There was a feeling of spring in the air as we walked the Millers Bridge Trail lined with Daffodils, Primroses, Lesser Celandine and Common Dog Violet. The Willow’s bright green leaves were appearing above the Flamingo Pen as we proceeded to the Ron Barker Hide.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/m/marshside/about.aspx Marshside is located where the sand dunes of the Sefton Coast give way to the salt-marshes, mud-flats and reclaimed land of the Ribble Estuary.

Key to the maintenance of this diversity is the management of habitats, a human intervention that has been happening for centuries. At the edge of the fen, the Cottage Museum depicts how life may have been for workers on the fen before it became a nature reserve

The century old habitat is made up of many different species. The Saw sedge Cladium mariscus predominates but other plants also thrive. These include Marsh bedstraw Galium palustre and Bindweed Convolvulus arvensis. Invertebrate species found here include snails and beetles.