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Map of Cliffe Pools
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Flock of avocets on mudLapwing bathingNightingale singing
Black-tailed godwits flyingMarbled white butterfly, CambridgeshireNew reed growth
Migrant hawker dragonfly in flightWall brown butterflyWinter-plumaged dunlin feeding
Adult peregrine in flightMale pochard sliding to a stop on waterGrey plover and dunlin roost at Copperas Bay, RSPB Stour Estuary reserve

Top things to do in Spring

  1. Look through the scrub for warblers, owls, nightingales and turtle doves
  2. Listen to and watch the lapwings and redshanks gather with dabbling ducks, warblers, corn and reed buntings, linnets, stonechats and skylarks
  3. The saline lagoons are a great place to watch breeding avocets and common terns in most years, plus great crested grebes

Top things to do in Summer

  1. See a superb range of returning migrant waders, including flocks of 800 black tailed godwits and 800 avocets - and rarities
  2. Enjoy watching the large post-breeding flocks of up to 600 shelducks and 100 little grebes, and up to 60 little egrets around the pools
  3. Search for a good range of insects - from the rare shrill carder and brown-banded carder bees, to lots of butterflies, grasshoppers and bush crickets

Top things to do in Autumn

  1. It's a good time to seawatch on the Thames with skuas and sometimes petrels seen, especially in strong north-westerly winds
  2. In the scrub and grassland, look for the last of the year's insects. Late dragonflies include ruddy darters and migrant hawkers
  3. See if you can spot some late bush crickets - especially dark bush crickets - and the last of the year's butterflies

Top things to do in Winter

  1. Look out for 7,000 dunlins and 2,000 lapwings, with other species including redshanks and grey plovers
  2. Watch hunting birds of prey in the scrub and grassland areas, including marsh harriers, merlins, peregrines and owls
  3. See up to 3,000 dabbling ducks (teal, wigeon, shoveler, mallard, gadwall and pintail) mainly on the northern pools

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Your photos

  • Tree Bee Bombus Hypnorum by Paul Larkin
  • Vestal or Southern Cuckoo Bumble Bee Bombus Vestalis by Paul Larkin
  • Swallows by Paul Larkin
  • Pomarine Skua by Paul Larkin
  • Hobby by Paul Larkin
  • male Field Cuckoo Bemble Bee Bombus Campestris by Paul Larkin
  • Barbut’s Cuckoo Bumble Bee Bombus Barbutellus by Paul Larkin
  • Greenshank by Paul Larkin

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Downloads

Map of Cliffe Pools

Map of Cliffe Pools

289Kb, PDF

Date: 3 April 2012

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WildSquare Bingo

WildSquare Bingo

2.8Mb, PDF

Date: 21 June 2010

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Extend your stay

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Lapwing - adult female in breeding habitat pasture

Shorne Marshes

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Wader flock (including oystercatchers and dunlin) at the RSPB Snettisham nature reserve

Snettisham

Walk alongside bird-filled lagoons, shingle beaches and the vast wilderness of The Wash

Tree pipit singing from pine tree

Farnham Heath

We're bringing back historic heathland from a dark conifer plantation

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