STRICTLY FOR THE BIRDS

摘要

Foulness Island is separated from the Essex mainland by a series of creeks. To seaward lies an area of sand and mud-flats known as Maplin Sands which, at low tide, seem to stretch clear to the horizon. Roughly translated from the old English, Foulness means 'place of birds'. With good reason, for it has national and international significance as a conservation area with a variety of sea and wading birds. Even Prof Colin Buchanan, who proposed it as the site of the third London airport in 1971, called it "an area of remarkable fascination for its remoteness and loneliness."