The Exe Estuary is one of the most important wildlife sites in the South West of England, serving as both a breeding and feeding ground for thousands of birds, with over 10,000 wildfowl and 20,000 waders wintering on the estuary. Spanning 8 miles, it is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a Special Protection Area, and a Ramsar Site. Its diverse habitats include mudflats, saltmarsh, reedbeds, mussel beds, and eelgrass.
Along the estuary, several nature reserves and conservation areas are accessible, many of which can be explored via the Exe Valley Way. This river valley path stretches through the entire estuary and continues north through Exmoor, eventually reaching the source of the River Exe.
Matford Marshes is a small nature reserve which helps prevent Exeter from flooding by holding excess water after heavy rain or snow. The changes in water levels attract many species of wading birds and ducks. Look out for mallards, teals, mute swans, and Canada geese hiding amongst the vegetation, and listen out and reed buntings, goldfinches, and blackcaps in the hedgerows.
When the water levels start to rise later in the year, waders such as green sandpipers and snipe join grey herons searching in the mud for food. Coots and water rails can also be seen as can buzzards flying overhead.
Part of an RSPB reserve, Bowling Green Marsh is a coastal grazing marsh with a freshwater pool and reedbed. The open water attracts many different species of birds throughout the year. In spring look out for swifts, swallows, and house martins which feed over the pools, while in summer black-tailed godwits arrive from Iceland, some still their breeding plumage. You’ll also be able to see early migrants such as ringed plovers, little stints, ruffs, and sandpipers.
In autumn, the marsh comes alive with flocks of redshanks, greenshanks, curlews, and dunlins gathering at high tide to roost, and you may see passing ospreys fishing or perched on nearby trees.
The highlight of the year is arguably in winter, when hundreds of ducks, including wigeons, pintails, teals, and shovelers gather at the reserve, alongside lapwings, avocets, and curlews. Peregrine falcons can also be spotted as the hunt, and send the flocks into a frenzied blur.
Check out these places to stay nearby
Cricklepit mill is a wildlife oasis in the heart of Exeter. Owned by the Devon Wildlife Trust it is a Grade II listed building with an undershot waterwheel. The Trust host milling days when the machinery is active, and flour is produced in the old-fashioned way.
In the wildlife garden, bird feeders attract plenty of common garden birds such as greenfinches, goldfinches, blue tits, great tits, and robins, while the leat, or watercourse, provides a home for mute swans, kingfishers, moorhens, grey wagtails, and little egrets, as well as otters, eels, and dragonflies.
The Exe Reed Beds is one of the largest tidal reedbeds in Devon and a sanctuary for a wonderful array of birds and insects. There is no public access to the reed beds but they can be viewed from a trail on the western side of the Exe or a bird watching cruise is an alternative way to get closer to the birds.
Look out for red-breasted mergansers, avocets, Cetti’s warblers, sand martins, and reed warblers. The site also offers fantastic views across the Exe Valley and river.
The Old Sludge Beds was once a sewage farm in use until 1969 until new treatment works were built close by. The pools are now damp marshy ground with willow scrubs and the Devon Wildlife Trust that manage the reserve has built boardwalks that run across the site so visitors can get amongst the ponds without getting their feet wet.
Look out for water rails, cetti’s warblers, and bitterns amongst the reed beds. It’s also a good vantage point from which to see starling murmurations, and if flying mammals are more your thing, then the old sewage pump house has been converted into a roost for bats.
Dawlish Warren Nature Reserve is an area of grassland, sand dunes, and mudflats across the mouth of the Exe Estuary. It is one of the most important roosting sties for migratory wildfowl and wading birds in the southwest of England and thousands of birds arrive each autumn and winter from the far north of Europe. In the hours before and after high tide vast flocks of dunlins, grey plovers, black-tailed godwits, and oystercatchers gather on the shores, and brent geese, wigeons, and teal can be seen on the inshore waters.
During breeding season skylarks and linnets can be found nesting on the dunes, and short-eared owls, reed buntings, and cirl buntings are common sights over the summer. A number of rare vagrants occasionally turn up at Dawlish Warren too, including the elegant tern, lesser crested tern, greater sand plover, and great spotted cuckoo.
