Lesley Dolphin is the afternoon presenter on BBC Radio Suffolk and the Patron of the Suffolk Walking Festival. 

In this first episode of the Suffolk Walking Festival Podcast we join Lesley on her morning walk around Landguard Nature Reserve next to the seaside town of Felixstowe. During our walk we discover why this location is so very special to her, learn of her love for Suffolk and her career in radio, and hear about some of the Challenge Walks she's completed.  

Landguard Nature Reserve is 33 hectares (81 acres) of vegetated shingle, a globally rare habitat found in the UK, especially here on the Suffolk coast, in Japan and in New Zealand. The reserve is home to unusual plants including sea kale, sea pea and sea beet. A healthy population of rabbits keep the grass closely cropped creating the perfect environment for miniaturised wild flowers including Scarlet Pimpernel, Early Forget-me-not and Common Storksbill. The shingle is nesting habitat for Ringed Plovers, and in spring many migratory birds stop here en-route to their breeding and summer feeding grounds.

The reserve's military history dates back to the reign of Henry VIII and the Fort is the site of the last seaborne invasion of Britain by the Dutch in 1667. Around the reserve is evidence of its final use in the Second World War with tank traps, gun emplacements, searchlight buildings, rifle butts, and dips and troughs for practicing trench warfare. 

The site is very accessible with a number of benches, a network of surfaced paths, and a boardwalk over a section of the shingle beach.   

Landguard Nature Reserve can be easily visited with parking available by the Fort and a frequent bus service from Ipswich.

The Suffolk Walking Festival is one of the country's largest and longest running walking events. The festival takes place every May with over 100 walks and countryside events across the county.

Thank you to David Stainer and Scott Dolling of the Suffolk duo Silbury Hill for the use of their music in these podcasts.