ...

was subsequently worked by a Hupmobile petrol engine, and later by a diesel engine. The mill collapsed in the summer of 1976. A third smock mill stood south of the New Cut and seaward of the ruins of the chapel. Built by the millwright Collins of Melton, it was blown down in the 1920s and a Titt windpump was erected on the site to drive the scoopwheel. This windpump had sails diameter. Another Titt windpump, with sails diameter stood 1.6 km (a mile) south of this. Both Titt windpumps were standing in 1938. The levels were re-flooded during World War II to defend against invasion along the

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

n coast. Military defences were built at Minsmere and neighbouring Dunwich, including pillboxes,

anti-aircraft defences ''Anti-aircraft defences'' is an oil on canvas painting of 1940 by the British artist Christopher Nevinson in the collection of the Imperial War Museum. It depicts anti-aircraft batteries and London Blitz spotlights. It was transferred to th ...

, anti-tank blocks and

barbed wire A close-up view of a barbed wire Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire Barbed wire, also known as barb wire, is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strands. Its primary use is t ...

defence lines. The Army also used much of the heathland for military manoeuvres, including preparations for the invasion of continental Europe. Before the war, the Ogilvie family had owned and managed the area as farmland and as a shooting estate, planting many deciduous trees as part of their hunting management plan. After the war, they decided to leave the marshes undrained, realising their ornithological value.

RSPB era

Minsmere bird hide by Flickr user pyntofmyld

The RSPB had been considering the Minsmere site, at that time about in extent, as a potential reserve from the late 1930s, and a management agreement was signed in 1947. The appointment of

Bert Axell Herbert Ernest Axell MBE (1 July 1915 – 12 November 2001) was a British naturalist and conservationist who came to prominence through his wardenships and innovations at Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) reserves. After taking m ...

as warden in 1959 led to major changes in reserve management, which were in due course also adopted elsewhere. He realised that

ecological succession Ecological succession is the process of change in the species structure of an ecological community over time. The time scale can be decades (for example, after a wildfire) or more or less. Bacteria allows for the cycling of nutrients such as ca ...

would eventually lead to the loss of important habitats, such as bare ground on the heaths or open water in the reed beds, unless natural plant colonisation was actively prevented. He created the "scrape", an area with shallow water, islands and bare mud, by lowering land levels and managing the water level with new sluices. A circular path led around the scrape, giving access to hides on each of the four sides. In 1977, two years after Axell's retirement, the RSPB purchased the reserve outright. The Great Storm of 1987 destroyed 3,000 trees in one night. Many areas were reforested, but it was noticed that other badly affected woodlands nearby were colonised by woodlarks, so some recently acquired arable land was acidified and converted to heathland to encourage open-ground species. Minsmere is one of a small number of UK sites at which

bitterns Bitterns are birds belonging to the subfamily Botaurinae of the heron family Ardeidae. Bitterns tend to be shorter-necked and more secretive than other members of the family. They were called ''hæferblæte'' in Old English; the word "bittern" ...

breed. In 1979, nine booming males were counted but the population at Minsmere has varied over time, reaching a low of only one booming male in 1991. During the 1990s the existing reed beds were managed specifically for bitterns; when grazing marshes known as the North and South Levels were purchased, the North Levels were converted to reed bed and the South Levels to wet grassland. The Minsmere reserve covers about of reed bed, open water, lowland heath, grassland, scrub, woodland, dune and shingle vegetation. The nature reserve, its habitats and wildlife, are protected under UK law as part of

Minsmere–Walberswick Heaths and Marshes Minsmere–Walberswick Heaths and Marshes are a Special Area of Conservation and Site of Special Scientific Interest in the English county of Suffolk.Special Protection Area, a

Ramsar Site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

Special Area of Conservation and a

. The site is also included in the areas covered by the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and the Suffolk Heritage Coast.

Access and facilities

The reserve is accessible by car from the A12 via the village of Westleton. It is also connected to

Route 1 The following highways are numbered 1. For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads. For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads. For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads. For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads. For roads numbered ...

of the Sustrans National Cycle Network by the Suffolk Coast Cycle route. The nearest bus access is in the town of Leiston away and rail access is in Darsham distant. Coastlink, a demand responsive bus service, is available from these places to travel to the reserve but requires booking a day in advance. RSPB Minsmere is accessible on foot from

Dunwich Heath Dunwich Heath is an area of coastal lowland heath just south of the village of Dunwich, in the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB, England. It is adjacent to the RSPB reserve at Minsmere. It lies within the area of the Minsmere-Walberswick Heath ...

, Sizewell Beach and

Eastbridge Eastbridge is a village in the English county of Suffolk. It is located approximately north of Leiston, from the North Sea in the parish of Theberton, immediately south of the Minsmere RSPB reserve. It borders the Minsmere River which cuts thro ...

