Letters from the marsh - Chapter 3 - A Walk, A Nap, & A Exciting Discovery

Marte picks our story up in the morning, Isabella naturally is the first one up and out the door, rushing to check if the salt marsh has survived the big storm. After breakfast her and Grandpa set off to check how the rest of the community faired, especially Tante Hilde. Together the three of them head into the marsh to forage for dinner. While they are there, Isabella spots something extraordinary.

In this episode Marte and Connor are joined by Thomas to talk about the plants of the marsh, how they respond in stormy conditions, and how humans help sustain marshes through things like brushwood dams.

Contrary to what you will hear in this episode, Sea Spinach (Atriplex prostrata) is actually relatively common in the salt marshes of The Netherlands. So go have a look and see if you can spot it, but please respect the nature and leave your shopping for your local market!

This series was developed and produced by the Story Engineer, Connor McMullen, as is distributed in collaboration with the Dutch International Storytelling Centre. In this episode we hear from Marte Stoorvogel, a Postdoc at University of Twente, and Thomas van Veelen, a postdoc within the Marine and Fluvial Systems research group at the University of Twente.

The Living Dikes Project is a consortium of Universities, research institutes, and Dutch Water Boards and provinces researching nature-based solutions for our coastlines.

Special thanks to the sound artists whose Creative Commons sounds and recordings helped bring our stories to live. Most of the birds, animals, and nature sounds you hear in these stories are from the collection of Klankbeeld, the Dutch Sound Museum.