Gibraltar Point national nature reserve is an area of about on the coast of

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, England. The reserve is owned by Lincolnshire County Council and East Lindsey District Council and is administered by the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust. The reserve comprises two parallel ridges of

sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...

s—the "east dunes" and the "west dunes"—separated by about half a kilometre (550 yards) of

salt marsh A salt marsh, saltmarsh or salting, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. I ...

; and an area on the seaward side with further salt marsh and sand, shingle and muddy beaches. The reserve extends for a distance of about along the coast, from the southern end of

Skegness Skegness ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Lindsey District of Lincolnshire, England. On the Lincolnshire coast of the North Sea, the town is east of Lincoln and north-east of Boston. With a population of 21,128 as of 2021 ...

to the northern corner of

The Wash The Wash is a shallow natural rectangular bay and multiple estuary on the east coast of England in the United Kingdom. It is an inlet of the North Sea and is the largest multiple estuary system in the UK, as well as being the largest natural ba ...

(Gibraltar Point itself is at the southernmost tip, and marks the point where the

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

coast turns southwest towards

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

). A

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

course occupies much of the west dunes (the inland side) at the Skegness end of the area. Gibraltar Point is an area of coastal deposition—at the end of the 18th century the west dunes were by the shore, but they are now a kilometre inland. In 2016 a new visitor centre opened at the southern end of the reserve to replace the previous one which had been damaged by

Cyclone Xaver Cyclone Xaver (or Storm Xaver), also known as the North Sea flood or tidal surge of 2013, was a winter storm that affected northern Europe. Force 12 winds and heavy snowfall were predicted along the storm's path, and there were warnings of a s ...

. There are numerous paths around the area, and several artificial lakes and hides. The Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust also owns an old farm and land just inshore of the west dunes at the southern end of the reserve, again with an artificial lake and hides. Revenue from car parks assists in the upkeep of the area. Gibraltar Point is part of the twice daily inshore waters forecast in the extended form of the

Shipping Forecast The ''Shipping Forecast'' is a BBC Radio broadcast of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the British Isles. It is produced by the Met Office and broadcast by BBC Radio 4 on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. The for ...

broadcast on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

. The reserve's importance is recognised by its various designations: *SSSI (

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 ...

) *NNR ( national nature reserve) * Ramsar wetland site (wetland of international importance) *SPA (

Special Protection Area A special protection area (SPA) is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and cer ...

Flora and fauna

Birds

The reserve is home to a great variety of birdlife, mostly wildfowl, waders and gulls. The geography of the area, at the northern mouth of The Wash, makes the reserve very popular with migrant birds and many nationally rare species have been recorded. A total of 325 bird species have been recorded at the site as of 2021, the highest such total for any site in Lincolnshire. Recently, these have included black stork,

pallid harrier The pallid harrier (''Circus macrourus'') is a migratory bird of prey of the harrier subfamily. The scientific name is derived from the Ancient Greek. ''Circus'' is from ''kirkos'' (circle), referring to a bird of prey named for its circling fl ...

, caspian tern, red-flanked bluetail and rustic bunting during 2015, and broad-billed sandpiper, black-winged pratincole and great reed warbler in 2014. Notable breeding birds at the site include

little tern The little tern (''Sternula albifrons'') is a seabird of the family Laridae. It was first described by the German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas in 1764 and given the binomial name ''Sterna albifrons''. It was moved to the genus '' Sternula'' whe ...

common shelduck The common shelduck (''Tadorna tadorna'') is a waterfowl species of the shelduck genus, ''shelduck, Tadorna''. It is widespread and common in the Euro-Siberian region of the Palearctic realm, Palearctic, mainly breeding in temperate and wintering ...

ringed plover The common ringed plover or ringed plover (''Charadrius hiaticula'') is a species of bird in the family Charadriidae. It breeds across much of northern Eurasia, as well as Greenland. Taxonomy The common ringed plover was Species description, f ...

oystercatcher The oystercatchers are a group of waders forming the family (biology), family Haematopodidae, which has a single genus, ''Haematopus''. They are found on coasts worldwide apart from the polar regions and some tropical regions of Africa and Sout ...

and

common redshank The common redshank or simply redshank (''Tringa totanus'') is a Eurasian wader in the large family Scolopacidae. Taxonomy The common redshank was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of hi ...

, whilst the site is of international significance for overwintering wader species such as oystercatcher, grey plover,

red knot The red knot or just knot (''Calidris canutus'') is a medium-sized shorebird which breeds in tundra and the Arctic Cordillera in the far north of Canada, Europe, and Russia. It is a large member of the ''Calidris'' sandpipers, second only to the ...

, sanderling and

bar-tailed godwit The bar-tailed godwit (''Limosa lapponica'') is a large and strongly migratory wader in the family Scolopacidae, which feeds on bristle-worms and shellfish on coastal mudflats and estuaries. It has distinctive red breeding plumage, long legs, ...

. Nationally important numbers of ringed plover also overwinter. The site is home to a bird observatory, which has studied bird migration in the area since April 1949.

Flora

Gibraltar Point has the northernmost colony of sea heath in Britain.

References

External links

*
Gibraltar Point Bird ObservatoryGibraltar Point
(Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust)
Government Join Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) Page
{{East Lindsey (district) , state=collapsed Landforms of Lincolnshire National nature reserves in England Ramsar sites in England Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Lincolnshire Special Protection Areas in England Tourist attractions in Lincolnshire Headlands of England Nature reserves in Lincolnshire Bird observatories in England Beaches of Lincolnshire Lincolnshire coast East Lindsey District