Jacqueline Foster MEP has been to visit one of Europe’s most important sites for wildlife.
On Friday 20th July, the MEP for North West England, experienced the wealth of bird life currently residing at RSPB’s Marshside reserve, near Southport on the Ribble Estuary.
Protected under European Union law, RSPB Marshside is vital as a stopover for thousands of migratory water birds making their way south to sunnier climes for the winter months. Arriving from as far away as North America, the birds come to Marshside and the wider Ribble Estuary to feast on the calorie-rich insects and invertebrates that live there.
Many more birds stop and spend the winter on the Estuary to escape the harsh arctic winter.
RSPB Marshside is part of the Ribble Coast and Wetlands Regional Park, a landscape-scale partnership project that aims to enhance the Ribble Estuary for wildlife and for people through an ongoing programme of nature conservation and sustainable tourism projects.
The RSPB’s contribution to the Ribble Coast and Wetlands Regional Park forms part of its national Futurescapes initiative, a series of landscape-scale partnership projects, part funded by the EU Life+ programme.
Tony Baker, the RSPB’s site manager for its Ribble reserves, said: “Marshside forms part of a network of amazing nature sites around the Ribble. We are working with a range of partners to enhance, expand and link up these special places to make the Ribble an even better place for wildlife, as well as for local people and visitors. It is thanks, in part, to the special protection afforded to the Ribble under EU law that we are able to carry out this important conservation project.”