Restoring saltmarsh at Hesketh Out Marsh

The Ribble Estuary is the most important single river estuary in England and is a designated SPA for its over-wintering waterfowl and a SSSI for estuary habitats and birds. In the 1980s, an embankment was built around the site at Hesketh Out Marsh allowing the owners to drain the SSSI and make it suitable for use as agricultural land. In 2006 the RSPB secured the purchase of this land and works are now underway to restore the habitat back to saltmarsh by creating creeks, lagoons and breaching the outer sea wall. The work covered in this registration will allow the RSPB to graze the western section of Hesketh Out Marsh, a key component of the habitat management that will restore 168ha of this land to saltmarsh, a UK BAP habitat.