At low tide there are vast areas of mudflats and saltings, all teeming with birds. Since the mid-80s, Breydon Water has been a
nature reserve in the care of the RSPB. It has been a popular shooting area for centuries, and the shooting continues, but on a very much reduced scale. In the winter, large numbers of wading birds and wildfowl use it to overwinter, including 12,000
golden plovers, 12,000
wigeons, 32,000
lapwings and tens of thousands of
Bewick's swans. Other species that have been noted there include
dunlin,
sanderling,
Eurasian whimbrel, several (escaped)
flamingos,
pied avocets and on one occasion a
glossy ibis. There is a bird observation hide at the east end of Breydon Water, on the north shore, looking out towards a breeding platform used mainly by
common terns. Other breeding species include
common shelducks,
northern shovelers,
Eurasian oystercatchers and
yellow wagtails. Naturalist Arthur Henry Patterson (1857–1935), who published under the pseudonym "John Knowlittle", extensively documented the wildlife of Breydon and the disappearing lifestyles of the boatmen, wildfowlers and fishermen who made a living from the estuary. Short sections of the
Wherryman's Way and
Weavers' Way long-distance paths follow the northern bank of the estuary from Yarmouth to
Berney Arms, a distance of about 5 miles. Breydon Water is the site of events in
Arthur Ransome's popular
Swallows and Amazons series book,
Coot Club. ==References==