| Salt
marshes occur in estuarine systems throughout Lancashire and the Sefton area of
North Merseyside. Most of the outer salt marshes have statutory protection but
most in the upper tidal reaches of the rivers do not. It
is important to protect the diversity of salt marsh habitats for both plants and
animals. Sensitive grazing helps to maintain this diversity. Salt marshes can
be adversely affected by insensitive management, and by infrastructure development.
Ribble
Marshes, Lancashire & North Merseyside Livestock
graze most salt marshes around the Ribble Estuary. This makes the vegetation particularly
attractive to wildfowl, for which these areas are internationally important. The
Wigeon, in particular, occurs here in greater numbers than at any other site in
the United Kingdom. The salt marsh at Warton is rich in wild plants. Wyre
Marshes, Lancashire Salt
marshes on the Wyre Estuary are not grazed by livestock and are particularly rich
in wild plants, as at our nature reserve at Barnaby's
Sands and Burrows Marsh. This estuary also has good examples of transition
zones from salt marsh to freshwater marsh in the upper tidal reaches. The endemic
Rock Sea-lavender
(Limonium britannicum) has a population on the Wyre, its only site in Lancashire. Mersey
Marshes, Cheshire and Merseyside On
the North Merseyside shore of the Mersey Estuary, most surviving salt marsh is
found at Oglet, Liverpool. Small areas also exist on the Alt Estuary at Hightown
and in the Seaforth Docks. Morecambe
Bay Marshes, Lancashire and Cumbria Morecambe
Bay has more than 5% of the UK's total area of salt marsh. On
its Lancashire shore, the Bay has some important areas of grazed salt marsh off
Carnforth; and the Lune Estuary also has grazed salt marshes that are important
for grazing wildfowl. Sites important for salt marsh plants are found at Middleton
and Bolton-le-Sands. | 
