From Snape take the B1069 towards Woodbridge and Orford, passing the Snape Maltings on your left. At the next road junction take the left fork B1084 to Sudbourne and Orford. Follow the road through Orford to the Quay.

Reached by boat from Orford Quay on the Ore estuary, Havergate Island is an RSPB reserve and Suffolk's only island. Just two miles long and half a mile across at its widest point the island is sheltered from the North Sea by the long shingle spit of Orford Ness.

In 1947 eight avocets (look out for their spectacular black-and-white plumage long, blue-grey legs and delicate up-turned bills) were reared on Havergate Island, an historic event, since no avocets had bred in Britain for about a hundred years. Since then avocet numbers have increased dramatically and they are now quite a common sight along the Suffolk coast.

Havergate Island is home to a good variety of wading birds, including oystercatchers, redshanks and ringed plovers, golden plover, dunlin and greenshank as well as knot and turnstone.

But even without the birds the trip would be worthwhile as you get spectacular views inland of Orford's Castle and Church set amidst gentle Suffolk countryside.

Trips to Havergate Island are available from April to August trips to the reserve every Thursday and on the first and third weekends of each month. From September to March trips are available on the first Saturday of each month.

Boats leave Orford Quay at 10am and return from the Island at 3pm. Advance booking is essential. Contact the RSPB's Minsmere nature reserve on 01728 648281. The cost is £3.00 for RSPB members or £5.00 for non-members and for children under 16 the costs are £1.50 or £2.50 respectively.

Blaxhall Common, Blaxhall

Take the B1069 from Snape towards Tunstall. Pass the Snape Maltings and take the right fork towards Blaxhall. One of the features making the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty of such environmental importance is its lowland heath. Much depleted over the past century, there remain some fascinating areas still worth exploring. Blaxhall Common is quite compact but this does little to dampen our interest or restore the calm we seek as part of our holiday experience.

Here woodlark, nightjar, goldcrest, long-tailed tit and tree pipit can be found alongside common lizard, adder and plants like heath milkwort, speedwell, heath bedstraw and sheep’s sorrel. In summer there are small copper, common blue and small heath butterflies. In autumn a wide variety of mushrooms; look out for the white fly agaric, a poisonous yet highly colourful mushroom with its red plate like top. In winter visiting crossbill and colonies of ant-lion.

Alde Mudflats, Iken, Nr Snape

You have two choices here. You can either start from The Snape Maltings and follow the board walk from the car park to Iken or you can drive to the Iken car park. About a mile from Snape you will reach a crossroad with a sign to Iken on your right. Follow the road to Iken for about a quarter of mile and you will see Iken Cliff car park on your left. From here you can walk down to the estuary and view the mud flats. There is a lovely beach walk around to the church at Iken, or you might just want to stand on the sand and admire.

While the Alde estuary is most beautiful at high tide you will see far more wildlife when the mudflats are more exposed (from mid to low tide). Dunlin, curlew, black-tailed godwit, oystercatcher, grey plover, wigeon, pintail and teal are but a sample of the overwintering birds. In the summer there are redshank, avocet and oystercatcher and amongst the reedbeds the marsh harrier. A tranquil and beautiful spot.