Welcome to the Severn estuary! At around 24700ha, it isone of the largest estuaries in Britain and has the secondlargest tidal range in the world. It forms the border between Wales and England in south-west Britain at themouth of three major rivers; the Severn, Wye and Avon. We hope this leaflet helps you to enjoy the estuary, and at the same time understand more about the wildlife youshare it with.
Natural History and conservation
The inter-tidal zone of mudflats, sandbanks, rockyplatforms and saltmarsh is one of the largest and mostimportant for wildlife in Britain.
The extreme conditions created by mud, sand and rock can only be tolerated by a few plants and animals. However there are high densities of ragworms and lugworms whichare an important food source for migrating andoverwintering waders.
Saltmarsh, the upper part of intertidal mudflats, is foundall along the estuary’s fringes in Avon. Only a limitednumber of salt tolerant plants can grow in theseconditions, including nationally scarce species such asslender hare’s-ear, sea clover and bulbous foxtail.Saltmarsh also provides important feeding and roostingareas for waterfowl and waders.
Over winter, the area regularly supports about 85,000waterfowlincluding shelduck, wigeon, teal, grey plover,lapwing, dunlin, redshank and curlew. Bewick’s swan,white-fronted goose, pintail, gadwall and pochard alsooccur. Whimbrel and ringed plover pass through in largenumbers on migration, the former particularly in spring. The river also attracts migratory fish species such assalmon, sea trout, twaite and allis shad.
The wild bird populations are
of European importance,and the estuary is classified as a Special Protection
Areaand Ramsar site. Most of the estuary is also designated asa Site
of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and is beingconsidered as a Special
area of Conservation (SAC).
Download the full PDF guide here
Find out more about the Avon Biodiversity Partnership here:
