Prees Branch Canal Nature Reserve is a Shropshire Wildlife Trust nature reserve in the civil parish of Whixall, Shropshire, England. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest due to the presence of rare pondweeds (Potamogeton), and also is the home of watervoles. Dragonflies and other invertebrates occur in the water, on the banks and in the air above. The reserve contains a number of uncommon plants and is visited by birds such as the kingfisher and waterfowl. Otters sometimes occur.
The Shropshire Wildlife Trust is a wildlife trust covering the geographic county of Shropshire, England.
A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research. Nature reserves may be designated by government institutions in some countries, or by private landowners, such as charities and research institutions, regardless of nationality. Nature reserves fall into different IUCN categories depending on the level of protection afforded by local laws. Normally it is more strictly protected than a nature park.
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government, they are a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of ecclesiastical parishes which historically played a role in both civil and ecclesiastical administration; civil and religious parishes were formally split into two types in the 19th century and are now entirely separate. The unit was devised and rolled out across England in the 1860s.
The Prees Branch canal was originally meant to be an extension of the Ellesmere Canal (now the Llangollen Canal) to Prees, but was only constructed as far as Quina Brook. It is only navigable as far as a marina, beyond which the reserve is effectively a long pond and its banks. [1]
The Ellesmere Canal was a waterway in England and Wales that was planned to carry boat traffic between the rivers Mersey and Severn. The proposal would create a link between the Port of Liverpool and the mineral industries in north east Wales and the manufacturing centres in the West Midlands. However, the canal was never completed as intended because of its rising costs and failure to generate the expected commercial traffic.
The Llangollen Canal is a navigable canal crossing the border between England and Wales. The waterway links Llangollen in Denbighshire, north Wales, with Hurleston in south Cheshire, via the town of Ellesmere, Shropshire. The name, which was coined in the 1980s, is a modern designation for parts of the historic Ellesmere Canal and the Llangollen navigable feeder, both of which became part of the Shropshire Union Canals in 1846.
Quina Brook is a hamlet in north Shropshire, near the border between England and Wales. Population details for the 2011 census are found under Wem Rural.
