The Cardiff Bay Wetlands Reserve is an area of approximately 8 hectares, which is located on the northern shore of Cardiff Bay, between St. David’s Hotel and the Taff outlet. The area was officially opened as a wildlife reserve in July of 2002, in what was previously an area of raised salt marsh up until the closure of the Cardiff Bay Barrage in April of 2001. The construction of the man-made features of the Reserve include a large reed-fringed reservoir in the northern area of the site which is aimed at attracting a diversity of invertebrates and other wildlife for the purpose of pond dipping, as this is the only area where the public will have direct access.