Gowy Meadows Nature Reserve
Encyclopedia
Gowy Meadows Nature Reserve is a nature reserve
managed by the Cheshire Wildlife Trust
.
Lying in the rumbling shadow of Stanlow refinery, Gowy Meadows is one of the Trust’s newer reserves and is at the heart of our Living Landscape. Covering over 400 acres, the Gowy is often where you’ll see our grazing herds of Longhorn cows and Hebridean sheep, working hard to create ideal conditions for wading birds such as snipe and lapwing. The ditches criss-crossing the reserve are also home to water voles, and you may be lucky enough to hear the distinctive ‘plop’ as they drop from the bankside into the water. The reserve is particularly impressive for aquatic invertebrates including the lesser silver water beetle, and is home to more than a dozen types of both butterflies and dragonflies. Jack snipe and wheatear are just two birds that can appear on migration, whilst when winter conditions are right, the fields can play host to flocks of whistling wigeon, and our smallest duck, the teal.
Nature reserve
A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, 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...
managed by the Cheshire Wildlife Trust
Cheshire Wildlife Trust
The Cheshire Wildlife Trust is a wildlife trust covering the county of Cheshire and parts of the counties of Greater Manchester and Merseyside, England...
.
Lying in the rumbling shadow of Stanlow refinery, Gowy Meadows is one of the Trust’s newer reserves and is at the heart of our Living Landscape. Covering over 400 acres, the Gowy is often where you’ll see our grazing herds of Longhorn cows and Hebridean sheep, working hard to create ideal conditions for wading birds such as snipe and lapwing. The ditches criss-crossing the reserve are also home to water voles, and you may be lucky enough to hear the distinctive ‘plop’ as they drop from the bankside into the water. The reserve is particularly impressive for aquatic invertebrates including the lesser silver water beetle, and is home to more than a dozen types of both butterflies and dragonflies. Jack snipe and wheatear are just two birds that can appear on migration, whilst when winter conditions are right, the fields can play host to flocks of whistling wigeon, and our smallest duck, the teal.