Well worth a visit for nature and bird lovers

NWT Cley Marshes is Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s oldest and best known nature reserve. It was purchased in 1926 to be held 'in perpetuity as a bird breeding sanctuary'. It provided a blue print for nature conservation which has now been replicated across the UK. The water levels in the pools and reedbeds are regulated to ensure they are ideal for the resident birds, and reed is harvested every year to keep the reedbeds in good condition.

The shingle beach and saline lagoons, along with the grazing marsh and reedbed support large numbers of wintering and migrating wildfowl and waders, as well as bittern, marsh harrier and bearded tit.

A new eco-friendly visitor centre opened in 2007 containing a café, shop, viewing areas (including viewing from a camera on the reserve). We have since added to this with the fantastic Simon Aspinall Wildlife Education Centre, a courtyard and viewing deck. The view from the visitor centre across the Marsh to the sea is breathtaking.

The sand Martin is a summer visitor from North Africa but smaller than the House Martin and Swallow. They live in tunnels bored into sand or gravel banks. West Runton is an ideal location to find them, the burrows can be found on the sandstone cliffs here. Their food consists of small insects and they can be seen flitting around to collect them before returning to their young ones.
The video was taken at West Runton from the beach.