Don’t blame birds: puzzle of white deposits
MORE cattle have made their home on saltmarsh near the banks of the River Mersey in Widnes.
The three cows and three calves belong to the belted Galloway and English longhorn breeds and arrived at Widnes Warth on Saturday, December 3.
A Mersey Gateway Environmental Trust (MGET) spokeswoman said that the cattle were part of a larger herd from Lancashire and will remain on site until the spring.
She said that the grazing programme, now in its second year, is expected to boost the number of estuarine bird spe- ● cies, both breeding and wintering, on the saltmarsh.
Left in an ungrazed condition, the saltmarsh could not sustain a regular breeding population of birds such as redshank as the grass would be too high.
The breeding programme is part of a wider green strategy to bring environmental benefits to the saltmarsh around the bridge site.
The Merseylink consortium and the MGET investment charity have been working together to minimise the impact of building work on the environment.
Cattle grazing is expected to be introduced in Runcorn when the bridge opens in autumn next year.
Yousuf Shaikh, MGET’s chairman, said: “Cattle grazing is an effective and practical way to improve the condition of the saltmarsh through restoration and management, increasing both habitat and species diversity.
“Not only is this of a vast benefit to the borough’s natural environment, the programme has been a cause for academic research with university students sampling the site as part of an undergraduate wildlife conservation course.
“The Mersey Gateway project is more than just a bridge and we hope that programmes such as this will benefit the environment and generate different ways of thinking about nature in an urban environment.” SPOTS of an unknown white substance reported to have appeared in west Runcorn have been declared a mystery.
A resident, who asked to remain anonymous, said the marks were distributed over an area including Weston Road, Russell Road, Westfield Road and Sandy Lane last Wednesday.
He said that despite its similarity in appearance it could not be bird droppings because of the amount and the area over ● which it was found.
Paint was dismissed on similar grounds.
The substance was found on surfaces including, pavements, driveways, leaves and cars.
The resident said he believed it had fallen during the day and the prevailing wind direction on Wednesday was from the west, raising speculation that it could have come from the industrial area to the west.
There has also been speculation on a resi- dents’ group on Facebook as to whether it could be lime associated with cleaning the flues at the nearby energy-fromwaste plant.
The resident said: “You would think it’s bird droppings but they’re dropped from a high height, they’re splattered.
“When you touch them it’s a sticky, gooey something like paint.”
A Halton Borough Council spokesman said the substance appeared to be bird droppings.