48 pieces · AnimalsPhoto by caroline legg, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. A pied avocet feeding at Hickling Broad in Norfolk — an illustrative photograph of the species that bred at the new Sandilands reserve, not a picture taken there.
PuzzleBeat
A Lincolnshire Golf Course Reopens as a Wetland Reserve, 2026
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A Lincolnshire Golf Course Reopens as a Wetland Reserve, 2026
In late September 2026 a stretch of the Lincolnshire coast opened to the public as a wetland nature reserve, six years after the National Trust bought what was then Sandilands golf course. The fairways are gone. In their place is new wetland reported to cover the equivalent of around 45 football pitches — shallow pools, scrapes and rough ground that will never again see pesticide or mains water. The birds did not wait for the ribbon. Before the project was formally finished, avocets and oystercatchers had nested and bred on site, and little ringed plover chicks were recorded there for a second consecutive year; avocet chicks hatched at the reserve for the first time in July 2026. Terns, lapwings and skylarks have been recorded too.
The conversion is less improbable than it sounds. Golf courses have a genuinely bad environmental reputation — heavy water users, dependent on non-native turf and on pesticides that harm bees and butterflies — and yet they are also unintended wildlife magnets, because a large green space away from cars, powerlines, tall buildings and city noise is exactly what a nervous ground-nesting bird is looking for. Sandilands took that accidental advantage and made it deliberate. Other courses are keeping the game and changing the management instead: CommonGround in Aurora, Colorado has replaced much of its ornamental planting with native wildflowers and irrigates with recycled treated wastewater rather than drinking water, and a single day's count there recorded 40 bird species on the course.
The photograph is a pied avocet — the black-and-white wader with the thin upcurved bill that sweeps side to side through shallow water, and the species whose return is the headline at Sandilands. It was taken at Hickling Broad in Norfolk rather than at the reserve itself, so treat it as a portrait of the bird, not of the place. As a jigsaw it is a deliberately minimal build and it rewards a specific order: the bird and its mirrored reflection are the only high-contrast elements in the frame, so assemble those two shapes first and treat the ripple line where they meet as your horizon. After that you are working almost entirely in pale grey, and the only usable signals are the faint tonal gradient from top to bottom and the soft arcs of the ripples. Sort by brightness, not by pattern, and place the corners early — this is a frame where the edge pieces are worth far more than usual.
How to play
- Tap Play From Fairway to Wetland at Sandilands puzzle to open the puzzle board, then choose your piece count and difficulty.
- Drag pieces from the tray onto the board and snap them into place until the full image is complete. Works with mouse on desktop and touch on mobile.
- Use the Preview button on the play screen to peek at the full reference image whenever you need a hint.
- When you finish, check your solve time on the completion screen and share it with friends to see who can beat your record.
Frequently asked questions
- What actually happened at Sandilands?
- The National Trust bought the Sandilands golf course on the Lincolnshire coast in 2020 and spent about six years turning it into a coastal wetland nature reserve, which opened to the public in late September 2026. Workers dug out space for a new wetland ecosystem reported to stretch across the equivalent of roughly 45 football pitches. None of it will receive pesticide or public water again.
- Which birds have turned up there?
- Plovers, terns, avocets and lapwings have been recorded, along with skylarks and sandwich terns. Even before the project was officially complete, avocets and oystercatchers successfully nested and bred on the site, and little ringed plover chicks were recorded for a second consecutive year. Avocet chicks hatched at the reserve for the first time in July 2026. Sandilands' area ranger, Katie Scott, has noted that many of the species seen there are endangered or rare and depend on places like it to rest, feed and breed.
- Why would a golf course make good bird habitat at all?
- Golf courses are usually criticised — fairly — as heavy water users and biodiversity dead zones, because of non-native planting and pesticides that harm bees and butterflies. But they are also large green spaces set away from cars, powerlines, tall buildings and city noise, which makes them attractive to wildlife despite the management. Sandilands converted that accidental appeal into a purpose-built reserve; elsewhere, courses such as CommonGround in Aurora, Colorado are staying open while switching to native wildflowers and recycled treated wastewater, and recorded 40 bird species in a single day.
- Is this a photograph of Sandilands?
- No. It is a pied avocet photographed at Hickling Broad in Norfolk — the same species that has bred at the new Lincolnshire reserve, shown doing the thing avocets do, wading in shallow water with that distinctive upcurved bill. We publish only openly licensed images; this one is used under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 licence, with the photographer credited beneath the picture.