Walkers and bird watchers are in their element at a newly created salt marsh at Porlock in Somerset, where some of Britain's rarest wildlife can now be found. Mervyn Hancock learns more about it

O f all the views in the whole of Great Britain, my personal favourite is the one from the little parking area on the edge of Exmoor at the top of Porlock Hill in Somerset.

With the heather-decked moor in the background, the wild countryside leads the eye down to the Bristol Channel below, across the water to the coastline of Wales, and offers a panoramic view of Porlock Bay and its spectacular coastline.

And the might of the sea has added another aspect to that view – an area of rough pasture land which has been transformed into a salt marsh, and become home to some of Europe's rarest birds, mammals and flora.

In any other part of the country, the tidal surge, which breached a protective shingle shelf on the Somerset coastline in 1996, would have caused great consternation.

The threat from global warming, which predicts a rise in the sea levels, and loss of terra firma, is something to which the Government and environmentalists are having to give a great deal of thought and deliberation.

But Nigel Hester, the countryside manager for the National Trust, which owns much of the affected land around Porlock Bay, says in this particular case, it has created the opportunity to provide an important habitat for wildlife, as well as providing a leisure area for walkers and bird watchers. It is one way the National Trust is working with, rather than against, natural processes.

"The shingle ridge which kept the sea at bay was probably formed 9,000 years ago," explained Nigel.

"Rocks fell into the sea around Porlock Bay and were then smashed and washed up along the coast.

"During the beginning of the 20th century major storms almost devastated the harbour at Porlock Weir, and the measures which were taken to protect it meant the rocks being washed along the coast to the area which is now the salt marsh diminished, the shingle shelf became thinner, and eventually, during a tidal surge some 13 years ago, it was broached.

"We consulted with environmental groups and local people, and it was decided to allow the water to flood the pasture land, and the salt marsh was created.

"There is no danger to adjoining farm land, which produces a barley crop, because of the steep incline.

"The shingle ridge and its associated salt marsh extend for about 4km.

"The area is designated as the Porlock Ridge and Salt Marsh Site of Special Scientific Interest and covers 186 hectares. The site was notified as an SSSI in 2002 for its nationally important coastal features."

The Exmoor Coastline stretches about 30 miles between Minehead, at its eastern end, and Combe Martin to the west.

For most of this distance, the coastline is formed mainly of cliffs. But at Porlock the land flattens out, and that is where the unique mile-long shingle ridge and an inland salt marsh have formed.

This marsh and shingle ridge are only a short distance from the centre of Porlock, and are easily accessible for walkers on well-marked footpaths.

Towards the Bossington end of the ridge, there is a very interesting old lime kiln, and also pillboxes built during World War II.

On the Porlock part of the marsh there is another relic of the war, a memorial stone to commemorate the American airman killed when a B24D liberator bomber crashed there on October 29, 1942.

Nigel said: "The salt marsh lagoon which has been formed is tidal, which has attracted a great deal of wildlife taking advantage of the abundance of food.

"We have spoonbills and skylarks, in addition to the usual waders, and there has been a dramatic increase in the otter population, who find a plentiful supply of fish in the ponds which are left at low tide.

"We have built a new footpath around the marsh area which makes it easily accessible to the public."

For the bird watcher the new lagoon is a very interesting site, as a great variety of waders and wildfowl can be seen there in the winter.

It is also a good place to see the occasional unusual bird passing through such as little egrets, hen and marsh harrier, osprey and snow buntings, to name but a few. On the shingle ridge itself, it seems impossible that anything could grow, but some plants flourish including the everlasting pea and the yellow horned poppy.

The National Trust saysit is proud of the fact that it is using nature naturally in the creation of sites like the one at Porlock.

"We're well placed as large landowners to really have an impact on a massive scale," said Simon Ford, nature conservation advisor for the National Trust in Wessex. "We're operating landscape-scale conservation, not simply a nature reserve of two acres with intensive farming going on around it.

"We've got space and land which, managed properly, can allow species to migrate in ways they haven't been able to do for centuries."

He explained that not everyone was in favour of allowing the sea to take over part of the land. "In the 1990s, plans were put forward to reconstruct part of the shingle bank that runs along the length of the bay to protect the grassland beyond from flooding," said Simon.

"The National Trust, along with Natural England, objected to the plans and proposed nature should be allowed to take its course. Resulting breaches have not only created large areas of salt marsh and saline lagoons, and important wildlife habitats, but also a tourist attraction and educational resource.

"The marsh is carpeted with plants such as sea purslane, glasswort and sea aster, while the shingles boasts a mass of yellow horned poppies. Even more impressive is the birdlife, ranging from huge flocks of finches and buntings, to little egret, curlew, lapwing and oystercatcher."

Now the National Trust has purchased another six acres of land nearby to expand the salt marsh and absorb coastal flooding.

Elsewhere in the West, the Trust's conservation work has produced dividends in the creation and preservation of wildlife habitats.

It means that 16 of the 17 bat species native to the UK can be found in Horner Woods in Somerset, and 50 of the UK's 57 butterfly species are found in the South West. Among them is the country's largest and rarest blue butterfly, which is gaining in number at Collard Hill in Somerset.

Cherhill Down in Wiltshire is one of the last sites you'll find the wart biter cricket (named after the ancient practice of using them to bite off warts), while six species of British reptile can be found on the Studland peninsula, including smooth snakes and sand lizards, and there's more species of plants on 10km of Purbeck in Dorset than in any other part of the UK.