Shropshire is unique, and it is the same factors that confer the distinctive feel to the landscape that also give us our characteristic wildlife. First and foremost is our geology, from the broken-backed ridgeline of the Stiperstones in the south of the county, to the meres and mosses carved out by glacial action in Shropshire's north. Each of these landscapes is dominated by a different rock, and each rock gives subtly different conditions suited to different plants and animals.
Shropshire also sits at a geographical crossroads, where the low-lying English Midlands are hauled high into the Welsh uplands and at the point where north meets south. This is reflected in Shropshire's flora, which is made up of plants from fifteen different 'bio-geographic elements'; ranging from those that thrive in arctic conditions to those from the Mediterranean.
Meres and Mosses
Travelling through Shropshire these changes are obvious. In the south lie the vast ranges of the Long Mynd, Stiperstones and Clee hills, all topped with purple heather. Above them, the 73 miles of the River Severn has carved a broad flat (sometimes flooded, sometimes wooded) plain. To the north again are the Meres, jewel-like lakes created at the end of the last Ice Age. Alongside are the Mosses, once lakes, but now filled with peat from sphagnum moss. Small, well-hidden and often obscured by trees, these wetlands are easy to overlook but their wildlife is so special that naturalists put them on a par with the Lake District and Norfolk Broads.
Snakes and spiders
The animals are fascinating too. The raft spider (one of Britain's biggest) walks on the surface of pools and catches prey as big as tadpoles or small fish. Adders and lizards bask in the sunshine. Dragonflies, like the white-faced darter, aggressively hunt other insects and the pale yellow brimstone butterfly flits by, always in a hurry to be somewhere else.
Shropshire's pools, rivers and canals also make it a stronghold for one of Britain's most endangered mammals - the water vole. This secretive creature - the inspiration for Ratty in Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows - lives in bank-side burrows and eats vegetation. It has suffered a catastrophic decline in numbers across the UK in recent years as habitat loss and the spread of mink have taken their toll.
Shropshire Wildlife Trust exists to protect these wild places for the future.
