Norfolk Wildfowl Trust, Cley-next-the-sea:

This 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‘ and provided the blue print for nature conservation which has now been replicated across the UK.  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.

There’s a new eco-friendly visitor centre from where the view across the Marsh to the sea is breathtaking, Inside there’s a great café with binoculars and bird-spotting info sheets on hand so even the birding novice can sound like an expert. For a small fee, you can go down to one of their hides on the marshes for a better look. For more info see here.

27 miles (44 minute drive) from West Heath  NR25 7SA