Marbury Reedbed Nature Reserve

Marbury Reedbed Nature Reserve is a 6-hectare (15-acre) nature reserve located at the western end of Budworth Mere, north of Northwich, Cheshire, England.

It is managed by the Cheshire Wildlife Trust under lease from the Royal Society for Nature Conservation, which purchased the land by public subscription in 1934 as a memorial to the Cheshire naturalist Thomas Coward.

The open water contains a rich selection of plants, including water lilies, and provides valuable feeding and breeding habitat for kingfishers, little grebes and great crested grebes.

In recent years the reedbed has been used as an over-wintering site by bittern, and the trust manages the reedbed for this secretive heron by cutting glades through the reeds to allow better feeding opportunities.

The diminutive and shy lesser spotted woodpecker has also been seen occasionally in the reserve's woodlands.