Saltmarsh below Walberswick

Image: © Evelyn Simak Taken: 21 Sep 2010

The adjoining beach > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2077269 has been raised in order to protect the marshland which forms part of the Walberswick Nature Reserve, on the other side, from being flooded by salt water. Marram grass is growing along the ridge. Walberswick Nature Reserve is one of three National Nature Reserves managed by English Nature. It is one of the most diverse sites in the UK with internationally important and unique groupings of habitation in a small area. The Reserve is made up of some of the best remaining areas of Sandlings heathland, together with reed beds at Westwood Marshes, which are some of the largest in the country, grassland, woodlands, shingle, saline lagoons and mudflats and the salt marshes of the tidal Blyth estuary. The reeds are still used commercially for thatching, a practise that helps to manage the water level in the reed bed for rare wildlife. The reserve is internationally important for its enormous variety of birdlife including Marsh Harrier, Bearded Tit, Water Rail and Bittern. The sea sometimes breaks through the shingle bank in winter, flooding the freshwater marshes, with potentially disastrous consequences for the wildlife that depends on the area.

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0