Dee Estuary
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The Dee Estuary is a large estuary where the River Dee flows into Liverpool Bay. The estuary starts near Shotton after a five miles (8 km) 'canalised' section and the river soon swells to be several miles wide forming the boundary between the Wirral Peninsula and Flintshire, North Wales.
Conservation
The estuary is a major wildlife area and is one of the most important estuaries in Britain and amongst the most important in Europe for its populations of waders and wildfowl. It is protected or listed by numerous agencies:
- Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)
- Special Protection Area (SPA)
- Sensitive Marine Area (SMA)
- Natura 2000 site
- Ramsar site
Fishery
The estuary supports some important natural fisheries, including Salmon and Trout on their way to and from the freshwater river, as well as sea-fisheries and shell-fisheries, especially Cockles.Industry
The Dee Estuary was industrialised from quite early on the industrial revolution and some industry remains today. Notable amongst these are the gas fired power station at Connah's Quay, three separate paper mills and a chemical manufacturing plant, and numerous smaller manufacturing industries. The estuary also receives the treated sewage effluent from Queensferry works and from Chester sewage treatment works. At the mouth of the estuary is the natural gas sweetening plant at Point of Ayr on the site of the former colliery. There arer also commercial docks at Mostyn although their use is limited by the tide.Signs of past industry are visible along the whole length of the estuary especially on the Welsh side. Large stretches of what now appear as flood embankments are long abandoned industrial waste heaps, some still containing highly reactive and caustic materials.
The Dee estuary also supported industries concerned with the synthesis of PCBs and some pharmeceuticals and was also home to several industrial waste oil reclamation industries.
As a consequence of its industrial heritage, there are extensive areas of contaminated ground along the shores of the estuary.
The estuary also plays a part in the most modern of industries as it provides the first stage of transport of Airbus A380 wings on their way to Toulouse via barge to Mostyn docks.
See also
External links
- [Wirral Council: Dee Estuary SSSI]
- [Dee Estuary bird life]
- [Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC)]
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