Improved water and air quality

Pollution is now better understood as a hazard to humans and wildlife, and most pollutants are much reduced. The birds at the top of the aquatic food chain have prospered in the last twenty years, with Grey Heron populations rising enormously, and Cormorant and Little Egret now breeding in the county. Goosanders have also moved in and established themselves as breeders on three of Cheshire's river systems. On the other hand, Dippers have contracted their distribution in the county, and some watercourses are declining in quality. Cleaner air has allowed lichens to spread in the Mersey valley and north Wirral, as shown in the maps taken from The Lichen Flora of Cheshire & Wirral (Fox & Guest 2003), with nesting Chaffinches and Long-tailed Tits moving in.

Six pioneering epiphytic lichens, 1992.

Six pioneering epiphytic lichens, 1992.

Six pioneering epiphytic lichens, 2002.

Six pioneering epiphytic lichens, 2002.