Wadden Sea

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Another feature of the Frisian islands is their natural splendor. There are few places along the coast that aren’t a national park, wildlife sanctuary, or some other sort of preserve. In fact, UNESCO designated the entire Wadden Sea as a world heritage site.

The Wadden Sea is dominated by the tide. Each day has two full tidal cycles, which means that the space between high tide and low tide is about six hours. During low tide, an expanse of 10,000 square kilometers of mudflats are exposed. It’s then possible to walk across this area—the bottom of the Wadden Sea—from island to island. It’s not uncommon to see farmers drive their buggies across the flats to the mainland. Hiking across the flats is something of a Frisian pastime. There’s even an official name for it—wadloppen.

The Wadden Sea is the largest uninterrupted area of mudflats and intertidal sand bars in the world. It’s also one of the most important stopping places for migratory birds. At any given time, there are as many as six million birds around the Wadden Sea. In a typical year, as many as twelve million birds pass through it. (UNESCO SITE)

And bio-diversity isn’t limited to birds. The area is also home to grey seals, harbour seals, and harbour porpoises. Its has large populations of butterflies, and the ever-lovely lugworm.