Respect the world class mud

Mud may not be glamorous, but it’s glorious. The muddy estuaries, saltmarshes and inter-tidal wetlands all around the UK coast are a haven for wildlife but especially for migratory birds. Right now, these special places are facing many threats. But a team of nature savers are working to protect some of the most important sites along England’s east coast, including kick-starting a bid for it to be recognised with World Heritage Site status. This would see them given the same standing as some of the planet’s most spectacular places.

The muddy estuaries, mudflats and marshes along England’s east coast can sometimes look bleak, but they’re vital for a wide range of wildlife. Within the rich mud lives a huge variety of creatures such as worms, shellfish, crabs, small fish and other marine minibeasts. Many waders such as Curlew, Godwits, Oystercatcher, Knot, Dunlin, Grey Plover and Redshank specialise in hunting out these tasty morsels, each with a different shaped bill to delve and probe into different depths of mud. Ducks, geese and swans also visit to find green algae, seagrasses and saltmarsh plants to feed on.  

Guy Anderson, one of the RSPB’s experts on bird migration, said: “These muddy places along England’s east coast are great for a lot of wildlife, but for migratory birds they’re absolutely crucial.” 

The reason why is our position on the planet. Perched on the north-western corner of the European continent, the British Isles are a pivotal point on the East Atlantic Flyway. This motorway of the sky is used by millions of birds and runs from Siberia in the north to South Africa in the South. The muddy estuaries, bays and marshes along England’s east coast as well as the freshwater wetlands nearby are a key part of this flyway and a stop off for many mud-loving birds. 

Guy said: “Think of each of them as a snack filled motorway service station which birds use along their huge migrations north and south. Individually they’re important but their real value is in their sum. That’s why we can’t only look at them one by one. You must look at them on a bigger scale – they’re part of a connected network of sites along the whole flyway. When you think of them like this, their global significance becomes clear.” 

England’s east coast, from the Humber in the north to the Thames in the south, is important for migratory birds all year round. But in winter these coastal wetlands become truly special places.  

Guy said: “The UK is relatively mild, warmed by the North Atlantic currents, so we don’t get very cold in winter. This means our seas and rivers don’t freeze over which allows the mud and the food within it to remain accessible for birds all through winter. 

“So what you see is this massive funnelling down of birds coming from breeding grounds in Arctic Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia and as far east as Siberia. If you look at the map we get birds visiting from an absolutely huge area, spanning more than half the Arctic world.” 

Historically much more of east coast of England would have been intertidal wetlands, which are submerged at low tide and exposed at high tide. But the building of seawalls and reclaiming land for food production means much of it has been lost. What remains is under threat from pollution and further development, such as barrages and ports. But climate change is also a threat, with sea level rise causing erosion and flooding which squeezes wildlife into smaller and smaller spaces. Rising seas are also a threat to nearby communities and businesses, with some current defences unable to cope with the increasing water levels.  

The irony is that coastal wetlands can help fight the climate crisis if we look after them.  

Ian Barber, Guy’s colleague and fellow expert on flyways, said: “Globally coastal wetlands are also really important for blue carbon. A lot of people think we need forests to capture carbon and plant more trees, and we do in the right places. But these deep, water-logged soils can bury many times more carbon per hectare than even a tropical rainforest.  

“Globally, they’re being degraded or destroyed at four times the rate of tropical forests, so it is really important in our fight against the climate crisis to recognise the importance of these coastal areas too.” 

The bottom line is England’s east coast nature havens deserve recognition of the highest order. RSPB is working with partners such as The National Trust and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust to try and get the intertidal wetlands and the freshwater wetlands nearby the kind of security and recognition enjoyed by the likes of the Taj Mahal, the Serengeti and Yellowstone National Park – World Heritage Site status.  

Guy said: “It’s about recognition, it’s about acknowledging how important these sites are which will then allow them further protection and safeguarding for the future. Because if you have World Heritage Site status it makes it pretty hard for someone to come along and build a barrage or turn it into a port.”

He added: “The power of these sites is in the collective. Together, millions of birds depend on them, and need them to survive. That’s why they’re so important and deserve the highest level of recognition.” 

If you need any more convincing about the importance of recognising our world class mud, Guy recommends a trip to The Wash around RSPB Snettisham in winter. Here huge numbers of knot, dunlin, oystercatchers and other waders gather.   

Guy said: “This is genuinely a top world class nature spectacle. The number of places you can see that many shore birds in one place together,  dancing in the sky in an enormous shoal are very, very few. And we’ve got one of them right here, because of world class mud. No mud, they wouldn’t be there.”