Caerlavrock Wetlands -

one of Scotland’s most beautiful National Nature Reserves near Dumfries, where a dramatic transformation happens twice a day when 85% of the Reserve is flooded at high tide. Its shifting mud banks are full of shellfish and worms, providing food for nearly 140,000 birds like pintail, shelduck and oystercatcher. Samphire grows near the shore, its roots binding the mud together so that other plants can grow, building up to form the saltmarsh (merse) that runs around the edge of the Reserve.