Dingle Marshes
"The attraction? Savouring the peace while standing in the middle of the largest freshwater reedbed in Britain with bittern booming and harrier hovering in the air above."
Dingle Marshes is one of the few places in Suffolk, accessible by road, where you can have a near wilderness experience. There’s something exciting to see every day, but May is wonderful with bittern booming and marsh harrier displaying.
The reserve is a magnet for breeding and wintering wildfowl and wading birds including the elegant avocet, white-fronted goose, lapwing and redshank. The reedbed holds a significant proportion of the UK’s marsh harrier and bittern – a rare bird of which the Suffolk and Norfolk reedbeds are a stronghold.
The vulnerable otter and water vole also live here and the site is internationally important for starlet sea anemone – the rarest sea anemone in Britain. These live in the soft mud at the edges of the creeks, saltmarshes and brackish pools, are less than two centimetres long and feed on small shrimp-like creatures and snails.
This valuable reserve is looked after by a unique partnership involving Suffolk Wildlife Trust, RSPB and Natural England.
By working together water levels are controlled, marshes grazed by cattle and reedbeds cut commercially for the benefit of wildlife. Dingle Marshes is jointly owned by Suffolk Wildlife Trust and RSPB.
Other Trust reserves nearby: Darsham Marshes
Special dates for your diaries
Best time to visit
All year
Site Manager:
- Address
Between Aldeburgh and Southwold
Map › - Grid reference
TM 480720 - Map
OS Landranger 156 - Parking
Forest Enterprise car park off Blythburgh Road (for bird-hide access) & Dunwich Beach car park. - Size
263 hectares (650 acres) - Local Facilities
Dunwich - Walking conditions
Good all year - Dogs
On leads only - Status
SSSI - Site of Special Scientific InterestA site of national importance identified by Natural England for its ecological or geological value.
NNR - National Nature ReserveNational designation by Natural England for some of the UK's finest wildlife sites.
Natura 2000 siteSites of European importance which host priority habitat types or priority species which are particularly at risk.
