In early January, the Torridge estuary in North Devon is wild and windswept; repeatedly hit by a series of gales blowing in from the Atlantic. Only a handful of walkers brave the elements. The pretty fishing village of Appledore is sheltered from the worst of the weather and looks east to the sand dunes of Braunton Burrows and south to the equally pretty village of Instow. Along the coast towards Croyde and Baggy Point, there is the ‘saddest’ Grand Design; an elegant but empty, white elephant built on its own small headland. This beautiful coastline with its high cliffs interspersed by wide, sandy beaches is the playground of holidaymakers and as the season turns, the narrow roads become choked and the locals shelter from the blizzard as best they can.

The Thames Estuary has none of the prettiness of North Devon and rarely a tourist; the wide estuary is pockmarked by industry and old towns. In mid-January it is cold and calm and under a winter sun the grazing marshes with reed-lined ditches provide surprising expanses of wilderness.  The water’s edge is frozen but the mud flats are unaffected and the waders feed hard to maintain their condition. Under a warming winter sun, a lot of snipe are on the grazing marshes seeking soft ground on which to probe. At high tide on the waterlogged fields, the geese, rooks, lapwings and starlings are also joined by golden plovers, curlews and dunlin and there is a constant movement of flocks. There are marsh harriers, kestrels and an occasional merlin. Skylarks and meadow pipits are plentiful and a few corn buntings are already signing their spring song.