mudflats Westerschelde coast Netherlands 1028 am 260406_0092

Mudflat and salt marshes with in the background the rumble of sea going ships. Morning at low tide in the Scheldt (Westerschelde) river delta at the Dutch coast in South West of the Netherlands.
About a kilometre ahead of me, a hopper dredger is dredging the channel. The water hasn’t reached low tide yet, so you can still hear the waves lapping against the mudflats. In an hour and a half, that won’t be the case anymore.
Various birds are making the most of the low water. You can hear mallards and shelducks in particular probing the muddy water with their beaks. It makes a rapid smacking sound. In the distance, you can hear many more birds.

About the picture
River landscape of the Westerschelde at low tide. To the left runs a raised grass dyke topped by a straight, paved footpath or cycle path. Along the path, the grass is fenced off with sheep’s-foot wire. To the right of the dyke stretches a wide area of mudflats and salt marshes: a flat, wet and glistening tidal zone that has largely fallen dry.
In the distance, on the horizon, industrial installations in Belgium are visible. These are large factory complexes with chimneys emitting smoke or steam. Further on stands a nuclear power station with recognisable cooling towers. The sky is mostly cloudy, but the sun breaks through and reflects brightly off the wet surface of the mudflats. The scene creates a contrast between the natural landscape outside the dykes and the industrial skyline on the other side of the water.

Birds detected by Merlin Bird ID app ver 3.8.2.
I cannot guarantee results.
Mallard #1:24 #6:18 #6:34 #6:40 #6:56
Eurasian Curlew #4:00 far, #6:30
Eurasian Oystercatcher #0:00 #0:06 #0:24 #0:34 #1:54 #2:22 #3:00 #3:22 #4:36 #5:04 #5:12 #5:26 #5:56 #6:32
Black-headed Gull #1:28 #4:02 #5:52
Dunlin #3:42

About the picture
The photograph shows an open coastal and river landscape of the Westerschelde in the Netherlands at low tide, viewed from a paved path running along a grass-covered sea dyke. In the foreground, a person is riding a two-stroke moped along the path, wearing a helmet and a jacket.
Audio equipment has been set up on the dyke to record the atmosphere of the area.
To the left of the path/dike, a wide expanse of mudflats and shallow pools stretches out, glistening in the sunlight. The horizon is low and unobstructed, with a wide expanse of sky above. The sky is largely clear with a few light clouds and visible contrails from aeroplanes.

About the location: The Westerschelde
The Westerschelde, Schelde or Scheldt rises in northern France and makes its way through Belgian and Dutch territory to the North Sea. From source to estuary, a distance of no less than 360 kilometres, the Schelde is transformed from an insignificant stream to a major river.

The course of the Westerschelde
During the last Ice Age, 116.000 to 11.000 years ago, large quantities of sand were blown in from the North Sea, which was dry at the time, and created a long sandy ridge from Hulst to Tholen now known as the Rilland Rug (Rilland Ridge). The Schelde at that time flowed northwards, trapped between the sandy ridge and the Brabantse Wal. Settlements were built on the slightly higher-lying Rilland Ridge that later grew to become villages and towns. The Honte was a creek running from the sandy ridge into the Schelde. During the Early Middle Ages, flooding from the North Sea created a system of creeks and gullies that finally penetrated the Rilland Ridge area and connected up to the Honte, more than a thousand years ago. This new connection to the Schelde was scoured out further in the centuries that followed and from the sixteenth century onwards it became the main course, named the Westerschelde (Western Scheldt). The Rilland Ridge is still present, below the ground
and water level. The Westerschelde estuary, the mouth of the river where fresh river water and saline seawater meets, gets its name from its original location, to the west of the Oosterschelde (Eastern Scheldt).

Drowned villages
There's hardly anything of them left to see, but there are three drowned villages in front of me in the Westerschelde. From east to west, they are Oud-Rilland, Gobbenoord and Valkenisse. There are about 250 drowned villages in Zeeland and Noord-Brabant. Often, all we know about them is a name on an old map. Sometimes we are luckier though, and we can find remains. As in this case for Oud-Rilland and Valkenisse. Gobbenoord was drowned in around 1530.
And that's about all we know about it.

Breakwaters
On behalf of the national government, the Province of Zeeland is creating
600 hectares of new tidal nature area (with high and low tides) along the
banks of the Westerschelde. This is being done by extending dykes and
giving the river more room by building breakwaters. The water in the
Westerschelde flows fast. Breakwaters reduce the water speed so that sand
and silt can sink and raise the level of the bed. The sediment is absolutely crawling with animal life: an absolute banquet for many water birds and waders. At the same time, the sediment protects the many archaeological treasures that can be found in front of the sea dyke, such as the drowned villages.

Salt marshes
Salt marshes are higher lying than mudflats. They remain dry at high tide,
so plants can grow there. The salt marshes are only covered by a layer of
salty water after a storm or a very high tide. The silt and sand are trapped
between the plants so that the salt marsh builds up further. Birds that
like the reeds nest here, such as the sedge warbler, water rail and marsh
harrier. The large numbers of bearded reedlings here are exceptional.
These beautifully shaped members of the tit family clamber up and down
between the reeds like genuine circus acrobats, searching for small
spiders, mosquitoes and other insects. If you think you might have seen
one, it was probably the long tail poking up above the reeds.

Mud flats
Mudflats are areas that are covered at high tide and exposed when the
water is low. They may look like a muddy mess, but they are in fact well-
filled banqueting tables for many wading birds. At low tide, they use their
unusually shaped beaks to winkle shellfish, crabs and worms out of the
ground. Peaceful conditions are very important for that.

This river is a Natura 2000 site and is protected by the European Union.

Date/time: April 6, 2026, start 12:23 am. Low-tide 12:10 pm

Weather: 8-10 ºc, clouds 50-10%, cloud sealing 5500m, wind S-SSW 1 – 7 km/h, 1029 hPa, humidity 73-81 %, visibility 16 km, Dew point 6c

Location; Sea dike of river Schelde or Westerschelde (Scheldt), near platen ore plaat van Valkenisse) Rilland, Zeeland, Netherlands (Holland), Europe. GPS 51.39581 4.14600

Gear chain: Sennheiser mkh30/50 MS with pointed NW, in Rycote cyclone small, windjammer > Tascam FR-AV2. Post editing: Decoded Mid-side to STEREO. EQ correction for the blimp and limiter on -3 dB when necessary.

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