High tide

The tide up the creek comes in and looks glorious like this, or runs right out leaving only a steep muddy slope down to the channel in the middle. 

The waders don't like it much like this. They find a quiet shingle bank somewhere and stick their beaks under their wings for a kip until the mud appears again and then they are busy scanning and probing. They look a bit like those detectorists on the telly - only much better and finding what they are looking for.