The Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary is my favourite green space in the Lower Mainland. It’s 850 acres of marshlands southwest of Langley Ladner (who can keep those suburbs straight?) on Westham Island, and home or rest stop to over 250 species of birds.

I’m not an enormous bird watcher, but it’s a lovely walk and the terrain is very unusual for Vancouver. It’s part of the Fraser River’s tidal estuary, and is all tall reeds and sloughs. The sanctuary is actually private land, contributed by the Reifel family in the sixties and excellently managed by the British Columbia Waterfowl Society.