Yancheng Coastal Wetlands

The Jiangsu coast holds the largest intertidal mudflat system on the Yellow Sea, inscribed by UNESCO in 2019 as migratory bird sanctuaries because of their importance on the East Asian-Australasian Flyway: millions of shorebirds refuel here between the Arctic and Australasia, including the critically endangered spoon-billed sandpiper, of which only a few hundred remain, and Nordmann's greenshank. The Yancheng reserve also holds the largest wintering population of red-crowned cranes in the world, several hundred birds arriving from the northeast, and a separate reserve at Dafeng protects reintroduced Père David's deer, a species that survived only in captivity after disappearing from the wild.

What you actually see

• The shorebird flocks - waders in enormous numbers on the mudflats.
• The wintering cranes - the world's largest wintering red-crowned crane population.
• The Père David's deer - the reintroduced herd at the Dafeng reserve.
• The tidal flats - the vast intertidal system that supports the flyway.

When to go

October to April, with cranes wintering from November to March and shorebird passage peaking in spring and autumn; summer is hot and the birds largely gone. Tides govern shorebird viewing entirely.

Honest expectations

Access to the core reserve is restricted and most viewing is from designated areas and hides. Serious birding needs a scope and a guide. Coastal reclamation has destroyed much of this habitat over past decades, and what remains is under pressure.

Nearby

Dafeng's deer reserve is close; Yancheng city lies inland.