Wild shores

One of Britain's richest coastal nature spectacles lies on the edge of North Norfolk at Blakeney Point, where rare sea birds and grey seals flourish. Ranger Ajay Tegala introduces you to a wild wonder of our summer shores

- Ajay Tegala

"The escaping water draws back like a curtain, exposing a rich feeding ground for wading birds"

I will always remember my first earlymorning boat trip to the very tip of Blakeney Point. We crossed the wide harbour to a narrow shingle spit, where land meets sea and sea meets sky. In high summer, this hook of shingle is often crammed with wild creatures, as marine mammals mingle with aerial acrobats. On that morning, terns dived into the water, emerging with small fish to feed to their hungry chicks, which were gathered in a group on the shoreline, stretching their wings and taking their maiden flights. Next to them, seals snoozed on the sand, their mournful calls almost drowned out by the scratchy cries of terns and screeches of black-headed gulls.

Blakeney Point is all about movement. The tide moving in and out twice daily, shifting the sand and shingle every few hours. Seabirds and seals moving through the water to catch fish, which come in and out of the harbour with the tide. Mudflats and saltmarsh are revealed at low tide, the escaping water drawing back like a curtain, exposing a rich feeding ground for wading birds. Resident redshanks, ringed plovers and oystercatchers probe for molluscs and worms.

1 Ajay returns to the mudflats and marshes of his beloved Blakeney often, on the look out for rare birds

2 Behind Blakeney’s shingle beach lie 160 hectares of freshwater grazing marsh, an important wildfowl habitat

3 Ringed plover chicks only stay in the nest until they are strong enough to stand – most leave within 24 hours

4 An oystercatcher cruises past remote Lightboat House, the place Ajay called home for almost eight years