VISITING a marshland in summer time can leave you with the feeling that you have taken a trip to a far distant land.

In the Wyre Forest district we are fortunate to have some of the best areas of marshland in the region, around the River Stour valley, its tributaries and some areas near the River Severn.

National marshland is a scarce habitat so most of these areas are now in the ownership of the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust or Wyre Forest District Council where they are managed to preserve and promote the unique wildlife.

English Nature has also recognised the importance of marshlands and most have been declared Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). One of these areas is Redstone Marsh, in Stourport.

A visit here can easily feel like a trip to a far off, hot and exotic land, despite the relatively small size of the site.

As part of my job with the Wyre Forest District Council Ranger Service, I end up visiting this site quite frequently throughout the summer. For each visit insect repellent is an essential and must be applied to areas of exposed skin and the shoulders of my shirt.

However, like all good adventurers, once suitably kitted out you can get a thrill out of being able to venture into an area where most fear to tread.

The Belted Galloway cattle will have been grazing the wet meadows for a couple of weeks now, but have only had access to the wetter marshland areas for the last couple of days. They will have used their half a ton or so mass to push trails into the dense marshland sward.

My aim will be to follow one of these through the giant reed canary grass.

In among this, you start feeling very small, as if you were an ant scrambling your way across a lawn.

Clothes soon get covered in fine dust and pollen. This is not the place for a hay fever sufferer.

It is also quite claustrophobic as visibility is only as far as the next grass stem. I feel with my feet to locate one of the many damp ditches, which criss-cross the marsh.

These marshland highways are beautiful to walk through as with every twist and turn they reveal new blasts of marshland flora, like the beautiful spikes of the purple loose strife and clouds of fluffy marsh bedstraw.

If you feel inspired to find out more, you can join the rangers on Puxton this month.

Details can be found in the district council's summer activity programme.