Meres, Mosses and Moraines at Ellesmere

Ellesmere is another of those delightful little towns in which Shropshire specialises. It's well worth devoting some time to exploring it. But Ellesmere's biggest asset must be The Mere, the largest of all the meres that grace north Shropshire and south Cheshire. It attracts good numbers of water birds and is especially important for winter migrants such as wigeon, pochard, goosander and teal. It also has a large heronry occupied by breeding birds in spring and early summer.

On this walk you will explore about half of The Mere's shoreline and follow the tow path of the Llangollen Canal past Cole Mere and Blake Mere. Cole Mere is included within a country park and there is access from the tow path at Yell Bridge (54). If you want to explore Cole Mere, you can walk all the way round it. Blake Mere is particularly lovely; it's separated from the tow path only by a narrow strip of woodland, but there is no other access to it.

The word mere is an Anglo-Saxon term for a lake. Unlike a normal lake, however, these meres have no stream flowing in or out of them. So how were they formed? It's a complex story but the Meres Visitor Centre has lots of information. What follows here is a simplified version. During the last ice age, the landscape was scoured by glaciers and when they retreated between 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, they left clay-lined hollows which retained melting ice, forming some of the meres. Others filled up later because they lay below the level of the water table. Water levels are maintained by natural drainage (groundwater percolation) from the surrounding countryside.

The landscape is composed of gentle hills that, combined with the meres, form a very pleasing scene. Technically, it consists of glacial drift, a mixture of clays, sands and gravels originally scoured from rocks by the glaciers as they moved south and east across Britain and then deposited in banks and mounds known as moraines as the glaciers retreated. In places, you can identify the origins of the glacial drift. Blue-black pebbles are slates from Snowdonia or Cumbria, and pale, speckled stones are granites from Cumbria or Scotland, while pink pebbles are from the local sandstone. These glacial meres are unique in this country and rare in global terms.

North Shropshire is also renowned for its mosses, which were created by the glaciers too, but they are filled with peat rather than water. There are several small mosses around Ellesmere, though none with public access. The meres and mosses together form a wetland complex which, ecologically, is of national, if not international, significance.

Where to eat and drink

There is plenty of choice in Ellesmere. Special mention goes to Vermuelen's bakery/deli where you can buy the ingredients for a picnic. Or there's The Boathouse by The Mere, an unusual oak-beamed 1930s restaurant/tea room. There's a good range of snacks and drinks on offer, and dogs are welcome in the garden, which borders The Mere.

What to look for

Many bird species can be seen, but one of the most endearing is the great crested grebe. This distinctive diving bird is nearly always present on the larger meres. You can recognise it by the crest on top of its head. In spring it has cute, stripy chicks which it sometimes carries on its back to give them a rest from all that paddling.

While you're there

While The Mere is the highlight of Ellesmere, it would be a shame not to explore the town, especially the refurbished canal wharves and basin. There's lots to see, including the offices from which Thomas Telford directed the construction of the canal. Ellesmere was the headquarters of the Llangollen Canal (originally called the Ellesmere Canal) and so there are former workshops, warehouses and dry docks, while British Waterways still has an office and maintenance depot here.