Current Projects

Citizen Science Water Quality Testing

We received funding from Viridor and Nineveh Trust to commence a Citizen Science Water Quality Monitoring project, with the aim to have members of the community collecting long-term data on the health of the river. Levels of ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, water conductivity, and salinity are being tested for. These parameters match those being used in other national projects, allowing us to compare results all around the UK.

We are really excited to be working with the following community groups who are our Citizen Scientists: Fidler’s Ferry Sailing Club, All Aboard Youth Rowing at Warrington Rowing Club, Save our Spike Island community group, Save Oglet Shore, and Faiths4Change.

Mersey Estuary Ambassadors

We are working with schools in Halton and Warrington to establish groups of pupil Mersey Estuary Ambassadors. Schools are offered a whole-school assembly about Mersey wildlife and how to protect it followed by a training session for a smaller group of pupils to become Mersey Estuary Ambassadors (often the school’s eco-group or school council).

So far, over 2000 pupils have learned about the Mersey estuary through an assembly, and over 130 Estuary Ambassadors have been trained. During the workshops, Ambassadors have made pledges to help protect the estuary, such as ‘I pledge to tell 5 people why the Mersey estuary is important’. We hope to offer opportunities for Ambassadors to visit the Mersey estuary for themselves in the near future.

Mersey Log Tracking

We have teamed up with Knowsley Safari to try and better understand the tidal patterns of the Mersey. Our Biodiversity Manager, Andy, had the brilliant idea to attach a tracker to a log that would float on the surface of the water. We recently released a log into the Mersey estuary from Spike Island and spent a few weeks watching its movements.

The data collected has been used to create an educational roadshow for local Halton schools, in partnership with the education team at Knowsley Safari. The session covers the wildlife of the Mersey estuary, threats faced, and what pupils can do to help! We hope to deliver this roadshow jointly over the winter months.

Previous Projects

Winter Wellbeing Walks – 2023

We joined forces with Hazlehurst Studios to deliver a series of Winter Wellbeing Walks to the public, focused on using technology to highlight the beauty of nature. We at MGET taught plant ID and survey techniques, with tips on how to do this on mobile phones, while artists from Hazlehurst Studios showed us how to use our camera phones to highlight the sometimes-hidden beauty of nature.

Lauren Quayle demonstrated camera techniques how we can use photography to be more mindful, while Rachael Prime Art showed us some mark making methods near the canal, and encouraged us all to create rubbings from the different textures and patterns we found. We also took moments to practice mindfulness and meditation techniques led by HedgeRose Healing.

5 Ways to Wellbeing – 2022

As part of Halton Borough Council’s 5 Ways to Wellbeing project and the City Nature Challenge, we invited local primary schools to take part in a mini nature challenge around the Mersey estuary, finding, photographing and recording wildlife.

The children were set the challenge to find and record using tablets and cameras any wildlife they could find, including plants, insects and birds – and they did not disappoint! Together we enjoyed exploring Wigg Island and Spike Island, soaking up views of the Mersey Estuary, being active, and connecting with nature.

Back in class, the children reviewed their findings and used the iNaturalist app to identify the species they observed, contributing to local and global conservation efforts.

City Nature Challenge – 2025

Every year, we take part in the City Nature Challenge (CNC), a global event which sees cities competing to see which can observe and document the most wildlife. Every observation helps scientists understand wildlife better.

We have run events for the past few years, encouraging people to record wildlife sightings using the iNaturalist app. In 2025, we teamed up with the Catalyst Science Museum, setting up a nature trail around Spike Island full of challenges to help develop young people’s nature recording skills, with a prize for the young ecologists taking part.

We spotted over 70 different species at Spike Island over the CNC weekend, all submitted on the iNaturalist app, contributing to Liverpool City Region ranking 4th in the UK, with over 11 thousand observations recorded!

Mersey Coastal Breeding Birds

We received funding from the Natural England Species Recovery Programme Capital Grants Scheme to enhance saltmarsh habitats for breeding birds through our Mersey Coastal Breeding Birds project.

The Mersey saltmarshes are home to ground nesting birds such as skylark, lapwing, oystercatchers, and common terns. We at MGET worked on both Astmoor marsh (Wigg Island) and Widnes Warth to provide habitat management to improve conditions for breeding success of these species.

We took established methods from the agricultural sector and made adaptations to suit the local saltmarsh environments, in order to provide more opportunities for the birds to raise their young. We supported several student projects associated with the saltmarsh enhancement to ensure monitoring and analysis of results, and we worked closely with our partners The Conservation Volunteers and Halton Borough Council as the landowner.

More information on the Species Recovery Programme can be found here.

Beyond Our Bridges

The aim of this project was to bring 62ha of saltmarsh and reedbed along the estuary back into good management for the benefit of ground nesting birds.

Activities included creating scrapes on the saltmarsh and other micro habitats for different nesting preferences in the reedbed. In the reedbed and creeks, work was undertaken to maintain water circulation and allow fish movement. Through grazing, livestock on saltmarshes can increase plant diversity as well as help create good nesting sites for birds, so fencing was put in place and we welcomed cattle onto the saltmarsh too!

Monitoring was another important part of this project, with surveys and recording contributing towards the national Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS). The project was supported through funding from WREN.