Maldon itself sits at the base of the Blackwater Estuary, which has a cluster of important marshland sites further east, around the Salcott Channel. To the east stretches the farmland of the Dengie peninsula, fringed by Bradwell Shell Bank and a National Nature Reserve. The Dengie is sandwiched between the Blackwater and the Crouch Estuary to the south. The Crouch also supports some important coastal sites, and notably Blue House Farm and Marsh Farm Country Park.