The southern shore of Dublin Bay was once fringed with salt marshes, coastal lands rich in marine and bird life. Booterstown marsh is the last remaining section of marshland left in Dublin, now a protected ecological nature reserve and bird sanctuary.
Brambles, thistles and bindweeds grow right up to the wall along the Rock Road, a natural protection against the intrusion of people or predatory animals into the marsh, though the evidence of human influence is depressingly prominent in the number of torn plastic bags, drinks cans and the odd shopping trolley that litters the area.
Watercress, wild celery and a range of grasses and reeds are the most prolific of the plantlife that thrives in the silty ponds. During the summer, wild flowers like buttercups, foxgloves and mauve sea aster can be seen.
The soft mud on the surface of the marsh is home to freshwater molluscs and worms, and the moist conditions are ideal for insects like mosquitoes and midges. The insects in turn attract the birds - mallards and moorhens are common, and you are almost guaranteed to spot at least one heron, who use the marsh for roosting. Oystercatchers and wading birds come here to feed, and in the summer, swallows and swifts come to feast on the flying insects.
The best place to view the birds is from the main road, or get up even closer by peeking over the low wall on the Booterstown DART Station northbound platform. read more