Wadden wonderland

The Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park celebrates its 40th birthday in 2025. It is a natural experience, a unique habitat and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. How lucky for everyone who gets to work there every day! We had a tidal flat guide, a biologist and a ranger tell us a little about it.

There must be no wind, it must be nice and warm and the mudflats must have dried out properly. Then, enthuses mudflat guide Anke Dethlefsen, you can hear that special crackling sound: the mud crabs brush water bubbles off their antennae. This strange and beautiful sound brings mudflat walkers to their knees. “If you bend down, you can take a closer look and dig in the gray mud,” says the 57-year-old. The exercise evokes childhood curiosity. You cannot help but marvel at how the mudflat expert pulls an annelid worm out of a murky puddle or as you watch cockles dig themselves into the muddy ground with pulsating jolts.

You are currently viewing a placeholder content from YouTube. To access the actual content, click the button below. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.

More Information

Unblock content Accept required service and unblock content

If you bend down, you can take a closer look and even dig in the mud

– Anke Dethlefsen

The mudflats are a kind of mega-city; each square meter is home to up to 40,000 mud crabs, 10,000 mud snails and lots of other animals. The tidal flats are nurseries for plaice, herring, sole and shrimp. A handful of mud is teeming with life, living space for millions. “And this vastness!” enthuses Dethlefsen, who prefers to walk barefoot on her favorite terrain off the Hamburg Hallig between Husum and Dagebüll in all weathers. “Where else can you experience something like this?”

Frau am Strand mit Spaten, Rucksack, Brille und buntem Schal; Meer und Watt im Hintergrund. — Wadden Sea guide Anke Dethlefsen at her workplace in front of the Hamburg Hallig

Nahaufnahme von Händen, die eine Muschel zwischen Daumen und Zeigefinger halten; unscharfer dunkler Hintergrund, Hallig-Bezug des Artikels. — Treasure hunt: sand clams stuck in the muddy bottom

Drei Personen sammeln Outdoor-Ausrüstung auf einer Grasfläche am Meeresufer; Wolkenhimmel, Strandwerkzeuge sichtbar. — Ready for the mudflats: shoes off, trouser legs rolled up, spades shouldered: mudflat hikers prepare themselves

Person from behind with rucksack and hoe on a path across a Hallig; basket in hand, green meadows and houses in the background. — Well equipped for the mud: Mudflat guide Anke Dethlefsen on the way to her magical workplace

Flock of sheep on a mudflat in front of wind turbines in the background; some white sheep grazing in the open landscape. — Between tradition and modernity: sheep grazing with a view of the wind turbines – a typical sight in the national park

Three people in conversation on the Wadden Sea; one woman with glasses and a yellow scarf, two others in jackets (one in an orange cap). — Mudflat guide Anke Dethlefsen explains the secrets of the UNESCO World Heritage Site to curious visitors.

Three hikers with rucksacks trudge through the mudflats at low tide; wide Wadden Sea horizon and blue sky. — A step into infinity: Mudflat hikers enjoy the vastness and silence of the national park

Close-up of a dirty hand holding a brittle mudstone with string; sandy mudflats in the background — Hidden in the mud: exciting discoveries like this lugworm make the Wadden Sea a living treasure chest

Three people standing on wet mud in the Wadden Sea, holding walking sticks, cloudy sky and shallow mirror water in the background. — Man and nature in harmony: the tidal flat landscape invites you to marvel, explore and discover

The moon draws water away from the earth

Welcome to the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park, the largest of its kind between the North Cape and Sicily. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site like the Serengeti, the Grand Canyon or the Great Barrier Reef. A world of wonders. The water comes twice a day, it goes twice. Breathe in, breathe out.. The moon sets is the metronome for this orchestra of nature. Like a magnet, it pulls the water away from the earth, creating flood peaks and ebb valleys full of tidal creeks and troughs, bays, peeps, dykes and sea channels, the paths through which the water flows in and out of the muddy plains.

You are currently viewing a placeholder content from YouTube. To access the actual content, click the button below. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.

More Information

Unblock content Accept required service and unblock content

For birds, the dry areas are a gigantic gourmet restaurant. They gather their energy here in the fall for the journey south and stop again to replenish themselves on the return journey in the spring. For ranger Leonie Dittmann on Föhr, the thousands of geese, curlews, Arctic tundra dunlins, lapwings and oystercatchers are a sight that always gives her goosebumps, especially at her favorite spot, the Godel lowlands. From here you can see snapshots from fauna across the world visiting Schleswig-Holstein on their migratory paths. Ten to twelve million migratory birds are arriving and departing each year. That’s eight times more take-offs and landings than at Frankfurt Airport. The 27-year-old loves this spectacle, but also the tranquillity of the mudflats.

I simply feel very lucky to be able to work in this unique habitat. So much is still unexplored and there is always something to discover!

– Leonie Dittmann

Forscherin im Freien mit Fernglas und Teleobjektiv, grüne Jacke, Schal, Wind im Haar, blauer Himmel mit Wolken — The ranger: Leonie Dittmann searches for lapwings, white-fronted geese, and oystercatchers.

Gruppe weißer Schafe grast auf einer grasigen Küstenwiese, vor Meer und wolkigem Himmel. — Sheep graze to keep the dykes perfectly maintained.

