Coatham Marsh

Coatham Marsh is a 54-hectare nature reserve near Redcar in the borough of Redcar and Cleveland. It sits beside the Tees estuary and forms part of the Teesmouth and Cleveland Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest. The marsh is crossed by a small stream called The Fleet, which drains twenty square kilometres of surrounding land. On its southern edge runs the A1085, while Locke Park and the former steelworks site lie to the east and west. The site once hosted salt pans in the 12th and 13th centuries, traces of which remain today. The marsh has witnessed notable events in local history. Archaeologists believe a battle between northern nobles and William the Conqueror’s forces took place here in 1069 or 1070. Defensive earthworks from that time were visible until the early 20th century. Later, in the 19th century, the land flooded regularly until industrial waste from steel and iron plants polluted the habitat during the 1960s, 70s and 80s. The construction of the Redcar steelworks in the late 1970s split the marsh in two with a railway line. Visitors find a mosaic of reedbeds, ponds and saline flats threaded by The Fleet. Over two hundred bird species have been recorded, including spoonbill, white-winged black tern and Temminck’s stint. Otters have been seen here, and dragonflies such as the common darter and large red damselfly patrol the air. Among the plants, northern marsh orchid and bee orchid grow beside patches of Baltic Bryum moss. The site remains a quiet green space where history and wildlife meet beside the Tees estuary.