Sites of wildlife interest
SOUTH
SHIELDS
FERRY
11 River Tyne to Trow Point
TROW POINT
4 River Don Saltmarsh
CHICHESTER
PEDESTRIAN/CYCLE
TUNNEL
TYNE TUNNEL
12 Trow Point to Lizard Point
1 Hebburn Riverside
MARSDEN
JARROW
TYNE
DOCK
HEBBURN
7 Temple Park
3 Primrose Nature Reserve
LIZARD
POINT
BEDE
10 Marsden Old Quarry
2 Monkton Fell
Great
North
Forest
6 Newton Garths
BROCKLEY
WHINS
Key to all site maps
on following pages
BOLDON
COLLIERY
Public paths/sculpture
9 Cleadon Hills
WHITBURN
FELLGATE
Open space
Restricted open space
Woodland
Urban/industrial areas
CLEADON
6 Tilesheds Nature Reserve
5 Station Burn and Colliery Wood
Great
North
Forest
EAST
BOLDON
WEST
BOLDON
8 Boldon Flats
Agricultural areas
Beach
Rocky shoreline
Great
North
Forest
13 Lizard Point to Whitburn
Trow Point
This is a spectacular landscape
where thousands of nesting sea
birds cling to the precipitous storm
lashed cliffs and rare flowers thrive on
the Magnesian limestone soils.
Trow
Quarry
PERENNIAL FLAX
Frenchman’s
Bay
TRANSPORT
There is a regular bus
service along the Coast
Road (no E1).
Marsden
Bay
MARSDEN
CO
A
AD
RO
ST
ACCESS
There is a good path all the
way along the coast, but the
cliffs can be dangerous so
keep well away from the
edge. Marsden Sands can be
reached via a steep slope
and/or flight of steps. If you
venture onto the shore,
make sure you are not
endangered by rising tides.
HARTON
DOWNHILL
LOCAL
NATURE RESERVE
500m
Marsden
Rock
The rocks were laid down 250 million
years ago when the climate was similar to
that found today in the Arabian Gulf. Coral reefs
grew in a shallow tropical sea and calcium-rich muds were laid down,
which eventually became the Magnesian limestones that we see today.
The small hillock next to the coast road is Harton Downhill Local Nature
Reserve, known locally as ‘Blackberry Hills’. This is the most northerly
site in Britain for perennial flax, a beautiful deep-blue flowered plant that
is nationally rare. In spring there are hundreds of tiny cowslips,
followed by greater knapweed and birds-foot trefoil, the food plant of
the common blue butterfly.
Marsden Bay is a classic example of the effects of coastal erosion in an
area with hard, resistant rocks. There are steep cliffs with a gently
sloping ‘wave-cut platform’ at their base, and impressive stacks and
arches which were left behind as the cliffs migrated inland. One such
arch, Marsden Rock, was a famous landmark for generations until 1996
when the arch collapsed, showing just how destructive the sea can be.
The cliffs of Marsden Bay hold the largest sea bird colony in the north
east, with thousands of pairs of nesting kittiwakes, hundreds of pairs of
fulmars, cormorants and herring gulls and smaller numbers of shags,
razorbills and lesser black-backed gulls.
The Leas is the biggest area of semi-natural grassland in the
Borough, alive with butterflies and other insects in the
summer and used by hunting short-eared owl during the
winter. The grasslands opposite Marsden Limekilns,
known as Rocket Green, are a good place to see
beautiful and rare flowers such as bee
orchid, yellow-wort and
Lizard
burnet-saxifrage.
Point
CARAVAN
PARK
GREATER KNAPWEED, HARTON DOWNHILL
BEE ORCHID
The Leas
COMMON BLUEL
12 The Coast: Trow Point to Lizard Point
GOLF
COURSE
Marsden
Quarry
Souter
Lighthouse