Out and About - Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire is a historic county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the northwest, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders Northamptonshire in the south for just 20 yards (18 m), England's shortest county boundary. Basically the coastal area from the Wash to the Humber.

The Wash

[1] I've put this in Lincolnshire as two or the three coasts are there.

The Wash is the square-mouthed bay and estuary on the northwest margin of East Anglia on the east coast of England, where Norfolk meets Lincolnshire. It is among the largest estuaries in the United Kingdom and is fed by the Rivers Witham, Welland, Nene and Great Ouse.

The Wash NNR is the biggest reserve in England covering over 8,880 hectares, comprising of Kirton Marsh, Terrington St Clement Marsh, Point Green and the North Wootton Marsh. The reserve is designated as a National Nature Reserve (NNR), a Special Protection Area (SPA), a Special Area of Conservation (SAC), a Ramsar Site as well as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), due its importance as a winter feeding grounds for waders, wildfowl and migrant birds, as well as a valuable breeding zone for birds like the redshank. In addition the Wash is an important breeding ground for common seals, supporting one of the largest populations in England.

Great boat trip to see the mud flats.

There are quite a few other reserves around the wash with the most famous being Snettisham in Norfolk for seeing the waders and Pink footed goose.

Theddlethorpe Dunes

[1] Theddlethorpe Dunes stretches for 8 km along the north-east coast of Lincolnshire. It is a reserve run by Natural England, this coastal reserve is constantly changing and habitats include saltmarsh, foreshore and embryonic dunes on the seaward side and the more stable established dunes and marsh on the landward side.

It is a beautiful place to visit and nearly 1000 hectares of the Lincolnshire coast, the site comprising 8 km of coastal dunes and foreshore and the tide seems to go out for miles. I went here to see Shore Larks but there was plenty of other wildlife to see so give yourself plenty of time to do it.

There are several points to enter the reserve; it is rather ironic that of the three roads that lead east from Theddlethorpe St Helen, the one that doesn't lead to the sea is Sea Lane - which terminates in a farmyard from which a public footpath does give access to the beach. Brickyard Lane and Crook Bank, on the other hand, each have Car Parks from which the beach is readily reached and it is usually a very pleasant half-mile walk across the beach to the sea. Both car parks have provision for padlocking bicycles.

© Simon Thurgood 2024
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