When I got up this morning and saw what a beautiful day awaited, I decided on the spur of the moment to go to the RSPB nature reserve on the Dee estuary at Burton.

Burton village, well-kept and firmly manicured, is located on the southwest of the Wirral, about 20 minutes drive out of Chester, an area now better known for giving its name to the nearby wetlands.  The wetlands are divided into two separate entities.  The first is the splendidly well organized and laid out nature reserve operated by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (the RSPB) which was specially set up for the benefit of birds and bird watchers, but accommodates general visitors too.  There is also a route through the wetlands on the far side of the RSPB reserve, and extending well beyond it, which is the Sustrans route number 568, developed for cyclists but welcoming walkers. It crosses the wetlands from Connah’s Quay, meeting the Wirral peninsula at just above Burton Point, and continuing on to Neston.  They provide two very different but both marvellous experiences of the wetland scenery.  I have already posted a short piece about my short visit to the Sustrans cycle and walking route in the Burton Point area, although I want to walk the whole thing eventually.

 

The RSPB wetland reserve

Several miles of wetland are enclosed within the RSPB reserve, which attract thousands of birds of many different species, with the river Dee invisible along the far edge of north Wales. The canalization of the Dee, completed in 1737, completely changed the environmental conditions of this part of the estuary, forcing the river to run along the Welsh edge of the estuary.  The canalized channel of the Dee is not visible from the nature reserve, but the miles of wetland are lovely.  There are huge expanses of pond and small lake, as well as flooded wetlands in the distance.  On a bright day with blue skies overhead it is gorgeous.  The reserve backs on to farmland at the rear, includes a woodland walk, and has a very attractive red sandstone railway bridge crossing the tracks below and even boasts the remains of an Iron Age hillfort which, if somewhat puzzling as an archaeological entity, has lovely views along the estuary towards Hilbre Island and across to north Wales.

 

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For bird watchers there is an enclosed viewing room where the ticket office is located, and throughout the reserve there are coverts and hides like the one above, all of them with benches, and all with windows suitable for both seated and standing visitors, and there are also viewing screens  and viewing platforms dotted throughout.

For less specialist visitors there are some splendid wending walks through the reserve, where water-loving plant and tree species abound, many in flower or producing berries at this time of year, and all providing a myriad of colours and textures over a base of deep greens and rich browns, which provide excellent resources for insect life.  The plants are so dense that where there is water running beneath boardwalks the water is scarcely visible.

 

The walks are all nice and even underfoot, many of the boardwalks coated in wire mesh to prevent them becoming slippery, and it is all beautifully maintained.  Being located on the side of the estuary, the nature reserve is nearly all on the flat.  All the main walks are wheelchair friendly, as are the hides and coverts.  There are actually four miles of signposted walks, as well as the woodland walk, which takes about half an hour.  There are plenty of benches dotted around for a moment of relaxation and contemplation.  Burton Point, at the furthest end of the nature reserve, is a tiny headland, which involves walking a short way up a slight slope and an informal footpath, and offers some great views along the estuary.  It is supposed to be the site of a small Iron Age promontory hillfort, but the evidence for this is difficult to see, although an interpretation sign does its best to offer a visualization of how it may have looked.

Even if you are not a regular bird watcher, the water birds are fascinating.  There are plenty of information boards showing what you are likely to see, and there is a whiteboard in the reception area showing a list of what has been spotted on a given and previous days.  Binoculars and cameras with enormous lenses (one of them in camouflage colours!) were very much in evidence and I soon found at why – my nice all-round lens, a 28-300mm zoom, was struggling desperately at its top end, and something much more powerful would have been helpful.  Do note that you can hire or buy binoculars from the reception area to get a better view of what birdlife is spending its time on the wetlands.   At this time of year the geese dominate, both in numbers and in voice.  Their honking can be heard wherever you are in the reserve, even when you can’t see them, There were Canada and greylag geese in great numbers, and a handful of Egyptian geese sunbathing on the far side of one of the stretches of open water, but there are plenty of other species too.

Of the smaller water birds, as well as the familiar moorhens, coots and mallards, there were gorgeous lapwings and a variety of small wading birds, with slender legs and long beaks, including a common sandpiper that was distinguished by its rusty coloured plumage.  There were multiple grey herons looking like statues, waiting patiently for unsuspecting fish to swim by, and I spotted some tiny little fish in one of the ponds near the cafe which are presumably a popular part of the herons’ dietary intake.  There must be lots of reed-loving birds hidden in the wetlands, successfully shielding themselves from prying eyes.  There was apparently a spotted redshank, which was causing some excitement among the better informed bird watchers in one covert, but although I followed the directions that a father was giving his son (along the lines of – left of that greylag goose walking in front of that moorhen and then two back and one over) I was unable to spot it.  Bird feeders dotted around were attracting blue tits and great tits in great numbers and there were pied wagtails in some of the many trees that line the edges of some of the paths.  There’s an A-Z of bird species on the RSPB website.

This is a super place to visit, and seasonal changes in bird and plant life mean that there will always be something new to see, and there are plenty of butterflies, bees, dragonflies, damsonfiles and other insects to observe if you look carefully.  The grasshopper in the image below was particularly well camouflaged, and apparently there are sometimes lizards sunbathing in the sunnier patches.  On Burton Point there are rabbit warrens, and according to some of the signage (much of it directed at children, but still informative to older visitors) the local animals have a vibrant night life.

Regarding the hillfort on the promontory, Burton Point, there are websites that say that the small headland on which the site is located is privately owned and should not be entered without permission, but this is in fact now included in the RSPB reserve and is served by good footpaths and includes interpretation signage to give visitors some idea of what was here.  I’ll talk more about this site on a separate post.

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Visiting the RSPB reserve

The RSPB reserve is very easy to find, although if you rely on that Google SatNav, please note that mine, having been asked to find “RSPB Burton” informed us we had reached our destination before we had actually arrived.  Fortunately, if you use the What3Words smartphone ap, which is stupendous (narrowing locations down to metre-sized locations) you can find it at ///readings.sideburns.handicaps.  Other details can be found on the RSPB website which includes the address, postcode, as well as details of the current ticket price and full details about what the nature reserve offers the visitor: https://www.rspb.org.uk/days-out/reserves/dee-estuary-burton-mere-wetlands.

The RSPB site has been very well thought out, and is very welcoming.  A single lane road from Puddington Lane has speed bumps and plenty of passing places, leading to a well-sized car park.  Entrance is via a building with a look-out over the estuary.  The entrance fee is £7.00 at the time of writing (July 2025), which helps to support the charity. There is a nice modern cafe on site, which sells tea, very good coffee, cold drinks and snacks. This is also where the toilets are located.  There is a small shop next to the ticket desk that sells gifts, books and bird food.

I have been following the RSPB Burton reserve on Twitter for a couple of years, without ever having managed to get there, and every day they take a photograph of their whiteboard to give you an idea of what species have been observed recently so that you know what to look out for.  You can find this at https://x.com/RSPB_BurtonMere.  There is a placeholder for them on Bluesky but no content just yet.

I rarely give an opinion about wheelchair use, but there were actually several wheelchairs users out and about today.  It would not be possible to get wheelchairs up to the Burton Point hill fort, or navigate them down one or two of the little tracks that run at the back of the reserve, but all of the coverts and hides are wheelchair friendly and, for both wheelchair users and children, the viewing windows extend from low to high for both seated and standing visitors.  The same comments go for those with unwilling legs.

Dogs are not permitted, and nor are drones.