Cheshire..................................................................... the Pond Capital of Europe

Great Budworth from Budworth Mere

Budworth Pool

Oulton Mill Pool

Oulton Mill Pool

Shakerley Mere

I live in the beautiful county of Cheshire and we are blessed with many Meres (lakes) and ponds so I don't have to travel very far to see waders and other waterfowl.

Whilst some of Cheshire's meres have originated as a result of subsidence in the area of the underlying salt beds (this is believed to be a factor in the origin of such important sites as Rostherne Mere, Wybunbury Moss and Oakmere), many of the basins were formed as 'kettle holes'.

Such sites were created when ice blocks from the retreating ice face were buried in the glacial outwash of clays and sand some 10,000 years ago.

Some of the meres, such as Hatch Mere, Budworth Mere, Combermere, Tabley Mere, Barmere, Quoisley Mere and Chapel Mere at Cholmondeley, receive nutrient-rich water and have remained open with fen margins.

The county of Cheshire has the densest pond landscape in lowland Britain and probably has no equivalent elsewhere in northwestern Europe. The principle reason for this is the underlying clay, known as ‘marl’. When spread on agricultural land marl reduces acidity and increases fertility, so marl was a valuable resource in historical times before chemical fertilisers were widely available, and the practice of digging and spreading marl was widespread.

The pits the marl were dug from filled with water and became ponds.

Agricultural activity and extraction of sand and clay for bricks have created a sequence of field ponds or marl pits in the region, which is estimated at 25% of the total in England and Wales.