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Sea Holly (Eryngium maritimum)

Sea Holly growing on the foreshore, by the dune edge, at the westernmost point of Gun Hill. The Sea holly is native to most European coastlines. The protected plant can grow up to 60 centimetres high. In Elizabethan times sea holly was believed to be a strong aphrodisiac. The plant was nominated the 2002 County flower for the city of Liverpool.


One of the footpaths leading into the Holkham Nature Reserve can be accessed from the A149 east of Burnham Overy Staithe. The first section of this path leads through marsh pastures > Link - Link which were reclaimed in the 18th and 19th centuries, beginning at Burnham Overy in 1639 and ending with the construction of the sea wall at Wells in 1859. Further seawards, the marsh pastures turn into saltmarsh > Link. Sediments deposited by the sea have built up into a skim of mud and silt and, over the years, evolved into saltmarsh. The middle and upper levels of the saltmarshes at Holkham are covered with plants such as sea aster and sea lavender > Link. Leaving the saltmarsh behind, extensive dune systems > Link form an impressive barrier between the saltmarsh and the foreshore > Link. The dunes at Holkham sit on old shingle ridges and their landscape is continuously changing due to the effects of wind and water.