The Wash National Nature Reserve

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Overview

The Wash NNR is the biggest in England, covering over 34 square miles, and is one of England’s last great coastal wildernesses, where you can enjoy true tranquillity, as well as the excitement of some of England’s great wildlife spectacles. The Wash we see today is a remnant of the much larger Fenland Basin, which once stretched inland as far as Peterborough and Cambridge. It’s also the most important wetland site in the UK, with its vast mudflats and a huge expanse of saltmarsh supporting thousands of birds all year round. In winter, the NNR attracts large numbers of wildfowl including pink-footed and Brent geese, wigeon, pintail and shelduck, while in the summer, waders and seabirds come here to breed on the vast saltmarshes. The offshore sandbanks of The Wash are also one of the best breeding areas in England for common seals. This large expanse of mudflats, sandbanks and saltmarsh supports huge numbers of wintering and migrant birds such as grey plover, knot, dunlin, oystercatcher and bar-tailed godwit which come to feed on the mud-dwelling invertebrates.

Location

King's Lynn

About the area

The North Norfolk Coast is designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and probably the finest of its kind in Europe. Here you’ll find a string of quaint villages and small towns – Holkham, Wells-next-the-Sea and Cley next the Sea are 21st-century favourites, while Sheringham and Cromer are classic examples of a good old-fashioned seaside resort where grand Victorian hotels look out to sea.