Titchwell Marsh

Titchwell Marsh

Titchwell Marsh is an English nature reserve owned and managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Its 171 hectares include reed beds, saltmarshes, a freshwater lagoon and sandy beach. The site is home to rare species of bird, including the rare European waterVole, which can be found in the reeds and in the marshes. It is archaeologically significant, with artefacts dating back to the Upper Paleolithic, and has remains of military constructions from both world wars.

About Titchwell Marsh in brief

Summary Titchwell MarshTitchwell Marsh is an English nature reserve owned and managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Located on the north coast of the county of Norfolk, about 8 km east of the seaside resort of Hunstanton, its 171 hectares include reed beds, saltmarshes, a freshwater lagoon and sandy beach. The reserve is important for some scarce breeding birds, such as pied avocets on the islands, and western marsh harriers. Ducks and geese winter at Titchwell in considerable numbers, and the reserve shelters the endangered European water vole. It is archaeologically significant, with artefacts dating back to the Upper Paleolithic, and has remains of military constructions from both world wars. The North Norfolk Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest and the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is also protected through Natura 2000, Special Protection Area and Ramsar listings. It has a long history of human occupation. Populations of both Modern and Neanderthal people were present in Norfolk before the last glaciation between 100,000 and 10,000 years ago, and returned as the ice retreated north. The draining of Norfolk’s coastal marshes commenced in the late 17th and 18th centuries, and sea defences including the ‘Old Lord’s Bank’ were shown in maps from 1786 and 1797. For the next 170 years or so, reclaimed marsh was producing crops and beef cattle. A huge influx of Pallas’s mated pairs in 1853 led to several arrivals at Titcheswell, including mated pair of mated dunes or dunes.

During the Second World War, British Army returned in 1942 and stopped the drainage of farmland behind the banks. Some brickwork from a First World War military hospital and 1940s artillery targets for armoured fighting vehicles and warplanes have been found at the site. A concrete building along the west bank was let as holiday accommodation for the British Army until the Second War, until many were shot in 1942. Some of the drainage was stopped behind the west banks of Titch Well Marsh, immediately west of Thornham Marsh, and many of the rest of the marsh was shot in the east. The marsh is now a tidal saltmarsh, a more effective barrier to encroachment by the sea. Because of concerns about climate change, a major project in 2010 and 2011 brought improvements to the banks around the brackish lagoon. The lagoon has been stocked with the common rudd, a typical wetland birds such as the water rail, reed warbler and sedge warbler also appear, and little egrets are common. It also has three bird hides, a seawatching platform, two nature trails, and a visitor centre. The site is home to rare species of bird, including the rare European waterVole, which can be found in the reeds and in the marshes. It was used between 1914 and 1918 by Royal Flying Corps as a bombing range as a bomb range.