Dingle Marshes

Dingle Marshes is a wildlife reserve on the Suffolk coast between Dunwich and Walberswick. It covers 93 hectares and forms part of the Suffolk Coast National Nature Reserve. The site is owned by the RSPB and Suffolk Wildlife Trust and managed with Natural England. It lies within several protected areas, including a Grade I Nature Conservation Review site and a Natura 2000 site. The marshes are internationally important for the starlet sea anemone and nationally significant for bitterns and marsh harriers. The reserve protects a mix of coastal and freshwater wetlands, including brackish pools and a vegetated shingle bank. These habitats support breeding birds such as bitterns, marsh harriers and bearded tits, as well as otters and water voles. Over winter, the marshes host pied avocets, white-fronted geese, lapwings and redshanks. The shingle bank also provides nesting grounds for little terns. The site was purchased in 1999 with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Visitors follow a waymarked circular walk around the marshes. A hide maintained by the RSPB offers views across the wetlands. The reserve borders heathland and forest on one side and the North Sea on the other. Recent flood defences help protect the freshwater habitats from coastal breaches. The car park and facilities are accessed from Dunwich beach to the south.