page_title: RSPB Minsmere
section_title: Threats
hierarchical_section_title: RSPB Minsmere / Threats
caption_attribution_description: English: Nuclear power station at Sizewell.
context_page_description: RSPB Minsmere is a nature reserve owned and managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds at Minsmere, Suffolk. The 1,000-hectare site has been managed by the RSPB since 1947 and covers areas of reed bed, lowland heath, acid grassland, wet grassland, woodland and shingle vegetation. It lies within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the Suffolk Heritage Coast area. It is conserved as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, Special Area of Conservation, Special Protection Area and Ramsar site.
  The nature reserve is managed primarily for bird conservation, particularly through control and improvement of wetland, heath and grassland habitats, with particular emphasis on encouraging nationally uncommon breeding species such as the bittern, stone-curlew, marsh harrier, nightjar and nightingale. The diversity of habitats has also led to a wide variety of other animals and plants being recorded on the site.
  Before becoming a nature reserve, the area was the site of an ancient abbey and a Tudor artillery battery.
context_section_description: The Suffolk coast has been subject to incursions from the sea for centuries, particularly notable events being the loss to the sea of most of the once-important town of Dunwich, next to Minsmere, in a series of storms in 1286, 1328 and 1347, and the 1953 storm which caused flooding and destruction in much of eastern England.
  Minsmere faces threats from rising sea levels, caused by climate change, which adversely affect the drainage of the reserve and can lead to river flooding. Coastal erosion also threatens the integrity of the reserve. An Environment Agency assessment in 2011 estimated that Dunwich Heath, the beach at Minsmere and the artificial clay bank behind the beach could suffer severe damage within 20 years, although work by the Environment Agency at the north end of the reserve should hold the sea at bay there for 50 years.
  The construction of two new reactors at the neighbouring Sizewell nuclear power site may also have a potential impact on the reserve. The RSPB and others have argued that the water table in the marshes could be adversely affected by the adjacent construction, both through contamination and by a change in water levels. There could also be changes to the coastline caused directly or indirectly by the actual construction.
  An article written on behalf of the RSPB suggested that any damage to the wetlands at Minsmere is likely to have a major effect on UK bittern numbers since the reserve holds a significant proportion of the national breeding population. In 2018, expansion plans for Sizewell were called into question by National Infrastructure Commission proposals to scale back the nuclear power programme on safety and environmental grounds.
caption: Expansion of Sizewell nuclear power stations may affect water levels at neighbouring Minsmere
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