Swalecliffe (known to many locals as Long Rock) is situated on the north coast of the county between Tankerton and Herne Bay. It covers an area more or less contained within a one kilometre square and is hemmed in on three sides by houses to the west and south and a caravan site to the east.

A shingle ridge protects the land behind which consists of grassland, scrub and a sometime marsh whilst further away from the beach there is a football pitch, a churchyard with mature, mostly sycamore, trees and at the western end a modern sewage works which was expanded twice in the 1990s resulting in the loss of much scrub. However, the southern side of the works is bordered by mature trees whilst the eastern and northern edges have been extensively planted with trees and shrubs which are beginning to mature. Through this area the brook winds its way to the sea. Here, water voles still have a tentative hold.

The foreshore consists of mussel beds and mud with pools left at low tide.

I have watched the area regularly since 1990, intensively since 1992. For much of that time I have been the lone observer but Dave Rosair in the early 90s, Barry Matlock between 2000-02 and, this year, Andy Taylor have all adopted it as their local patch. In that time, I have seen 214 species of birds and missed another eight.