fender packed full of moldy leaves and dirt

just FYI, 2016 CX-5, I noticed some leaves sticking out behind the passenger front wheel so decided to take off the fender cap and pulled back the fender liner and it was packed full of leaves and dirt, has anyone else noticed this before or does anyone know where all this junk is coming from ? is it part of the CX-5 drainage system from under the windshield. Only reason I checked was I read somewhere some other car manufacturer had the same issue in winter the drain would get clogged with leaves and ice up and the sheet metal would get damaged when someone opened the door due the ice getting packed. It was really gross and moldy and packed full of dirt , now I guess where the mildew smell is coming from, I'll add this to annual maintenance, not to difficult to pull back the fender, but broke some fender clips though, they're cheap on Amazon for 30 pieces https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)

I'd say from the looks of it, something was starting a nest in there.

blackcx5 said:

⋯ has anyone else noticed this before or does anyone know where all this junk is coming from ? is it part of the CX-5 drainage system from under the windshield.

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Yes I did notice this a couple of years ago and cleaned once since. All leaves are coming from drainage in the cowl area at the base of the windshield.

SonicBoy said:

I'd say from the looks of it, something was starting a nest in there.

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thats what I thought at first, but what are the chances it's on both sides? and also yrwei52 noticed the same thing on his CX-5
I agree with yrwei52, it looks like part of Mazda design; draining from the base of the windshield down that both sides behind the front wheels,
also alot of dirt gets kicked and packed in there from the tires...

Holy hell! Trees would have started to grow in that compost generator.

A squirrel must've moved up from the tree house suite to the Skyactiv suite (yippy)

That's fairly common with most vehicles, especially ones without mud guards behind the tires. Do you park underneath trees on a regular basis? If so then they probably came from above in the cowl area. If not then they probably got kicked up from the road and caught in there.