, and there are of

public rights of way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

around the reserve. Two long-distance walks, the

Suffolk Coast Path The Suffolk Coast Path is a long-distance footpath along the Suffolk Heritage Coast in England. It is long. Previously known as the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Path after the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty through w ...

and the Sandlings Walk, also connect to Minsmere. The reserve was originally conceived as a protected site for rare breeding birds, and before 1980 permits were needed to visit. Only since 2005 has Minsmere opened every day of the week. The visitor centre was built in 1996 and expanded in 2012 using National Lottery and European Union funding. Visitor access to the various habitats has also been improved. Entry to the reserve is free for RSPB members, although a fee is charged for non-members. The site is open daily from dawn to dusk, year-round. The visitor centre and facilities are open from 9 am to 5 pm with some seasonal variations. The visitor centre provides a café, picnic area, shop, toilets and baby-changing facilities; guided walks, binocular hire and children's 'explorer packs' are also available. Only assistance dogs are allowed within the reserve; all other dogs must be kept within the car park or visitor centre, or on the public rights of way that surround the site. The reserve was featured in the BBC ''Birdwatch'' live TV broadcasts in 1980, 1981 and 1989, and on '' Springwatch'' from 2014 to 2016.

Management

The main management objectives at Minsmere are to maintain and improve the wetland, heath and grassland habitats. Water levels are managed using a system of sluices, surplus water eventually flowing into the sea at the main sluice on the New Cut. The sluices also keep seawater out of the reed beds, allowing control of salinity in the scrape. Vegetation is removed from the lagoons annually, and sections of the scrape are dried out and re-flooded on a five-year rotation. The scrape is protected from predators by an electric fence, improved in 2014 and 2015 when it was realised that badgers were attacking ground-nesting birds. The reed beds are grazed by Konik horses and Highland cattle while they are drained; this helps maintain the boundary between reed beds and open water areas. This control of reed density provides open water feeding pools for bitterns within the reed beds. The grazing regime was instituted following investigations into similar schemes in Sweden and Denmark. The heathland and acidic grassland areas of Minsmere are managed by grazing, heather and scrub control and removal of trees and unwanted western gorse. The areas of gorse and scrub remaining are cut in rotation to keep the gorse short and dense, providing a scrub structure optimal for nightingales. In 1989, of arable land were purchased in a project to recreate lowland heath and acidic grassland habitat by acidification of the soil, the aim being to join fragmented patches of heathland together and to provide increased habitat for the stone-curlew, woodlark and nightjar, three threatened bird species. Methods used to acidify the land, which had been arable farmland for 150 years, included grazing by sheep or the addition of

sulphur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...

, either with bracken and heather waste, or on its own, followed by reseeding.

Fauna and flora

Minsmere's large size and variety of different habitats, some of which are scarce elsewhere in the UK, make it attractive to many species of animals and plants; around 5800 species have been recorded on the reserve.

Birds

As of 2017, 342 bird species have been sighted at Minsmere, of which 230 are annual and more than 100 have bred. In the 1990s the bittern was in serious decline with only one booming male on the reserve. Creation of ditches and pools and better water-level management led to 9–12 males being present annually, and application of these techniques elsewhere has revived the fortunes of this species in the UK as a whole. The stone curlew has also benefited from the creation of suitable bare-ground nesting habitat, and the reserve's population is now nearly 10 pairs each year, against a single pair in Suffolk in the mid-1990s. The avocet first started its recolonisation of Britain in 1947, four pairs breeding a month after the reserve was acquired by the RSPB. Numbers at Minsmere now vary between 40 and about 140 pairs per year. In 1971, the only nesting pair of marsh harriers in the UK were at Minsmere. The population of this

polygynous Polygyny (; from Neoclassical Greek πολυγυνία (); ) is the most common and accepted form of polygamy around the world, entailing the marriage of a man with several women. Incidence Polygyny is more widespread in Africa than in any ...

species reached 17 nesting females in 2007, up from the more typical 8 to 10. Other important species are bearded tits, woodlarks, nightjars in open habitats, nightingales in the woodlands, and Dartford warblers, which returned to Minsmere's heaths in the mid-1990s, having been lost to the area six decades earlier. Many wildfowl winter on the reserve, including wigeon,

gadwall The gadwall (''Mareca strepera'') is a common and widespread dabbling duck in the family Anatidae. Taxonomy The gadwall was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. DNA studies have shown that ...

and teal, and easterly winds can bring in passage

migrants Migrant may refer to: Human migration *Human migration *Emigration, leaving one's resident country with the intent to settle elsewhere *Immigration, movement into a country with the intent to settle * Economic migrant, someone who emigrates from o ...

