Jeff Kew leads the RSPB’s East Coast Wetlands programme which aims to bring broader support for the benefits and value of our world class network of east coast wetlands. Here Jeff discusses the importance of the east coast and our recent application for World Heritage site status.
Some of us will have been lucky enough to visit the expansive natural landscapes that lie on the English east coast, places like the Humber, The Wash, Norfolk coast, Suffolk coast, Essex coast and the Thames Estuary. I have even been fortunate to grow up and live there, coming eye to eye with the large numbers of birds the area supports and experiencing some of the most incredible natural spectacles. What is perhaps less well known is how internationally important these places really are for migratory birds.
Wild bird superhighway
Worldwide, there are eight major routes used by migratory birds, these are the global ‘flyways’. The UK sits on the East Atlantic Flyway, a wild bird superhighway, connecting sites in the Arctic as far apart as the Taymyr Peninsular in Siberia and Ellesmere Island in northeast Canada, to the east coast of England and other wintering sites as far south as South Africa.
It wasn’t until I worked on assignments for the RSPB and Birdlife International in China and South Korea though that I fully appreciated the interconnectivity of the places and people along these global flyways. And importantly, the collective energy that can and needs to be focussed on their conservation, crossing the borders of countries.
For example, in China and South Korea there has been a remarkable turnaround for the nature and people living along the East Asia Australasian Flyway (another of the eight major migratory routes) thanks to the almost complete stop of decades of extensive destructive land claim. The remaining intertidal areas have now also been recognised by UNESCO as Natural World Heritage sites, bringing global recognition of the importance of these migratory routes.
While it is very inspiring to see the work being done by others it does beg the question as to what is being done in our globally focussed Britain to fully recognise the global importance of the coastal areas on our own doorstep.
The East Atlantic Flyway - one of the eight global 'flyways' used by migratory birds, spanning from Canada and Siberia to South Africa. Credit: ABPmer
The east coast wetlands
A new report, authored by ABPmer, has confirmed the outstanding universal value of the English east coast wetlands and their role in the East Atlantic Flyway. The findings show that the area spanning from the Humber to the Thames supports internationally significant populations of birds from over 155 different species.
Each winter, the wetlands fill with over 1 million overwintering birds, in the spring around 200,000 migrating and breeding birds arrive, and in the autumn, around 700,000 birds make the area home.
The shorelines provide a rich buffet of invertebrates, essential for feeding in winter and refuelling in the spring and autumn as these birds make one of the most gruelling migratory journeys in the animal kingdom.
Further from the shoreline, marshes offer valuable roosting sites and refuges for birds at high tide, as well as nesting grounds. They also provide foraging and nursery grounds for fish and a wide range of other benefits for society, including carbon capture and storage (some 12 million tonnes is likely to be present in the top 1m of saltmarshes and mudflats alone), flood defence, recreation, tourism and fisheries.
29 bird species use the east coast in internationally important numbers, meaning they are dependent on the wetlands for their survival. These species include knot, black-tailed godwit, dark-bellied brent geese and bar-tailed godwit, many of which are already of conservation concern. For knot in particular the east coast wetlands are particularly important, as they support some two thirds of the islantica sub-species which winters in Western Europe.
Wader flock at sunset in Norfolk. Credit: Phill Gwillam
The next Natural World Heritage site?
So, there is no doubt England’s east coast wetlands are a globally important place for nature, rivalling some of the planets most iconic natural sites – it’s even something that other countries along the East Atlantic Flyway have secured UNESCO World Heritage site status for. This includes the Banc D’Arguin in Mauritania and The Waddensea in Netherlands, Germany and Denmark.
With the UK government (Department for Media, Culture and Sport) this year reopening the process for new places to be added to the UK’s Tentative list of potential World Heritage sites (the first stage in becoming a UNESCO World Heritage site), now has been the time to make an application to secure a place for the east coast wetlands. Being on the Tentative List provides a framework whereby all interested parties can come together over the coming years to discuss, agree and work together on a full application to UNESCO.
It has already been great to see how this process has brought together the RSPB, WWT and the National Trust in initiating an application and the level of Local Authority support along with the Crown Estate as supporters of tentative listing. This is building greater global recognition of the importance of our wetlands and will help bring organisations and stakeholders together, focussing energy on how best to manage the coast in ways which safeguards our wildlife and coasts in the face of climate change. We hope it will also build local and national pride, bringing global recognition to the area and providing impetus to develop innovative solutions to manage coastal adaptation in response to a changing climate.
By working together in a global context, we can make the biggest difference for our east coast.
Learn more about the importance of our wetlands and how the RSPB is working to protect them.