Welcome to WWT Steart Marshes – a wild, wetland landscape for the future that helps people and wildlife adapt to climate change.
Rising sea levels are putting the squeeze on our coast, so WWT and the Environment Agency have created Steart Marshes ? one of the UK?s largest new wetland reserves. Hundreds of hectares of saltmarsh and freshwater wetlands buffer homes and businesses from rising sea levels, and provide habitat for a rich mix of wetland wildlife including otters, egrets, owls waders and wildfowl.
Steart Marshes is the first of WWT?s Working Wetlands ? places that demonstrate how wetlands are productive and useful. As well as being a natural buffer, providing protection to the newly created flood banks, the saltmarsh is farmed for specialist saltmarsh lamb and beef, its creeks are a nursery for the fry of important fish stocks, and it is absorbing tonnes of climate-polluting carbon as it matures.