, sometimes in large numbers. These may include uncommon species such as bluethroats, wrynecks and dotterels. Minsmere's east-coast location and range of habitats make it a major site for rare species. Notable recent occurrences include Great Britain's first western swamphen in 2016, a black-browed albatross in 2015, pallid harrier and collared pratincole in 2014, and Audouin's gull and red-flanked bluetail in 2011.

Other animals and plants

Silver-studded blue (Plebeius argus) male

Mammals found at Minsmere include a herd of about 300 red deer,

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes wea ...

s, badgers and water voles, the last being protected by active control of introduced American mink which have led to major declines elsewhere. Other vertebrates include adders, small numbers of natterjack toads and 13 species of fish, of which common rudd is an important food source for bitterns. Over 1000 species of moths and butterflies have been found at Minsmere, including a large breeding population of the

silver-studded blue The silver-studded blue (''Plebejus argus'') is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It has bright blue wings rimmed in black with white edges and silver spots on its hindwings, lending it the name of the silver-studded blue. ''P. argus'' can be ...

. Rare species include the

scarce tortoiseshell ''Nymphalis xanthomelas'', the scarce tortoiseshell, is a species of nymphalid butterfly found in eastern Europe and Asia. This butterfly is also referred as yellow-legged tortoiseshell or large tortoiseshell (however, in Europe, "large torto ...

butterfly and Britain's only record of the moth species ''

Catocala coniuncta ''Catocala coniuncta'' is a circum-Mediterranean species of moth whose range extends across southern Europe, North Africa and extending to the Middle East. Its species name has for a long time been misspelled "conjuncta"; this was only corrected ...

'', now given the English name of "Minsmere crimson underwing". Threatened moths include the flame wainscot, Fenn's wainscot and white-mantled wainscot. The reserve has been colonised by two insect species that are currently expanding their ranges, the European beewolf and the

antlion The antlions are a group of about 2,000 species of insect in the neuropteran family Myrmeleontidae. They are known for the predatory habits of their larvae, which mostly dig pits to trap passing ants or other prey. In North America, the larvae ...

, and it also hosts the hairy-legged mining bee and the minotaur beetle; the latter large insect is a food item for stone-curlews. Dead and decaying trees in the woodlands support a wide range of invertebrates and over 1500 species of fungus, including rare species such as

moor club Moor or Moors may refer to: Nature and ecology * Moorland, a habitat characterized by low-growing vegetation and acidic soils. Ethnic and religious groups * Moors, Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, Iberian Peninsula, Sicily, and Malta during ...

, deceiving bolete and

lion's mane mushroom ''Hericium erinaceus'' (also called lion's mane mushroom, mountain-priest mushroom, bearded tooth fungus, and bearded hedgehog) is an edible mushroom belonging to the tooth fungus group. Native to North America, Europe, and Asia, it can be iden ...

. The shingle ridges on the beaches hold a variety of uncommon plants including

yellow horned-poppy ''Glaucium flavum'', the yellow horned poppy, yellow hornpoppy or sea poppy, is a summer flowering plant in the family Papaveraceae. It is native to Europe, Northern Africa, Macaronesia and temperate zones in Western Asia. The plant grows on ...

, red-tipped cudweed and round-leaved wintergreen.

Threats

Nuclear power station at Sizewell - geograph

The Suffolk coast has been subject to incursions from the sea for centuries, particularly notable events being the loss to the sea of most of the once-important town of Dunwich, next to Minsmere, in a series of storms in 1286, 1328 and 1347, and the 1953 storm which caused flooding and destruction in much of eastern England. Minsmere faces threats from rising sea levels, caused by climate change, which adversely affect the drainage of the reserve and can lead to river flooding. Coastal erosion also threatens the integrity of the reserve. An

Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...

assessment in 2011 estimated that Dunwich Heath, the beach at Minsmere and the artificial clay bank behind the beach could suffer severe damage within 20 years, although work by the Environment Agency at the north end of the reserve should hold the sea at bay there for 50 years. The construction of two new reactors at the neighbouring Sizewell nuclear power site may also have a potential impact on the reserve. The RSPB and others have argued that the water table in the marshes could be adversely affected by the adjacent construction, both through contamination and by a change in water levels. There could also be changes to the coastline caused directly or indirectly by the actual construction. An article written on behalf of the RSPB suggested that any damage to the wetlands at Minsmere is likely to have a major effect on UK bittern numbers since the reserve holds a significant proportion of the national breeding population. In 2018, expansion plans for Sizewell were called into question by National Infrastructure Commission proposals to scale back the nuclear power programme on safety and environmental grounds.

Notes

References

Citations

Cited texts

* * *

External links

*
Historic England map
of the former abbey site. {{DEFAULTSORT:Minsmere Birdwatching sites in England Royal Society for the Protection of Birds reserves in England Special Protection Areas in England Nature reserves in Suffolk Protected areas established in 1947 Ramsar sites in England 1947 establishments in England Suffolk coast