Coastal habitats are found wherever the land meets the sea. With some 17,800km, the UK has one of the longest national coastlines in Europe. The coast is home to many habitats, with cliffs, rocky shores, sand and shingle beaches, sand dunes, mudflats, saltmarshes and grazing marsh.
Listen to the rolling waves on the sand and shingle, breathe in the saline scents of the saltmarsh, and watch the wonderful wildlife this very important and sensitive National Nature Reserve has to offer.
In the winter, South Swale welcomes migrating birds such as brent geese, turnstones, dunlin, avocets, osytercatchers and ringed plovers. In the summer, it's home to carpets of flowers which attract butterflies and some rare bee species!
Whether they are tumbles of soft rock home to a variety of invertebrates, or hard, soaring rock faces bustling with huge seabird colonies, cliffs may be challenging to explore but are well worth the reward.
Skip the town beach and find an untamed shore to explore. Wild sand and shingle beaches are great places to see the variety of natural habitats and the amazing force of the elements that help shape them.