Küstenlandschaft bei Ebbe mit Wattenmeer, zahlreiche Möwen am Wasser, Dünen, Bäume und Haus im Hintergrund. — Resting place: Up to twelve million migratory birds stop off in the mudflats every year – here off the island of Föhr.

Yellow sign on the post indicating breeding and resting area, please do not enter; coastal landscape in the background. — A sanctuary for nature: Birds find peace and quiet in the breeding and resting areas of the national park

Blurred photographer in the foreground looks out over the Wadden Sea; a small flock of birds flies in the sky. — Migratory birds approaching: ranger Leonie Dittmann observes how the sky over Föhr becomes a runway

Close-up of a hermit crab with shell on sandy bottom in an aquarium, Wattenwunderwelt — A little star in the mudflats: the hermit crab

Young woman with glasses and pigtail holds a bird figurine at the window, next to it stands a man; context Wattenwunderwelt. — Nature conservation you can touch: Ranger Leonie Dittmann explains the special features of the local wildlife on Föhr

a woman looks through binoculars while another woman stands next to her

Even the gentian blooms on the salt marshes

For the salt marshes, every high tide means a full bath. Beach plantain and aster become spicy wild vegetables in this briny bath. The fat marsh samphire ends up as a naturaly salty treat enjoyed in many a salad bowl. Everyone is allowed to pick a bunch as long as they don’t leave the path or enter protection zone 1. Beach aster and Hallig lilac bathe the meadows in bright purple in summer, while the scent of beach wormwood tickles the nose.

You are currently viewing a placeholder content from YouTube. To access the actual content, click the button below. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.

More Information

Unblock content Accept required service and unblock content

“Many guests are also completely amazed that we have gentian plants here,” says biologist Rainer Borcherding, 57. “Most people think of them as being in the Alps.” However, Borcherding is sometimes surprised himself on his forays across the beach, dunes, meadows and mudflats of the national park.

Last year I discovered new occurrences of marsh ragwort and a few other plants in dune valleys that were thought to be almost extinct

– Rainer Borcherding

He welcomes newcomers from afar, of the plant variety, with caution. The American weeping cherry, Japanese wakame algae, and cactus moss from New Zealand grow here despite not being native to the area. “Some seeds hang under the dirty feet of migratory birds, others are washed up by storm surges, float in the ballast water of large container pots or blow over from ornamental gardens. Plants such as sea bindweed or sea spurge were previously only known to us from Mediterranean vacations. They are now here due to the warming.”

Alter Mann mit grauem Haar und Brille kniet im Grasfeld, isst eine grüne Pflanze; Jacke und Rucksack im Freien. — Biologist Rainer Borcherding from the Wadden Sea National Park researches the flora.

Nahaufnahme einer roten Frucht mit durchgeschnittener Innenstruktur und Samen, zwischen Daumen und Zeigefinger gehalten. — Cranberry: Vaccinium macrocarpon originates from North America. Its tart-tasting berries are very popular. However, the shrub is displacing native plants.

Nahaufnahme eines grünlichen Blatts, das von einer Hand gehalten wird; unscharfer dunkler Oberkörper im Hintergrund. — Sea purslane: Halimione portulacoides is a halophyte: it can reproduce even in salty locations.

Kleiner roter Strauch mit verzweigten Zweigen wächst aus Sand; unscharfer Dünenhintergrund und blauer Himmel. — Salicornia, also known as sea asparagus, is the only known plant that needs salt to survive. It is edible, tasty, and very salty.

Two people in the forest; woman with orange cap and glasses shows the man a dried plant. — Discoveries in the countryside: biologist Rainer Borcherding shows guests the diversity of native flora in the national park

Person holding greenish colored branch with thin, branched leaves; blurred background. — A natural treasure of the salt marshes: The marsh samphire – also known as ‘nature’s salt stick’ – is edible and full of flavor

Other mudflat professionals also make a similar observation. Ranger Leonie Dittmann on her tours through the mudflats and mudflat guide Anke Dethlefsen while poking through the silt point out other changes in the park’s composition. For many animals, the north is the new south.

Dolphins have also been spotted here

For those observant enough, a beach walk is exciting on the west coast of Schleswig-Holstein. The average beach walker can be seen stopping to marvel at their new discoveries. Slightly bent over, they can be seen creeping along the edge of the waves, their gaze scanning the sand, their fingers repeatedly darting for a shell or a periwinkle. They’re called Tinkeltuut here, a word derived from Low German. Anyone who thinks they have discovered something unknown can report it in the BeachExplorer app, an identification aid. Moonfish, dolphins and, more recently, seahorses – they’ve all been here in the national park.

This raises questions. Which Leonie Dittmann loves to answer, and not just at the weekly “Schnack mit der Rangerin”. “The Wadden Sea and the North Sea coast are a place of longing for many people,” she says. “You won’t find anything like this anywhere else.”

Wadden Sea professional Borcherding is also enchanted time and again. Last year, for example, he was sitting on a viewing dune on Sylt, a thunderstorm was looming and a rainbow was arching over the expanse of the mudflats. “Suddenly a flock of oystercatchers came through the black sky.” He didn’t have a cell phone with him to take a photo. Nevertheless, the picture remains unforgettable. Even if his only copy is in his head.

Everything about the Wadden Sea National Park

You can find more information about the Wadden Sea National Park here

Find out more