Orford Ness National Nature Reserve

Take waymarked trails through the unusual landscape. Follow your interests. Military history or nature. The choice varies with the seasons.

The Ness is an internationally important site for nature conservation. Breeding and migrating birds, specialised plants and other wildlife flourish in a rich mosaic of coastal habitats.

To protect our special places and wildlife and ensure our visitors are free to fully enjoy their experience, we carefully manage the use of drones on Orford Ness.

Did you work on the Ness or for any of the companies providing support services? Do you know anyone who did?

Here at Orford Ness we look after several different rare-breeds of sheep, where they play a vital role in conservation of habitats and the breeds themselves.

The habitats on Orford Ness are very varied. Vegetated shingle to brackish lagoons, reed marshes to mud flats. These habitats are a haven for wildlife.

From delicate Chinese water deer and big brown hares to barn owls and birds of prey including falcons and marsh harriers, there's lots of wildlife to discover on a visit to the Ness.

How have the plants that live here adapted to survive the challenges of living in the salty atmosphere of the coast and the desert-like conditions of the shingle?