Morecambe Bay
| Morecambe Bay | ||
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 Morecambe Bay at low tide |
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| Waters | Irish Sea | |
| Land mass | Great Britain (island) | |
| Geographical location | 54 ° 5 ′ N , 2 ° 52 ′ W | |
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| surface | 305 km² | |
| Tributaries | River Bela , River Keer , River Kent , Leven (Cumbria) , River Lune , Wyre (Morecambe Bay) , River Winster | |
The Morecambe Bay is a watt in the bay of Morecambe in northwest England. At 305 square kilometers, the tidal flats are the largest contiguous tidal flats in Great Britain and one of the largest and most important European refuges for shorebirds. Thousands of birds rest here during the times of bird migration. However, a large number of them also overwinter in the Morecambe Bay area or use this nutrient-rich area as a breeding area.
The tidal flats are the mouth of five larger rivers. These form a funnel-shaped tidal zone. There are salt marshes on the north and east sides . The tidal flats are particularly extensive at extremely low tide, which occurs mainly in spring. During this time, the mud flats can be 12 kilometers wide.
Morecambe Bay has large populations of shelduck and pintail, as well as knot , snipe birds such as curlews and dunlins , oystercatchers and red thighs . The overwintering population of Knutts is estimated at 65,000 to 70,000 individuals. This corresponds to 15 percent of the overwintering population in Europe and Africa.
The bay is a Site of Special Scientific Interest . In addition to the importance of the bay as a wintering area for many birds, the salt marshes are of great importance, as they have a diverse vegetation of rare and unusual plants and are home to numerous rare invertebrates .
The bay is known for its rapidly rising tides. A serious accident occurred on the night of February 5, 2004, when a group of illegal Chinese immigrants who were collecting mussels there were caught by the oncoming tide. 23 collectors drowned in the ice-cold water and only one person was rescued from the water by sea rescue workers, 14 others made it to land without help. The rescue measures were also delayed because the Chinese could not make themselves understood to the police who had called on their mobile phones due to a lack of English skills.
literature
- David Burnie (Ed.): Vögel , Munich 2008, Dorling Kindersley, ISBN 978-3-8310-1272-5
Individual evidence
- ↑ Morecambe Bay on SSSI List at Natural England
- ↑ Morecambe Bay cockling disaster's lasting impact. BBC News, February 3, 2014, accessed February 3, 2014 .
