Field notes from the tidal flats · issue 12
The marsh changes faster in autumn than any other time of year. Each morning the tide line sits a little differently, and the birds that pass through rarely stay more than a few days.
This month we counted more curlew than last, and the first brent geese arrived on the 19th, a week earlier than the year before. The warden thinks the cold snap up north pushed them along.
Down by the sluice, the samphire has gone over, red and woody now. Worth a walk anyway for the light, which in October lies almost flat across the mud and turns every channel to pewter.
A reminder that the eastern path floods on spring tides. Check the table before you set out, and keep dogs close near the roosting flocks.