Parking and access: Stodmarsh
end: from Canterbury take the A257 towards Sandwich. Pass Canterbury Golf
Club and turn left onto Stodmarsh Road. In Stodmarsh village, turn left
after the Red Lion pub and follow the sign to the reserve. GR 221609.
Grove Ferry end: take the A28 from Canterbury towards Margate. After
Upstreet village, turn right, signposted Grove Ferry. Cross the railway
and turn left after the Grove Ferry Inn - the reserve car park is to the left. GR
236631.
This internationally important wetland, with its lakes,
reedbeds and grazing marshes, seems like a very wild, natural place.
However, human industrial activity has played a part in its creation.
Although the land here would always have been a natural
wetland, flooded regularly by the Stour, from the 18th century,
work was carried out to control flooding and drain the land. In the 20th
century, many wetlands were lost as drainage became more and more
efficient, but the fate of Stodmarsh took a different turn due to the
opening of the Chislet colliery. The land began to subside above the mines
under Stodmarsh as early as the 1930s, and by the time the mine closed in
1968, this had led to large-scale flooding, and the creation of the lakes and reedbeds that make Stodmarsh so valuable for wetland
wildlife today.
The reserve is perhaps most noted for its birds. Winter
visitors include ducks - shoveler, teal, widgeon - and waders - redshank,
snipe, and the rare and secretive bittern. In spring and summer, migrants
include reed and sedge warblers, and one of the reserve's resident
rarities - the bearded tit - is active. The site is also a stronghold for
the water vole, which sadly is in serious decline, due in part to the
widespread drainage of wetlands.
For leaflets, guided walk details and other
information: English Nature 01233 812525.
Back to interactive map
