Winterton Dunes national nature reserve (NNR), run by English Nature, forms part of the Winterton-Horsey Dunes Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and at over 100 hectares is always worth a wander. Having merit of being the most important area of dune heath on the east coast of England should be reason enough  to give it a look, if not, perhaps you’ll be swayed by the fact that it also supports areas of acidic dune grassland markedly dissimilar to that of the nearby north Norfolk coast, being rather more akin to dunes structures in the more northerly latitudes of the Baltic coastline, ( but from my experience just as cold)!
All things considered it’s a pretty extraordinary place. So maybe you'll come along sometime,  this time I think I'll start from the car park at Winterton beach.

Cycling up here, toward the magnetic influence of the ice cream shop, one cobalt blue day of summer’s past I remember grasping in the brake handles as a beautifully zigzagged adder writhed mesmerically across the road at my front wheel. How I’d love to be George Burrow’s ‘sap-engro’ (what an awesome book Lavengro really was, my mind just imploded at the time ) just then ! Can’t remember if I bothered with the ice-cream or not now !Damn, Yet again those distractions just keep creeping back, what it would be to have one of those A1 personalities and not keep drifting into……NO, no, apologies, I will return to the present!

Wander across the dunes and through the heather and you’ll come across a handful of small pools, which gives you a wonderful opportunity to see and arguably more importantly, hear the (unfortunately now) extremely rare Natterjack Toad. Come in winter & these little beggars will be tucked in a hole, eighteen inches down, but anytime from March to midsummer, the males gather around the waters edge and croak a choral resonance so strident that no female will be able to ignore it’s amorous objective, apparently! Balmy summer evenings really will transport you into another world though, maybe you'll even be lucky enough to cap it all with a  ‘churring Nightjar’,  more likely however, you’ll be presented with a visitation from the wraithlike Barn Owl quartering for prey.

As you wind over the dunes and across the heather, listen for the skylark, you’re bound to see them dart about only feet away, watch as they sing ascending the sky, sometimes deceptively close to you. Summer also brings you glimpses of the beautiful Wheatear.
When the mood takes you look over the main ridge across to the sea, Little Terns colonise the beach in summer, so watch for the occasional splash as they patrol the water, the evening roost brings a discordant raucous clamour which only serves to contradict the rhythmic somnolence of the Natterjacks . Whilst you’re standing on the ridge observe that wonderful russet water, not quite the Pacific ocean I’ll agree, but the colour tells the story of moving sediment, relentlessly taken from one place & unceremoniously dumped elsewhere!  The remains of the pillbox lying on the beach at the start of your walk, stood sentinel on top of the dunes not so long ago, the seminal influence of wind & tide once again shaping the ever changing landscape.

Get to the far end near Horsey gap and you’ve seen the major part of the dune system, so climb over and sit on the sea wall perpendicular to the groin studded beach and scan the sea for seals. The larger ‘Grey’ and more friendly looking ‘Common’ are the two species you’ll see here, sometimes swimming through, or maybe just ‘bottling’ further out. If you’re lucky a handful may play in the surf. If you're really keen drag the scope along in winter and scan out to sea, I've seen plenty of divers flying through, that grey winter plumage doesn't make identification easy let alone the distance factor, but I'm pretty sure I've seen Great Northern and Red Fronted divers as well as a variety of sea ducks. The very occasional Eider makes it all worthwhile and it's always great  fun to try to determine weather that raft (which is always way, way out) comprises Velvet or Common Scoter . You can walk to Waxham if you feel the need but the old pillbox on the ridge signals the end of this walk for me, so I think I'll find a sunny spot a bit further up away from the wind, get the stove out for a brew and while away an hour scanning about; just leaning back to enjoy the view.

Getting there : Winterton beach car park is through Winterton villiage, off the B1159, alternatively park at Horsey Mill (on the same road) and walk up towards Winterton.

Amenities : Car Park, shop, toilets, meandering trails and information panels detailing the flora and fauna.
 

Wilds of Norfolk was set up because of our unquenchable enthusiasm for the Norfolk Broads,  our small part of the natural world. We thought we'd like to try and give something back by helping other people enjoy the countryside and it's wildlife as well as do our own little bit to promote an interest in the natural world and it's conservation , not only for the wildlife but for the sheer exuberance of the precious life we're lucky enough to get the chance to live.

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