Nature Watch with Ron Freethy

WHETHER you are an optimistic or a pessimistic naturalist, you have to admit that our rivers are improving.

You also have to admit that sometimes industry can actually benefit wildlife.

This week I travelled along the M6, M56 and A49 to the Anderton boat lift, situated near the pretty little hamlet of Little Leigh, near Northwich.

I wanted to spend a day in the Anderton Country Park, which borders the River Weaver and the Trent and Mersey Canal.

The area was once an industrial wasteland but is now one of the most interesting sites in England.

During the summer a pleasure barge runs cruises along the canal and this is the place to watch birds, including coot, moorhen, mute swan and even an occasional kingfisher.

On the banks is a wonderful assortment of plants, including the white yarrow and the yellowy orange ragwort.

To the old country folk yarrow was a blessing, while ragwort was a curse.

Yarrow flowers and leaves were dried and then brewed like tea and used as a treatment for headaches and for washing septic wounds. Ragwort, on the other hand, contains small quantities of a cyanide compound.

Farmers worried that their cattle and horses might become ill if they consumed large quantities of the flower. From the canal a steep footpath leads down to the River Weaver, which has become known as the River of Salt.

Between the Weaver and the Trent and Mersey Canal stands the rather forlorn and dilapidated Anderton boat 1ift.

This became operational in 1875 and lifted barges full of cargo between the river and the canal.

Before this, the cargoes were transported from river to canal by hand (upwards) or by chutes (downwards).

Once the lift was completed, the locally-produced salt and imported coal, needed as fuel for the purification of the salt, could be moved more efficiently.

This helped the chemical industry prosper along the banks of the Weaver. A visitor centre has been set up and it is hoped that an £11 million Millennium bid to restore the unique structure will be successful.

It can then take its part as the centrepiece of the country park.

Details of opening times and of the canal barge can be obtained by ringing the warden service at the nearby Marbury Country Park on 01606 77741. If you think that this area is just for inland species then you are in for a shock.

There is so much salt in the soil hereabouts that seashore plants grow very well.

In July, August and early September the sea aster is dominant.

The salt deposits show that Cheshire was once a huge sea which dried up millions of years ago.

There is a footpath all along the River Weaver and the reduced level of pollution made evident by the frequent presence of cormorants, great crested grebes and kingfishers.

On the hot summer's day of my visit there were insects everywhere.

Dragonflies were perched on the reeds, bees were feeding on teasels and butterflies feeding on thistles.

Some thistles had gone to seed and these were being fed upon by a flock of goldfinches.

A group of goldfinches is called a charm.

This is just what my riverside walk was - charming.

The presence of the Anderton boat lift was a welcome bonus.

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