Walking the Suffolk Coastal Path - Shingle Street - Boyton (Walk 5)
(Sunday 31st March - 2.7 miles. Route taken: Sea wall & marshes. Time taken 1hr. 45min)
I was looking forward to this section of the walk as I have not walked here before. Unfortunately the weather was not as forecast and there was very heavy cloud and a strong north easterly wind. I found the going tough especially with the very uneven ground. However the wind surfers were having a great time.
I felt very alone, just me and my thoughts in this very desolate place. I heard the occasional call of an oystercatcher and a skylark. There were waders in some of the mud flats. I trudged on, battling against the wind.
During World War II the quiet marshes became an area of strategic importance for siting defenses designed to stop a Germany invasion in this part of Suffolk. July and September 1940, saw 633 pillboxes constructed in Suffolk. Several of these can be seen on the Suffolk Coastal walk. As I walked on I couldn't help thinking about the soldiers who had spent weeks/months in dugouts in all weathers defending our coast line.
I turned away from the pillbox and looked to the other side of the footpath. I could imagine what it would look like on this walk on a bright, sunny day with the plants in bloom and insects buzzing around. Birds nesting and maybe the odd grass snake slithering around. Definitely a walk to come back to in a few months time.
It started to rain as I approach Simpson Maltings. The maltings are one of the most exciting botanical sites on the Suffolk coast. The reserve was purchased for Suffolk Wildlife Trust by Francis Simpson, a well known Suffolk botanist, with the additional help of English nature.
Many coastal and saltmarsh plants grow among the various habitats which include sand, shingle, salt-marsh, inter-tidal mud and estuary creeks.
The salting's and other vegetation have survived due to the isolation of the area. Rare and fragile lichens grow here due to the fact that they haven't been trampled on.
Despite not having a heavy footfall humans still manage to litter the area with rubbish. Rubbish that is likely to cause harm to birds and other wild life. When will humans learn that litter of any sort should be taken home, not dropped where they stand?
As I near the end of my journey I can imagine the beauty this marsh has to offer to wildlife. I am glad that it is free of todays 'business'. I will come back in a month or two, and sit and watch and listen and hopefully take some images of the the birds, the flowers and any other wildlife I see. This is an area that I hope will remain just as it is now.
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