The Meres and Mosses are a natural area of England defined by Natural England and its predecessor bodies as statutory regulators for the natural environment of England. This region in the northwest part of the English Midlands coincides broadly with the Shropshire, Cheshire and Staffordshire National Character Area (NCA) 61. [1] A Ramsar site was designated in May 1994 covering 16 sites across this region, with a total area of 510.88 hectares, and known as the 'Midland Meres and Mosses Phase 1'. Over 60 individual water bodies or meres are recognised within the designation alongside a lesser number of peatland sites. [2] Phase 2 of the Ramsar designation included Rostherne Mere on the northern margin of this area. A handful of similar meres and mosses are located close by in eastern Wales, notably in Welsh Maelor, within the modern borough of Wrexham.
The following list is based in part on information provided by researchers P.W. Beale and C.S. Reynolds, the latter having collected them into groups in the Ellesmere, Whitchurch, Woore, Delamere, Baschurch, Shrewsbury and Knutsford areas. Two further categories include those in the 'marginal belt of hummocky drift' in the east and those seen to sit in isolation. [3]
Name | Area (ha) | Group | County |
---|---|---|---|
Blake Mere (nr Ellesmere) | 8.4 | Ellesmere | Shropshire |
Ellesmere Mere | 46.1 | Ellesmere | Shropshire |
Kettle Mere | 1.7 | Ellesmere | Shropshire |
Newton Mere | 8.3 | Ellesmere | Shropshire |
White Mere | 25.5 | Ellesmere | Shropshire |
Cole Mere | 27.6 | Ellesmere | Shropshire |
Crose Mere | 15.2 | Ellesmere | Shropshire |
Sweat Mere | 0.2 approx | Ellesmere | Shropshire |
Hardwick Pool | 3.6 | Ellesmere | Shropshire |
Peckforton Mere | 1.0 | Whitchurch | Cheshire |
Chapel Mere | 6.5 | Whitchurch | Cheshire |
Deer Park Mere | 9.4 | Whitchurch | Cheshire |
Norbury Big Mere | 1.6 | Whitchurch | Cheshire |
Norbury Little Mere | 1.5 | Whitchurch | Cheshire |
Bar Mere | 9.7 | Whitchurch | Cheshire |
Quoisley Big Mere | 4.0 | Whitchurch | Cheshire |
Quoisley Little Mere | 2.2 | Whitchurch | Cheshire |
Marbury Big Mere | 10.5 | Whitchurch | Cheshire |
Marbury Little Mere | 1.3 | Whitchurch | Cheshire |
Oss Mere | 9.5 | Whitchurch | Shropshire |
Comber Mere | 51.5 | Whitchurch | Cheshire |
Blake Mere nr Whitchurch | 3.7 | Whitchurch | Shropshire |
Baddiley Mere | 6.7 | Whitchurch | Cheshire |
Hanmer Mere | 17.7 | Whitchurch | Wrexham |
Doddington Pool | 19.3 | Woore | Cheshire |
Betley Mere | 9.3 | Woore | Staffordshire |
Hatch Mere | 4.7 | Delamere | Cheshire |
Oak Mere | 18.3 | Delamere | Cheshire |
Petty Pool | 11.7 | Delamere | Cheshire |
Little Budworth Pool | 4.9 | Delamere | Cheshire |
Berth Mere | 2.9 | Baschurch | Shropshire |
Birchgrove Mere | 1.7 | Baschurch | Shropshire |
Fenemere | 9.4 | Baschurch | Shropshire |
Marton Pool (Baschurch) | 6.8 | Baschurch | Shropshire |
Cottage Pool | 1.8 | Shrewsbury | Shropshire |
Isle Pool | 5.8 | Shrewsbury | Shropshire |
Oxon Pool | 1.4 | Shrewsbury | Shropshire |
Alkmond Park Pool | 4.4 | Shrewsbury | Shropshire |
Hencott Pool | 3.5 | Shrewsbury | Shropshire |
Bomere Pool | 10.3 | Shrewsbury | Shropshire |
Shomere | 1.3 | Shrewsbury | Shropshire |
Betton Pool | 6.4 | Shrewsbury | Shropshire |
Top Pool | 1.8 | Shrewsbury | Shropshire |
Berrington Pool | 2.5 | Shrewsbury | Shropshire |
Budworth Mere | 39.4 | Knutsford | Cheshire |
Pick Mere | 17.5 | Knutsford | Cheshire |
Tabley Mere | 19.4 | Knutsford | Cheshire |
Mere Mere | 15.8 | Knutsford | Cheshire |
Rostherne Mere | 48.7 | Knutsford | Cheshire |
Tatton Mere | 31.7 | Knutsford | Cheshire |
Booth's Mere | 6.4 | Knutsford | Cheshire |
Radnor Mere | 8.3 | Marginal | Cheshire |
Redes Mere | 17.0 | Marginal | Cheshire |
Taxmere | 1.2 | Marginal | Cheshire |
Rode Pool | 12.7 | Marginal | Cheshire |
Lawton Mere | 1.3 | Marginal | Cheshire |
Alsager Mere | 3.5 | Marginal | Cheshire |
Maer Pool | 5.5 | isolated | Staffordshire |
