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Our work here
Leighton Moss protects an internationally important site on the north-west coast of England.
Its diverse habitats include reed swamp, woodland, and limestone grassland. It also incorporates extensive area of sandflats, saltmarsh and brackish lagoons along the shores of nearby Morecambe Bay.
Past conservation management has enhanced the biological importance of the site, and today the RSPB is managing the reserve for the benefit of all its wildlife.
Righting the reedbed
Our reedbed is the largest in northwest England. It is home to important breeding birds such as bearded tits, marsh harriers, water rails and the UK's only regular breeding bitterns in north-west England. Other wildlife includes otters and wintering wildfowl.
Our work includes cutting reeds in winter and summer, whilst managing the water levels all year round. We are also working to restore a further 200 hectares of reedbed. This project involves removing dead vegetation and digging several kilometres of ditches, before planting the seedlings by hand.
Coastal conservation
The sandflats and saltmarsh around Morecambe Bay support important wintering populations of oystercatcher and knot, as well as breeding redshanks and wintering wildfowl.
We are grazing the Inner Marsh with cattle in order to maintain suitable conditions for these birds at all times of year.
Grassland and woodland
The limestone grassland and woodland support a large variety of nationally important plants and invertebrates, including high brown and pearl-bordered fritillary butterflies.
We are managing the woodland with rotational coppicing and grazing the grassland with sheep.
Working with people
Leighton Moss is one of our most popular reserves, receiving over 100,000 visitors a year. We are maintaining all our facilities, which include a shop, nature trails and seven hides. We are also using our visitor centre to spearhead a national project to make more use of solar energy.
We offer education programmes for schools and an events programme for visitors, and are continuing to develop our volunteer programme.
We are also using the reserve to showcase our conservation management techniques, whilst strengthening our links with target audiences and the local community.
How you can help
A donation from you can help beautiful, wild places like Leighton Moss
Make a donation