Gowy Meadows Nature Reserve

Gowy Meadows Nature Reserve is a 165.8-hectare (410-acre) nature reserve near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, England. It consists of low-lying meadows immediately to the east of the River Gowy near its confluence with the River Mersey, south of Stanlow Oil Refinery and west of the village of Thornton-le-Moors (from where a public footpath follows Thornton Brook across the site). It is managed by the Cheshire Wildlife Trust on behalf of the landowner, Shell UK, and was founded in 2002. The M56 motorway runs along the southern edge of the reserve. The reserve consists mainly of low-lying wet pasture divided by ditches. It is part of the Gowy & Mersey Washlands Living Landscape initiative. Before the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal the Gowy would have been tidal in this area and much of the reserve would have consisted of saltmarsh with brackish creeks, whose traces can still be seen in places.