Snettisham RSPB reserve

Venue information

The RSPB’s Snettisham reserve gets you close to the wild heart of The Wash – the UK’s most important estuary for wildlife. Here you can see how high tides force thousands of birds to leave the mudflats where they feed, and settle close to the hides overlooking the lagoons. Visit at dawn in mid-winter to see thousands of pink-footed geese flying inland. In spring, migrants such as wheatears and sand martins arrive from their winter homes, and are regularly seen along the beach. Common terns look for nest sites on the lagoons, while hundreds of black-headed gulls take up residence on the islands. Wading birds in their colourful breeding plumage pass through on their way to the Arctic, alongside avocets, oystercatchers and ringed plovers which nest on the reserve. Barn owls can be seen at dawn and dusk hunting over the saltmarsh and surrounding fields. Come summer, avocets parade their chicks, while common terns and black-headed gulls busily ferry food to and from their young. Butterflies such as peacocks and painted ladies patrol the grassland. Yellow-horned poppies and viper's bugloss flower on the shingle. In autumn, thousands of thrushes and finches migrate overhead, returning from their summer breeding grounds. Wigeon and brent geese start to arrive back from breeding grounds, calling noisily to each other. Winter sees huge numbers of waterfowl gather on the lagoons and out in The Wash, while peregrines and hen harriers actively hunt on the saltmarsh. Vast numbers of pink-footed geese roost each night on the mudflats, flying inland at dawn to feast on the remains of the sugar beet harvest. Goldeneyes also gather in large numbers on the lagoon, and begin displaying as spring approaches. Long telephoto lenses are required for frame-filling images of individual birds but flocks in flight can be photographed with shorter lenses.

Venue verdict: Avid bird photographers will find plenty to keep them enthralled.

Ratings (out of five): 3