RSPB Snettisham

RSPB Snettisham is a nature reserve in the care of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, situated in the county of Norfolk, England, north of King's Lynn, and close to Sandringham. It faces The Wash, a large estuary. In autumn and winter, the big tides of the Wash pushes up hundreds of thousands of wading birds onto the Norfolk coast. The nature reserve's bird lagoons provide a safe habitat for them.

Snettisham is unique in a couple of ways. It is rare in Norfolk that it is a beach facing West. However the unique geological nature of Snettisham is what attracts hundreds of thousands of migratory and transitory birds during the winter and autumn periods. High tides can push huge numbers of waders closer to where people can observe them. It is an awe inspiring sight to see flocks of hundreds of thousands of birds suddenly take to the sky and seem to dance and wheel about in some mad unco-ordinated spectacle. It is well worth getting up to the reserve to watch this alone.

During the year the bird population and diversity of what can be seen here will vary greatly, but specied regularly seen here include Little Ringed Plover, Oystercatcher, Golden Plover, Knot, Bar-tailed Godwit, Sanderling, Curlew, Spotted Redshank, Pink-footed Geese and if you are very observant and lucky Peregrine Falcon.

Snettisham pits were dug out during World War II in order to provide shingle that was used to build conrete runways as the American Bombers were too heavy to land on grass. The pits stretch for over 2.5km and are split equally between the RSPB reserve and privately owned beach properties, including the Snettisham Beach Sailing Club.

Evidence of the operation is still visible today as the concrete roads made to transport the shingle are still used today by the residents to access their property. Whilst the roads are no longer used in the reserve, pieces of them line most of the length of the pits. One of the most distinctive landmarks left from the operation are the ruins of the jetty used to load the shingle on to boats so it could be transported across the country.

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