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Dee Estuary

The Dee Estuary (Aber Dyfrdwy) 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 in north-west England and Flintshire in north-east Wales.

Geology

The estuary is unusual in that comparatively little water occupies so large a basin. One theory is that larger rivers such as the Severn and/or Mersey once flowed into the Dee. A more recent theory is that the estuary was not formed by water, but by ice being pushed southwards by the pressure of an icecap over the Irish Sea. This left deep glacial silt, through which the river has never been able to scour out a deep channel.

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.

Trade and Industry

From earliest times, the Dee estuary was a major trading and military route, to and from Chester. From about the fourteenth century, Chester provided facilities for trade with Ireland, Spain, and Germany, and seagoing vessels would "lay to" in the Dee awaiting favourable winds and tides. As the Dee started to silt up, harbouring facilities developed on the Wirral bank at Shotwick, Burton, Neston, Parkgate, Dawpool, and "Hoyle Lake" or Hoylake. The excavation of the New Cut in 1737, to improve access to Chester, diverted the river's course to the Welsh side of the estuary, but failed to stem the silting up of the river, and Chester's trading function declined as that of Liverpool on the River Mersey grew. However, Chester was still a major port of passenger embarkation for Ireland until the early 1800s.

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.