One of Shropshire’s most beautiful meres, Colemere is almost completely surrounded by mature woodland and has two very attractive hay meadows. The site attracts a variety of wildfowl and waders, including snipe, curlew, goldeneye, and pochard.
Colemere Site of Special Scientific Interest
Wide open spaces peaceful waters
Getting there & parking
Colemere is 3 miles south east of Ellesmere and signposted from the A528 and A495.
A free car park is available all year round. Please do not park on the narrow lane.
There is a picturesque walk along the Shropshire Union Canal from Ellesmere to Colemere - see the route.
Opening times
Every day of the year.
Things to see & do
Take a quiet walk with tremendous views across a beautiful stretch of open water.There is an excellent circular walk all the way around the Mere with reasonably level walking, this can be suitable for wheelchairs and push chairs, although could be muddy in places at certain times of year. There is a board walk from the car park for a short distance. See more access information about the walk. There is also a family friendly walking route.
Take a walk from Colemere into Ellesmere, along the Shropshire Union Canal, past beautiful Blakemere. - see the route.
Dogs
Please help to protect this special site by not collecting or removing any plants and animals. Many rare ground nesting birds use the site for breeding so dogs must be kept on a short lead between 1st March and 31st July.
Come and see the hay meadows full of wild flowers and orchids in late June and July.
Sailing
Colemere sailing club leases the boating rights and uses the mere at various times. Please note that in order to protect the valuable marginal flora no public use of boats or canoes is allowed.
Please note there is no public fishing at Colemere. Fishing rights have been leased to a private fishing club.
Gallery
What's special about...
One of Shropshire’s most beautiful meres, Colemere is almost completely surrounded by mature woodland and has two very attractive hay meadows. The site attracts a variety of wildfowl and waders, including snipe, curlew, goldeneye, and pochard. In fact with its diverse variety of wildlife habitats Colemere supports, with mature woodland, open meadow, hedgerows, and large expense of water, Colemere is rich in birdlife throughout the year.
During the spring and summer flowers such as southern marsh orchid, meadow cranesbill and lady’s smock can be seen in the meadows. Numerous species of insects are attracted to the site including the brown hawker dragonfly and common blue damselfly.
Because of Colemere’s wildlife interest, the site has several important designations, Local Nature Reserve, Site of Special Scientific Interest and RAMSAR Site. Many of these designations are due to the rare marginal wetland plants that grow around the edges of the mere, this is the only site in England where the rare Least Water Lily is found.
With additional safeguarding of the more sensitive ecological areas in place it is hoped we can relax this in future. In the meantime please bear with us to protect our endangered wildlife.
Grazing
Grazing in late summer is the best way of managing the flower rich meadows. A variety of rare breed cattle are used for grazing so please ensure that if you are walking your dogs you keep them on leads across these fields at all times and ensure that all dog mess is removed (dog bins are on site).