Suffolk Coast National Nature Reserve is a wildlife reserve on the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

coast of the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

. It is located around the village of

Walberswick Walberswick is a village and civil parish on the Suffolk coast in England. It is at the mouth of the River Blyth on the south side of the river. The town of Southwold lies to the north of the river and is the nearest town to Walberswick, around ...

to the south of the town of

Southwold Southwold is a seaside town and civil parish on the English North Sea coast in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk. It lies at the mouth of the River Blyth within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The town is a ...

. The reserve was designated in 2003, combining the existing Walberswick National Nature Reserve with reserves at Dingle Marshes and Hen Reedbeds to create a reserve.Suffolk Coast NNR
''Natural England''. Retrieved 2012-10-31.National nature reserve to be unveiled
''East Anglian Daily Times'', 2003-06-11. Retrieved 2012-10-31. The reserve is managed by

Natural England Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...

in conjunction with the

RSPB The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a Charitable_organization#United_Kingdom, charitable organisation registered in Charity Commission for England and Wales, England and Wales and in Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, ...

and

Suffolk Wildlife Trust Suffolk Wildlife Trust (SWT) describes itself as the county's "nature charity – the only organisation dedicated wholly to safeguarding Suffolk's wildlife and countryside." It is a registered charity, and its headquarters is at Brooke House in ...

. The Dingle Marshes reserve is owned jointly by these two organisations, whilst the Hen Reedbeds area is owned by Suffolk Wildlife Trust. The Walberswick marshes section of the reserve is largely in private ownership and managed by Natural England. The reserve lies within the Minsmere-Walberswick Heaths and Marshes

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 ...

and includes areas designated as

Natura 2000 Natura 2000 is a network of nature protection areas in the territory of the European Union. It is made up of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas designated under the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, respectively ...

sites and

Ramsar sites 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) ** Marshes on inorganic soils: *** Permanent (herb dominated) (Tp) *** P ...

History

The marshland areas of the reserve were drained to use as farmland between the 16th and 18th centuries, providing grazing land.'Walberswick National Nature Reserve', ''Natural England''. The marshes to the south of Walberswick were flooded during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

to act as invasion defences. A number of pillboxes and other military defences can be found on the reserve. The marshes reverted to reedbeds during the 1940s and 50s, creating a range of habitats which are now preserved in the reserve. The reeds are cut by local commercial reedcutters for use in thatching, whilst grazing marshland is used for cattle grazing. Heathland areas of the reserve were traditionally used for grazing sheep. Rabbits played a major role in maintaining this landscape until the mixamatosis outbreak of 1953 after which much the heathland area of the reserve began to revert to birth woodland. Management of the heathland areas of the reserve has involved the removal of woodland species and the reintroduction of sheep grazing to retain the heathland in its traditional form.

Habitats

The Walberswick section of the reserve is the largest at . It contains a range of habitats including reedbed, hay meadows, grazing marshes, heather and grass heathlands and a variety of mixed and broadleaved woodlands. Along the coast shingle banks and beaches, saline lagoons and intertidal estuary and saltings are also present, providing a range of fresh, brackish and salt water habitats, whilst the area along the Blyth estuary provides mudflats and grazing marsh. The reserve has around 500 species of butterflies and moths, including 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 ...

and white admiral butterflies. Other invertebrate species include

solitary bees Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfami ...

and

wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. ...

, ant-lions and over 100 species of

cranefly Crane fly is a common name referring to any member of the insect family Tipulidae. Cylindrotominae, Limoniinae, and Pediciinae have been ranked as subfamilies of Tipulidae by most authors, though occasionally elevated to family rank. In the most ...

. Bird species number around 300, including bitterns and

marsh harrier The marsh harriers are birds of prey of the harrier subfamily. They are medium-sized raptors and the largest and broadest-winged harriers. Most of them are associated with marshland and dense reedbeds. They are found almost worldwide, excluding ...

s, whilst mammals found include

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 and five species of

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...

Natterjack toad The natterjack toad (''Epidalea calamita'') is a toad native to sandy and heathland areas of Europe. Adults are 60–70 mm in length, and are distinguished from common toads by a yellow line down the middle of the back and parallel paratoid ...

s have been re-introduced to the area. Flora found in the reserve include species such as marsh sowthistle,

bog pimpernel ''Anagallis tenella'', known in Britain as the bog pimpernel, is a low growing perennial plant found in a variety of damp habitats from calcareous dune slacks to boggy and peaty heaths in Eurasia. In the United Kingdom it is mostly restricte ...

sneezewort ''Achillea ptarmica'' is a European species of herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the genus ''Achillea'' of the daisy family Asteraceae. Common names include the sneezewort, sneezeweed, bastard pellitory, European pellitory, fair-maid-of-Fr ...

, and greater bladderwort in the wetland areas. Heathland areas feature species such as fenugreek and mossy stonecrop. Hen Reedbeds contains a mixture of reedbed, dykes, pools and fen habitats. Dingle Marshes contains a mixture of coastal and freshwater wetland habitats, including brackish pools. Both are nationally important breeding grounds for bitterns and marsh harriers, whilst Dingle Marshes is an internationally important site for the starlet sea anemone.

Facilities

A number of car parks and waymarked walking routes are provided on the reserve. Three audio trails can be downloaded and used by visitors. Three permanent bird hides are sited on the reserve.

References

{{coord, 52.316, 1.625, dim:3000_region:GB, display=title Nature reserves in Suffolk National nature reserves in England Ramsar sites in England Walberswick Suffolk coast