The Cheshire Region is a low-lying plain between the Pennines and the Welsh Highlands. The western and northern borders extend to the Irish Sea. Mid-Cheshireridge divides the county into eastern and western plains. 10,000 years ago, the landscape was covered in layers of ice. These ice layers retreated northward, leaving areas of clay and sand. After the glaciers retreated, vegetation became established and was colonized by mosses and liverworts on the mineral-rich surface. This vegetation was followed by a diversity of herbs, grasses and sedges. Around 3000 BC, climatic conditions improved and the soil became rich in nutrients and a complete deciduous forest covered the landscape with oaks, elms, alders and lindens. During this Neolithic period, there is little evidence to suggest human disturbance in this region, as man was primarily a hunter. At Lindow Moss, an area of ​​Cheshire which is an SSSI, there are radiocarbon records dating back to 3000 BC, of ​​human activities disturbing this landscape, this has been traced back to 450 BC where at the moss Lindow, wheat and barley pollen are associated with major forest clearing. In addition to human interference, climate change has also contributed to the development of the country's vast peatlands, during cool and wet periods. Much of the settlement of open heaths and raised lowland bogs occurred during the Iron Age, when the oldest forests in these places were encroached upon by water-retaining mosses. Significant erosion during this period, attributed to both forest clearing and heavy rainfall. The reduction of forests continued throughout the Roman period 45 BC. science. At the time of purchase, the area was threatened by logging. Currently, the cliff has undergone little modification compared to its natural state. There are many species of native flora and fauna including ramsons' Allium ursinum, hyacinths dog's mercury and yellow archangel. At the bottom of the valley, the flora is dense with the royal cup Caltha palustris, the pendulous sedge Carex pundula and other species reflecting the nutrient richness of the soil. Next to Cotterill Clough are numerous marl pits. These are unprotected natural breeding areas for the endangered great crested newt, they must be deeper than 30cm. These ponds are at risk of pollution because they are relatively closed biological systems and the pollution is likely to last for a long time..