“The mud, even though the mud looks really lifeless, it's actually like this really rich protein snack for the birds. So we're on something called the East Atlantic Flyway, and there's something like three hundred thousand birds come and migrate up and down the East Atlantic Flyway every year, so it's such an important spot for a big population of birds of the northern hemisphere, and they stop into places like Bedlams Bottom to feed on lots of little shrimps and crustaceans that are in the mud. So they'll come in, in these big groups, and at certain times of year, you'd have big flocks of dunlin and curlew calling, and a whole range of birds that are coming here on migration, to sort of fuel up on this kind of high protein crustacean snack bar that the mud is providing for them. So yeah, it's a really important place. All of these bays along the Thames and the Medway estuary, they look like big, bleak, muddy spots, but they're absolutely vital for lots of the beautiful wildlife that's here. 

That's why it's all designated, all this landscape. It's all part of the Ramsar… and Ramsar, I believe, is a place in Iran. I think it's where the convention was signed, which is why it's called The Ramsar Convention. And so it's the highest level of protection, really, that we've got in this country for wildlife. Somewhere near here, I think Boris Johnson wanted to build his estuary airport, which wouldn't have been the best place, with three hundred thousand birds getting sucked into jet engines (laughs), it was a very silly location to propose for an airport, and yeah, obviously all this area's like, you know, so critically important for wildlife, and hopefully that protection will save it from, you know, inappropriate developments out here.”