Wybunbury Moss National Nature Reserve

LOCATION

WYBUNBURY, CHESHIRE

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Our View

Wybunbury Moss NNR lies at the centre of the Meres and Mosses Natural Area in south Cheshire, where it forms part of a series of peat bogs or ‘mosses’. Ice Age glaciers scraped a series of depressions in the landscape, and subsequent subsidence of the rocks underlying the peat-filled basin has left a raft of peat floating on an underground lake, one of only three known examples of its type in the UK. The peat is carpeted in sphagnum moss, along with cotton sedge, cranberry, bog rosemary, white-beaked sedge and the insect-eating sundew. The moss is one of the most notable sites in Cheshire for its insect populations, and there is a huge species list which includes two rare spiders and a leaf beetle which is found nowhere else in England. The peat raft is surrounded by reed swamp, woodland and meadows, where marsh violet and heath-spotted orchid can be found.

Wybunbury Moss National Nature Reserve
Wybunbury

Features

About the area

Discover Cheshire

Nestled between the Welsh hills and Derbyshire Peaks, the Cheshire plains make an ideal location to take things slow and mess around in boats. Cheshire has more than 200 miles (302 km) of man-made waterways, more than any other county in England. The Cheshire Ring is formed from the Rochdale, Ashton, Peak Forest, Macclesfield, Trent and Mersey and Bridgewater canals. This route takes you through a lot of Cheshire, and bits of other counties as well.

While exploring the county’s waterways, covering ground on foot or admiring the typical white plaster and black timber-frame houses, make sure to have a taste of Cheshire’s most famous produce. Although Cheddar has become Britain’s most popular cheese (accounting for over half of the cheese sales in the UK), it was once Cheshire cheese that was in every workman’s pocket back in the 18th century. Its moist, crumbly texture and slightly salty taste mean it goes well with fruit, peppers or tomatoes. As well as the usual white, there are also red and blue veined varieties.

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