Cardiff Bay Wetlands Reserve
Coordinates: 51°27′35.42″N 3°10′12.67″W / 51.4598389°N 3.1701861°W
Cardiff Bay Wetlands Reserve is located in Cardiff Bay in the city of Cardiff. It covers an area of approximately 8 hectares (19.8 acres). The area was officially opened as a wildlife reserve on 25 July 2002 in what was previously an area of Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) up until the opening of the Cardiff Bay Barrage in April 2001. The area had previously been salt marsh, but the Barrage created 200 hectares of freshwater lake, and from this the reserve was developed.
The site was chosen by Cardiff Harbour Authority, who manage Cardiff Bay, to create an important new environment from the previous salt marsh, and to help compensate for the loss of the Cardiff Bay mudflats.
Edmund Nuttall Ltd. won the GB£120,000 contract to build the Reserve, and work was completed by the end of November 2003. In 2001, a landscape architect, Phil Williams from the Landscape Institute, was appointed. He said:
After the Wetlands Reserve was constructed, tonnes of debris had flowed down from the River Taff and collected near the reserve, so in 2003 Cardiff Harbour Authority built a 450-metre floating boom to prevent debris from entering the reserve.
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