Dingle Marshes

Dingle Marshes is a wildlife reserve on the North Sea coast of the English county of Suffolk. The reserve is located between Dunwich and Walberswick, approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) south-west of Southwold. The marshes make up part of the Suffolk Coast National Nature Reserve along with reserves at Walberswick and Hen Reedbeds. They are owned jointly by the RSPB and Suffolk Wildlife Trust and are managed by these two organisations and Natural England.

The reserve covers 93 hectares (230 acres), is within the Minsmere-Walberswick Heaths and Marshes Site of Special Scientific Interest and is a Natura 2000 site. It is an internationally important site for the starlet sea anemone as well as a key site for bitterns and marsh harriers within the UK. It was purchased in 1999 at a cost of £1 million, aided by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund of £559,000.

The marshes form part of the open coastal fen landscape type within Suffolk which is predominantly open with few trees. They were drained for use as cattle grazing at some point before 1587 but have reverted to fen land after mid-20th century reflooding.

The marshes include a mixture of coastal and freshwater wetland habitats, including brackish pools. These provide breeding habitats for birds such as bitterns, marsh harriers and bearded tits as well as mammals such as otters and water vole and over-wintering locations for species such as avocets, white-fronted geese, lapwings and redshanks. The site is an internationally important habitat of the starlet sea anemone, the rarest sea anemone in Britain. The reserve is bordered by heathland and forest on the landward side and includes a vegetated shingle bank on the seaward side. Little terns often nest along the bank.

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