Get our vision off to a flying start
If UNESCO World Heritage Site status were granted in years to come, our English East Coast would be recognised like the Great Barrier Reef for its importance to wildlife.
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East Coast Wetlands appeal
One of the most important costal wetlands in the world is under threat. Help protect our East Coast Wetland reserves.
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Protect a vital coastline for 17 million birds
From the mudflats of the Thames to the reedbeds of the Humber estuary, lies one of the most important stretches of coastal wetlands in the world. Every year the English East Coast acts as a vital service station for millions of Knot, Dark-bellied Brent Geese and threatened Black-tailed Godwits, flying on the East Atlantic Flyway, a migration ‘motorway‘ between the Arctic, Europe and Africa.
But when these fragile mudflats, reedbeds and saltmarshes are under threat from rising sea levels, extreme storms, and harmful development, our 25 coastal RSPB nature reserves are some of the few remaining places where after exhausting journeys birds can find the perfect habitat to feed, breed, rest or shelter.
Please donate to our East Coast Wetlands Appeal
Today, we need your help to protect and safeguard our wetland reserves and get our big vision for the entire English East Coast, off to a flying start. Together with conservation and other partners, we’ve managed to get the entire coastline shortlisted as a potential UNESCO World Heritage Site. In years to come this recognition could strengthen and protect a coastline that’s vital to millions of birds taking epic journeys across the globe. Watch our video below to learn about our exciting vision and the vital role RSPB reserves could play.
From wasteland to wetland. Why our coastal wetlands are vital for birds and people | RSPB
You can protect vital feeding stations
Muddy shores full of invertebrates are the larders of the East Atlantic Flyway. They help millions of Knot and Bar-tailed Godwits to survive the winter at places like Snettisham. Meanwhile, Dark-bellied Brent Geese, Wigeon and swans graze grasslands and eat other plant material at reserves like Frampton Marsh. Bitterns, Bearded Tits and Marsh Harriers hide and hunt in the reedbeds of Blacktoft Sands. Your gift today can keep these vital food stores full for spectacular gatherings of birds in winter.
You can preserve precious breeding sites
Each spring and summer, our East Coast reserves hatch new life. But unless Avocets, Oystercatchers, Spoonbills and Little Terns have safe nesting sites waiting for them each year like at RSPB Titchwell or Minsmere, future generations may never arrive. Our saline lagoons, shingle shores and wet grasslands are the nesting sites and nurseries that keep birds returning to our shores year after year. Your donation today can make sure this year’s young thrive and come back to raise the next generation.
You can help our East Coast Wetlands take off
Many of our East Coast reserves are relatively new sites that are just taking off. Wallasea Island was once drained farm fields, but over 20 years we’ve transformed it into a wetland paradise for over 39,000 Knot, Dunlins, Golden Plovers, Avocets and other water birds.
Having recently acquired an additional 100 hectares to expand the reserve, your support today can help create new wintering habitat for Teal, Shoveler, and Wigeon, and breeding habitat for threatened Corn Buntings and Lapwings. You could also help create even more habitats to allow migrating bird numbers to soar in years to come.
Milo Sumner, East Coast Wetlands Programme Manager for the RSPB
When I think about the future of the East Coast Wetlands, I see a coastline that’s thriving, where wildlife is thriving. And it’s part of our work to make sure that these wetlands are valued like they should be.”