Great Yarmouth - Wildlife

Wildlife

The Yarmouth area is home to a number of rare and unusual species. The area between the piers is home to one of the largest roosts of Mediterranean Gulls in the UK. Breydon Water, just behind the town, is a major wader and waterfowl site, with winter roosts of over 100,000 birds. This and the surrounding Halvergate Marshes are specially protected, and the majority of the area is now owned by conservation organisations, principally the RSPB.

The North Denes area of the beach is an SSSI due to its dune plants, and is home to numbers of Skylarks and Meadow Pipits. It also hosts one of the largest Little Tern colonies in the Uk each summer, as well as a small colony of Greyling butterflies. Other butterflies found here include Small Copper and Common Blue.

The near-by cemetery is renowned as a temporary roost for spring and autumn migrants. Redstart and Pied Flycatcher are often seen here during migration. It has also been the site for the first records of a number of rare insects, blown in from the continent.

Grey Seal and Common Seal are frequently seen off-shore, as are sea-birds such as Gannet, Little Auk, Common Scoter, Razorbill and Guillemot.

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