Cop Mere | 16.8 | isolated | Staffordshire |
Aqualate Mere | 72.5 | isolated | Staffordshire |
Marton Pool, nr Chirbury | 13.7 | isolated | Shropshire |
Llynclys Pool | 2.8 | isolated | Shropshire |
Padeswood Pool | 1.0 approx | isolated | Flintshire |
Shropshire is a landlocked ceremonial county in the West Midlands of England, on the Welsh border. It is bordered by Wrexham County Borough and Cheshire to the north, Staffordshire to the east, Worcestershire to the south-east, Herefordshire to the south, and Powys to the west. The largest settlement is Telford, and Shrewsbury is the county town.
The Midlands is the central part of England, bordered by Wales, Northern England, Southern England and the North Sea. The Midlands were important in the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries and are split into the West Midlands and East Midlands. The biggest city, Birmingham, is the second-largest in the United Kingdom. Other important cities include Coventry, Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham, Stoke-on-Trent, Wolverhampton, and Worcester.
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Fenn's, Whixall and Bettisfield Mosses National Nature Reserve is a national nature reserve (NNR) which straddles the border between England and Wales, near Whixall and Ellesmere in Shropshire, England and Bettisfield in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It comprises three peat bogs, Bettisfield Moss, Fenn's Moss and Whixall Moss. With Wem Moss and Cadney Moss, they are collectively a Site of Special Scientific Interest called The Fenn's, Whixall, Bettisfield, Wem & Cadney Moss Complex and form Britain's third-largest lowland raised bog, covering 2,388 acres (966 ha). The reserve is part of the Midland Meres and Mosses, an Important Plant Area which was declared a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention in 1997. It is also a European Special Area of Conservation.
Delamere Forest is a large wood in the village of Delamere in Cheshire, England. The woodland, which is managed by Forestry England, covers an area of 972 hectares making it the largest area of woodland in the county. It contains a mixture of deciduous and evergreen trees.
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Cop Mere is one of the largest natural bodies of water in Staffordshire, England, covering 42 acres (17 ha). It has been designated a SSSI as an oligotrophic mire rich in Sphagnum moss, and other plant and animal life are present in sufficient numbers and rarities for it to have been designated as a protected area since 1968.
A National Character Area (NCA) is a natural subdivision of England based on a combination of landscape, biodiversity, geodiversity and economic activity. There are 159 National Character Areas and they follow natural, rather than administrative, boundaries. They are defined by Natural England, the UK government's advisors on the natural environment.
The Mid Severn Sandstone Plateau is a rural landscape and one of the natural regions of central England, straddling the border between the counties of Shropshire and Staffordshire. It stretches from the western fringes of the Birmingham conurbation to Telford in the north and Kidderminster in the south. The major feature of the plateau is the valley of the River Severn, which cuts through it from north to south. It consists of Permian and Triassic-age New Red Sandstone getting older as one goes west until one reaches Silurian and Carboniferous-age siltstones and coals west of the river.
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Colemere Countryside Site is a countryside heritage site. Due to its important conservation status it has two key designations being a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and an internationally important Ramsar wetland site. 3 miles (4.8 km) south-east of Ellesmere, Shropshire.
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