ioo THE MUSIC OF WILD FLOWERS 



may be obtained. All along the way numbers of the 

 lesser tern or sea-swallow will be heard crying overhead 

 or seen descending with a sudden dip into the waves ; 

 little companies of ringed plover flit with rapid flight 

 along the shore ; wheatears and shore-pipits are busy 

 among the bents and marram-grass, while the wailing 

 cry of the peewit is heard from the level of the reclaimed 

 marshes. 



The Minsmere cliffs end abruptly some two miles 

 south of Dunwich and are immediately succeeded by a 

 stretch of sand-dunes which separate the shore from 

 the marshes known as Minsmere Level a wide reach 

 of reclaimed land, intersected by many dykes and re- 

 lieved from monotony by the picturesque ruins of 

 Leiston Old Abbey, a conspicuous feature in the land- 

 scape. On these dunes the beautiful sea-holly, with its 

 glaucous hue and leaves variegated with milk-white 

 veins, is sparingly scattered about, and with the 

 Eryngium, protected by the presence of the marram- 

 grass, masses of the purple sea-rocket, the yellow bed- 

 straw, the prickly saltwort and the pink-flowered sea- 

 milkwort. Just beyond the dilapidated hamlet of 

 Sluice, where the waters of the Minsmere river find 

 their way into the sea through an artificial aqueduct, 

 the sea-convolvulus will be seen in abundance. It is 

 one of the most attractive species of the seaside flora 

 and lends a grace and distinction to the dreariest shore. 

 All along the dunes the rest-harrow is plentiful, not the 

 prickly species of agricultural lands which gained for 

 the plant its English name, but a creeping variety with- 

 out spines, and with larger and more handsome pink 

 flowers. 



Beyond Sizewell the creeping rest-harrow is the 



