Blyth-Alde Living Landscape | The Wildlife Trusts

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Blyth Alde LL Suffolk WT cpt Steve Aylward

An expansive landscape of unique beauty

Suffolk Wildlife Trust

Between the Blyth and Alde estuaries in Suffolk is an expansive landscape of unique beauty, with habitats ranging from coastal and estuarine through to heathland and woodland, and a high proportion of the UK’s reedbed area.

Internationally significant for birds, including bittern, marsh harrier, bearded tit and avocet, this coastal region is under enormous threat from development and sea-level rise, and requires a landscape-scale approach to managing change. Habitat boundaries must be allowed to move in response to climate change, enabling the area as a whole to adapt over time. The vision of this project is a re-emergence of the natural landscape, creating a large sustainable area which, while founded on the past, will benefit both people and wildlife in the future.

What’s happening?

We have created a new nature reserve at Snape Marshes, linking the habitat between the Blyth and Alde estuaries to create Suffolk’s largest unbroken tract of semi-natural habitat. With restoration of the marshland through conservation grazing and improvements to access, this reserve is a wonderful haven for people and wildlife

Start date: 2008

Scheme area: 3,400 hectares

Trust reserves within the scheme

Alde Mudflats, Church Farm, Darsham Marshes, Dingle Marshes, Dunwich Forest,
Hazelwood Marshes, Hen Reedbeds, Sizewell Belts, Snape Marshes

This scheme is helping species including...

Bittern, marsh harrier, reed bunting, stone curlew, nightjar, woodlark, water vole and silver studded blue butterfly

Current threats to the landscape

Development, sea-level rise, coastal squeeze

This scheme is also...

Helping wildlife adapt to climate change, improving access for people, encouraging green tourism, providing volunteering opportunities

Partners

Natural England, Environment Agency, Forestry Commission, National Trust, RSPB, local landowners, Suffolk Coasts and Heaths AONB, EoN.

To find out more

Email: info@suffolkwildlifetrust.org | Tel: 01473 890089 | Blythe-Alde Living Landscape

Living Landscapes

Find out more about our Living Landscape conservation work - targeting areas for landscape-scale nature conservation and transforming places for people and wildlife.