The Naze

Gaze across Hamford Water and watch yachts enter and leave Titchmarsh Marina while in the background large vessels sail to and from the Port of Harwich.
The Naze is a public open space. The dense scrub of hawthorn, gorse and brambles provides cover for numerous animal species and acts as an important landfall for migrating birds, including the occasional rare vagrants.

The cliffs at Walton-on-the-Naze form one of the finest geological sites in Britain and for that reason are a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). At the base of the cliffs is London Clay which is 54 million years old and it is overlaid with a sandy deposit called Red Crag (2 Million years old).

John Weston Nature Reserve is located near the end of the Naze and can be reached along the public footpath that's stretches along the cliff tops from the Naze Tower. The reserve is owned by the Essex Wildlife Trust and is named after the late John Weston, a leading Essex naturalist. The nature reserve consists of bramble thickets, rough grassland and four ponds. Its nesting birds include lapwing, redshank, sedge and reed warblers. It is also an important stopping off point for migrants, for example the Firecrest. Being so close to the shore it also attracts shore loving insects including Emperor and Cream Spot Tiger Moths

Hamford Water and the Walton Backwaters is an area of tidal creeks, mudflats, islands, salt marshes and marsh grasslands. It can be viewed best by boat or from a public footpath which runs along much of the seawall. This area is recognised internationally and is designated as a National Nature Reserve. It is an internationally important breeding

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