Coatham Marsh is a small surviving remnant of a much larger marsh which was originally part of the Tees estuary. The area has been subjected to industrial workings for centuries. It was first developed as salt pans, this may well have been from the middle ages onwards. It is however during the last century that the most dramatic changes have taken place in this area. The encroachment of industry onto the salt marsh has been relentless. Today the remaining fragments are cut off from the sea but still retain their brackish pools and some of the original saltmarsh flora.

Coatham marsh has attracted quite a surprising number and variety of species during the last 20 years or so. Birds such as Stone Curlew, Great Reed Warbler, Little Egret, Spoonbill, Mandarin Duck, etc. In particular it is attractive to waders and almost anything can turn up. Birds seen over the years include, Common, Curlew, Green, Wood and Pectoral Sandpipers, Greenshank, Snipe, Jack Snipe, Little and Temminck's Stints,	Jack Snipe Lymnocryptes minimus Photo Chris Brown
As you might expect for a marsh there are Herons, Kingfisher, Moorhen, Coots etc. The list of ducks visiting the various pools is more extensive with Bufflehead, Little and Great Creasted Grebe, Long-Tailed, Tufted, Gadwall, Garganey, Goldeneye, Goosander, Merganser, Pochard, Mallard, Widgeon, American Widgeon, Shelduck, Teal, Pintail, Shoveler, Scaup and Smew recorded over the years.	Scaup Aythya marila
	Goldeneye Bucephala clangula