Dengie_SPA
Dengie nature reserve is a 12 sq. mi. (3,105 hectare) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest between the estuaries of the Blackwater and Crouch near Bradwell-on-Sea in Essex.[2][3] It is also a National Nature Reserve,[4] a Special Protection Area,[5] a Nature Conservation Review site,[2] a Geological Conservation Review site[6] and a Ramsar site.[7] It is part of the Essex estuaries Special Area of Conservation.[8] An area of 30 acres (12 hectares) is the Bradwell Shell Bank nature reserve, which is managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust.[9]
It consists of large, remote area of tidal mud-flats and salt marshes at the eastern end of the Dengie peninsula . The Chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall overlooks some of the site.
It is a wetland of international importance and provides habitats for:
- Bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica)
- Hen harrier (Circus cyaneus)
- Grey plover (Pluvialis squatarola)
- Red knot (Calidris canutus)
- Black-tailed godwit (Limosa limosa islandica)
- Dunlin (Calidris alpina alpina)
- Northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus)
- Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus)
- Dark-bellied brent goose (Branta bernicla bernicla)
- Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)
- Great crested grebe (Podiceps cristatus)