Most of the Yellow Sea intertidal mudflats are critical feeding areas for migratory shorebirds on their journeys to and from their breeding and non- breeding grounds. The areas used by migratory shorebirds are referred to as ‘stop-over sites’ (sites used mainly for a ‘pit-stop’, a rest) or ‘staging sites’ (sites used for more than a few days for serious refuelling). Birds spend from a few days to about six weeks at any one or several sites on their way north. The Luannan Coast is one such critical area and is particularly important to Red Knot (Piersma et al. 2016, Rogers et al. 2010).