Ashton upon Mersey put-in (Trafford)

Ashton Weir, downstream of this put-in on the way to Carrington, marks where the river's canalised stretch begins. The reach further upstream, around Banky Meadow, has not been canalised and "offers a glimpse of how the river used to be before the Environment Agency and its predecessors carried out works to protect against flooding" (Paddle UK guide). A colony of sand martins nests in the riverbank there each summer, protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

Across the river, Sale Water Park is a flood-storage lake formed from a flooded gravel pit: when the Mersey's level rises, the Environment Agency can open a sluice gate to let water into the park until the flood has passed, one of several such basins along this stretch of the valley. Broad Ees Dole, a managed wetland at its edge and a Local Nature Reserve since 2003, controls how much water enters and leaves to keep its mudflats exposed for wading birds such as common snipe and little ringed plover.

Fish numbers on the Mersey have recovered enough since 2000 that a small number of Atlantic salmon now return to spawn upstream in the Goyt, and otters are starting to return to the river as fish numbers increase. Paddlers can expect to see kingfishers, herons, cormorants, goosander and several duck species along this stretch.