File:Mudflats and distant dunes - geograph.org.uk - 908459.jpg

English: Mudflats and distant dunes The view was taken towards Gun Hill, in northwesterly direction; the yellow flowering plant seen in the foreground is a member of the parsley family. Further seawards, the marsh pastures have turned into saltmarsh. Sediments deposited by the sea have built up into a skim of mud and silt and, over the years, evolved into saltmarsh. The middle and upper levels of the saltmarshes at Holkham are covered with plants such as sea aster and sea lavender. http://www.holkham.co.uk/naturereserve/saltmarsh.html One of the footpaths leading into the Holkham Nature Reserve can be accessed from the A149 east of Burnham Overy Staithe. The first section of this path leads through marsh pastures > https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/908439 - https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/908447 which were reclaimed in the 18th and 19th centuries, beginning at Burnham Overy in 1639 and ending with the construction of the sea wall at Wells in 1859. Up until the 1940s this area was used for grazing sheep and cattle but due to modern farming methods the water table of the marsh had to be lowered; as a consequence the old grazing marshes dried out and became much less attractive for wildlife. In recent years, however, a system of dams and water control points was developed in order to again raise water levels, and the wildlife returned. Avocet, shoveler and marsh harrier have re-colonised the marshes and wintering wildfowl have made a come-back, with recent peak counts of 20,000 pink-footed geese, 7,000 brent geese and 13,000 wigeon. http://www.holkham.co.uk/naturereserve/reclaimedsaltmarsh.html