In celebration of World Wetlands Day (2 February), David Gray and the Curlew Action team share their favourite UK wetlands:
Holme Dunes National Nature Reserve, Norfolk
Chosen by: David Gray, Patron of Curlew Action
I’ve been a regular visitor to the North Norfolk Coast for the last 30 years, so if I had to pick a favourite wetland it would definitely be up there. The whole stretch of coastline from Snettisham to Sheringham, is a magical mosaic of dunescape, beachscape, reed-beds and mudflats, but it is the great expanses of salt marsh that give the landscape its real sense of wildness and brooding power. The area is a true haven for wildlife, with significant colonies of nesting seabirds and shorebirds in the summer, and huge flocks of geese, ducks and waders in the winter. It is not just the sight but also the remarkable sound of these wide open places that gives them their unique and very particular appeal. The noise of 5000 pink footed geese rising up and wheeling across the huge norfolk skies is something that stops you in your tracks, and a reminder of a greater, wilder world that we are all just a small part of.
My local patch is Holme next-the-sea, a nature reserve that sits right on the corner as the coastline turns back towards the Wash and Kings Lynn, and there is an ancient saltmarsh directly behind my house called Lavender Marsh. It is so named because in mid summer it is carpeted with several different types of sea lavender, which turns great swathes of it into a sea of delicate purple. The marsh is threaded with numerous muddy creeks and channels and has several shallow lagoons with small islands. Particularly in the winter these provide ideal roosting sites for birds like Widgeon, Redshank and Curlew. Birds like Little Egret are a common sight, and Great Egret and Spoonbill are now becoming increasingly regular. Bitterns can be heard booming in the local reedbeds during springtime and hunting Kestrel, Barn Owl, Red Kite and Marsh Harrier will generally make an appearance there at some point during the day.
Focussing in on the Curlew in particular, winter roosts can often be well upwards of a hundred birds, which is always a wonderful and uplifting sight. During the day they disperse to feed on the marshes, mudflats and local fields and everywhere you go you can hear them calling and bubbling. I count myself very lucky to have them in such numbers so close at hand. A few years ago I counted a flock of almost 300 feeding on a nearby sheep field, but as their breeding struggles continue, a part of me wonders whether I’ll ever see a sight like that again.
The best time of all to be down at the marsh is on a really high tide. The sea sweeps in and turns the entire marsh into a giant and intricate mirror. The birds congregate in their thousands on the highest points of the beach and shingle and rise up in great murmurrations over the water. Knot, Oystercatchers, Curlew, Redshank, Plovers, Turnstones, Godwits, and many more besides. It’s just spectacular, and never fails to stir the soul. It is without question my favourite place to be on Planet Earth.
Severn and Avon Vales flood meadows, Gloucestershire
Chosen by: Mary Colwell, Founder and Director of Curlew Action
The river Severn winds lazily through the West Country, fringed by meadows that periodically flood in the winter months. These damp grasslands in Gloucestershire are home to some 20 pairs of Curlews that lay their eggs in the tall grasses and wildflowers. When they burst from the fields, bubbling into the wind, it is a heart-stopping sight and sound; unexpected and delightful. Meadow Curlews mark the warm months, the turning of the seasons and they bring delight to everyone who hears them.
Kinneil Lagoons, Falkirk
Chosen by: Flo Blackbourn, General Manager of Curlew Action
Kinneil Lagoons is a former industrial site that is now a nature haven which I have been to many times for bird ringing activities. Nestled between a coastline of factories, the overgrown area beside the lagoons has an exciting mix of small passerines in the old landfill-site gone wild, but I have also been for evening wader ringing as well. This site allows winter sightings of thousands of birds including Redshanks, Greenshanks, Black- and Bar-Tailed Godwits, Dunlins, Knots and, of course, Curlews. I have two distinct memories of Curlews at this site. One was when arriving in the early morning for a ringing session and two Curlews flew over my car, one of them calling as it went. The second time is not an exact moment, but memories from multiple visits to the site. With hours spent sitting on a rock in the pitch black and cold waiting for birds to be caught for ringing, the occasional Curlew cry echoes across the lagoons and momentarily warms you up inside!
RSPB Strumpshaw Fen, Norfolk
Chosen by: Megan Shersby, Digital Lead at Curlew Action
How does one pick a favourite wetland? It's like picking a favourite pet - each has its own delights! In the end, I've settled for RSPB Strumpshaw Fen in Norfolk. It's got everything I want in a wetland reserve, stunning birds, gorgeous flowers, and importantly - for me - rare insects! Despite not living nearby, I've spent many hours stomping around there looking for Swallowtail butterflies or caterpillars (with mixed success), or trying to get a good look at the dragonflies and damselflies.
WWT Welney, Norfolk
Chosen by: Charlie Bingham, Outreach & Events Lead at Curlew Action
The trumpeting calls of the Whooper swan sound around me, family groups gathering after their long journey from Iceland. The mist rolls in across Lady Fen as I stand on the veranda, coffee cup warming my hands. They said the Cranes were here this morning, but typically I missed them. Four people with scopes propped against the railing are debating if the owl they can see in the far distance is a Short-eared Owl.
My attention, however, is not on the possible owl, but instead my gaze is captured by a lone figure, a Curlew, picking their way through the wetland scene in front of me. I imagine a world without this scene. A sight bursting with life, which fills my heart with joy, a carbon sinking dreamscapes of our Earth. With a quarter of Wetlands at risk of extinction, we need to hold on to these wonderlands.
Nosterfield Nature Reserve, North Yorkshire
Chosen by: David Hill, Chair of Trustees for Curlew Action
I would suggest Nosterfield wetlands managed by the Lower Ure Conservation Trust. Nosterfield is a restored gravel quarry comprising shallow and deeper wetland habitat, reedbeds, emergent fringe vegetation and wet woodland, and provides many niches for a remarkable range of wetland birds, especially passage waders, including up to 700 Curlews at certain times of the year.
RSPB Old Hall Marshes, Essex
Chosen by: Michael Warren, Trustee of Curlew Action. [Copy from Michael's forthcoming book: The Cuckoo’s Lea.]
Where slender fingers of marshland reach into sea and clasp Mersea Island like a pendant jewel, where black stumps of Saxon fish traps can still be seen in the sands like rotten teeth, where Vikings landed just upriver to defeat Ealdorman Byrhtnoth and his army in a famous battle at Maldon, there is a twining channel in the Blackwater’s yawning brown mouth that leads to a wide, enclosed bay, all sea twice a day, but when the tide is out this inlet where the land doubles back is a wilderness of saltmarsh. It is, quite possibly, my favourite place in the world.