“I’m going to visit some mudflats!”

“Why?” my colleagues asked, as they seem to delight in eking out the weirder destinations that visiting World Heritage Sites takes me. Therefore they had great fun when I unveiled my plans for New Years day 2011.

“They are a World Heritage Site”

“Why?”

“erm...[googling]...they seem to be home to 6.1 million migratory birds”

“Wow, will you get to see them”

“erm, probably not, I don’t think mid winter is the main time for them.”

“OK, so which part of the National Park are you going to visit”

“I found a Lighthouse opposite the container port”

“Doesn’t sound to Natural why are you heading there?”

“It looks walkable from the ferry port at near Bremerhaven”

“Walkable, how far?”

“About 12km round trip, probably in the snow I guess”

“Wow you must really like birds”

“No, not really I don’t have much interest in them”

“...”

“I told you it is a World Heritage Site right?”

And so that is how I planned my day and that is how it turned out. To walk off the excesses of the festive period I took a stroll to Langlütjen I on New Year's Day 2011.

To my surprise there were a few birds flying around near the sea, I saw some Geese (Barnacle?) Ducks (Eiders?) and something that I think may have been a Curlew, but as I said, birds really are not a speciality of mine.

I actually enjoyed my walk through the flooded grass lands and walking out on the manmade peninsular gave me a great view of the birdlife around me as I could walk beyond the shoe line even with the tide higher. One thing that surprised me was that the sea was frozen when I finally got to it. I had never seen the sea like this before so that was quite rewarding. It also meant that the few birds that were around clustered in small ponds of water that had remained unfrozen, making them easier to spot.

I won't pretend that I have seen the best of the Wadden Sea, but then again it was never a site that was going to really appeal to me. It was however another example of how hunting out World Heritage Sites can take me well of the path I would normally choose, and that was the most rewarding this about it. Oh yeah and it kept my colleagues entertained on my return to the office over a few tasty Bremer Kluten, now I just have to work out which site to trek to next.

[Site 3: Experience 3]