Somme Bay

The tidal flats stretch so wide the horizon bends. At low tide, the sea withdraws kilometres and the mud becomes a landscape — samphire underfoot, seals hauled out on distant sandbanks, and the sky doubled in the wet sand. The Somme Bay in France is an estuary where the scale is measured in emptiness, the wildlife in concentration, and the light in the silver-grey particular to the Picardy coast.

The Baie de Somme is one of the largest estuaries in northern France, covering approximately 70 square kilometres at high tide and emptying dramatically at low water to reveal extensive mudflats, salt marshes, and sandbanks. The bay supports a grey seal colony numbering over 400 individuals — one of the largest on the French coast — visible from guided walks across the mudflats. The Parc du Marquenterre, a bird sanctuary on the bay's northern shore, hosts over 300 migratory and resident species, including spoonbills, avocets, and white storks. The Chemin de Fer de la Baie de Somme, a heritage steam railway, runs along the bay's edge between Le Crotoy and Saint-Valéry-sur-Somme, providing coastal views from restored early 20th-century carriages. Samphire (salicorne), a salt-tolerant plant growing on the mudflats, is foraged and served as a local delicacy, blanched and buttered.