Blake Marsh in Kidderminster has had a troubled history.

At one time, it was fondly remembered by many older residents as an extensive area of wetland. Unfortunately, a large area of this marshland habitat was lost when it was in filled in to create additional areas of football and cricket pitches in the 1970s. In those days, marsh was not viewed so much as a value wildlife commodity, but more as areas of undeveloped land.

In the 1980s though, the loss of wetland countrywide was recognised and action was taken to try and preserve what remained. Blake Marsh was declared a Site of Special Scientific Interest by English Nature or, as they were then known - the Nature Conservancy Council.

For a marsh to thrive and to continue to support its valuable wetland wildlife it requires management that reverses the trends of neglect and mimics the natural conditions the ecosystem needs.

Unfortunately for Blake Marsh, none of this love and care was forthcoming and over the proceeding years the quality of the wildlife on the marsh declined until, with some regrets, English Nature was obliged to remove the sites SSSI status.

Blake Marsh and its wildlife could have easily slipped away completely and have been totally lost. Fortunately in 1998, an interest in the sites past wildlife glory was rekindled and work began to declare the site a Local Nature Reserve in recognition of this.

This declaration itself would have done little to conserve the wetlands wildlife. However the declaration was backed up with some serious heavy duty conservation work, which thanks to some grant funding and the support of the local people, went a long way to preserving what remained of the marshes wildlife and created the conditions and sustainable management for it expand and flourish.

This marsh restoration work has taken a few years and there is still a bit to be done during the next year or so. To date, this has involved some dramatic tree work and erecting fencing around the site to allow light cattle grazing.

The result is a much more open site with a vast wealth of dense wetland herbs and wildflowers. Even some of the damp underused football pitches have been brought into the reserve creating lovely flower rich meadows at the fringes.

This year, wildlife such as foxes, grass snakes, snipe and even water rail have been spotted on the reserve.

Hopefully with the continued management of this reserve, the condition and diversity of Blake Marsh's wildlife will continue to grow and once again it will be remembered fondly by the next generation of locals.