Watching huge flocks of ducks, geese and swans swirling across wide, open skies, before alighting on the flat, expansive sanctuary of a flooded grazing marsh, has to be among the finest of all early winter British wildlife spectacles. At first glance, these winter wetlands look wild and untouched but, like so many of our habitats, they are another example of human dominion over nature, which has, on this occasion, fortuitously transformed them into vital wildlife refuges.
Defined as being pasture land frequently flooded in winter, grazing marsh comes in two distinct forms. Occurring in any flat areas alongside the coast, coastal grazing marshes were historically saltmarsh before then becoming hemmed in behind man-made sea defences. By contrast, inland grazing marshes tend to be located around low-lying rivers and lakes, and…
