Talent Unveiled
 

The continually developing New Ferry Butterfly Park required a new  interpretive display board to introduce visitors to the many attractions of the park and to highlight the circular walks they can take.

 

The most difficult bit was designing original art work, but who better to ask than Vicky Hose, South-Wirral Senior Ranger based at Eastham. Vicky has previously produced excellent posters featuring the wildlife of the Dee estuary and Wirral’s biodiversity. So she was the best person to commission, combining her artistic skills and detailed knowledge of natural history.   

 

Vicky’s illustrated map draws the visitor’s attention to various features of the park as well as the butterflies and their associated larval host plants. The display illustrates other denizens of the park, for example, water scorpions, smooth newts, bee  orchids  and  hay  rattle. A3 laminated colour copies have been produced so that  visitors can take a copy with them while they tour the park.

 

The display board is to be unveiled on Sunday, 29th April at 2 p.m. by the Mayor and Mayoress of Wirral. After the unveiling the  Mayor and Mayoress, who raise Galloway cattle at Oldfield Farm, Heswall, will tour the park, a landscape where the husbandry is not for cattle but for butterflies.  

 

The notice board was funded with a combination of help   from a legacy of the late Charlie Arnold and the Wirral Borough Council’s Bromborough & Eastham Community Initiatives Fund.

 

So if you  would like  to  call  round  to view  the  new  notice board, newly restored pond,  newly laid hedges  and  butterflies do visit on a sunny Sunday 11a.m. - 4p.m.  in the  summer  from May  until August.

 

Take a look at the Butterfly Park Page for more information about the reserve and access details.

 

 

Our Busy Watch Group
 

The Watch group (for children aged 8 to 12) was formed in March 2000 and it is hard to believe that we are now entering our eighth year!

 

In February we had a Bird Watching meeting and also made a ‘Watch’ nestbox which is sited at Thurstaston. In March our theme was ‘Mud Magic’ and we were down on the shore at Thurstaston. Matt (Ranger and Watch leader) trudged out into the estuary to fill buckets with mud, and the members enthusiastically (and messily) sorted through it with wooden spoons to find out what the waders were feeding on.

 

April found us looking for ‘Signs of Spring’ at Eastham Country Park. We saw celandines, wood anemones and cowslips and heard woodpeckers. The highlight was one of our members spotting a small bird with a twig in its beak. It was a tree creeper, running up a tree trunk and trying to get the twig into a hole slightly too small for it. The bird ran down again, selected a slightly shorter twig and disappeared with it into a hole in the trunk!

 

This year we will be having regular meetings at Eastham Country Park as well as at Thurstaston, as Sarah Morton, a Ranger at Eastham, has just become the third Watch leader on the Wirral. If we had another leader (Could it be you?) we could run two separate groups.

 

View the upcoming events on the Watch Programme. If you want to book a place,  telephone Linda on 342 1395 or send her an email.

 

 

 

Frank Cottrell stands down

At the Group AGM in April, Frank Cottrell stood down from the Wirral Wildlife Committee after almost 20 years of stalwart service. Being co-opted onto the committee in 1987 as a butterfly enthusiast, he soon was persuaded into becoming Chairman of the Wirral Group in 1989, and continued in that role until 1998. His expertise in management at Unilever stood him in good stead in chairing our public meetings; he brought the same ability to  committee meetings, even sometimes managing to end before 10 o’clock!

 

Frank continued to serve on the Committee of Wirral Wildlife, and also to represent Wirral Group until last year on the Council of the Cheshire Wildlife Trust, where he was well known for asking the awkward but relevant question, and making sure that Wirral was not overlooked in the deliberations of wider Cheshire. On his retirement from Council he received the Eric Thurston Award by the CWT for his services to the Trust.

 

The great success of Frank’s chairmanship of our Group was the setting up of what we now know as New Ferry Butterfly Park. The initial vision was mainly that of Mel Roberts, and  support came from  Barrie Porter, M.P. - but a great deal was achieved by Frank’s dogged persistence and diplomacy. The negotiations to obtain the lease on the former railway goods yard at Bebington station were protracted, but Frank was not a man to give in easily; his determination in the face of bureaucracy, red tape and lack of interest won the day, so that we now have a reserve that is widely known as a reserve for invertebrates, and much used as an educational area.

 

Most significantly, Frank was instrumental in establishing  for  the Butterfly Park a constitution unique when it was set up, which meant that the Park was very largely run by representatives of the neighbouring population. Frank’s thinking then was more than a decade in advance of the Conservation Strategy which has just been approved by the CWT Council!

 

Frank has been active for years in raising grants for the work of Wirral Wildlife. But as well as making formal application to benevolent bodies, he perfected a more hands-on approach - the Frog-Dip. Countless children have enjoyed this innocent watery activity in which by the simplest of  devices they are separated from their coins.  Those of you who have not encountered the Frog-Dip will just have to come along to an event where we have it running e.g. at  Ness Gardens Children’s Days, 25-26 July 2007. Volunteers to help are always welcome, and invariably enjoy themselves.

 

In his quiet way Frank has had a great influence for patient diplomacy and bringing out the best in those around him. He will be much missed from our committee meetings.

 

Capturing Wildlife on Film

Colin Millington is clearly a very happy man. Having retired from being a police forensic photographer, he has put all the expertise gained by dealing with the distasteful aspects of life to preparing for what he really enjoys - photographing wildlife of all sorts. And he shared his delight with us in his talk at Heswall on January 12th.

 

Colin is not of the school of photographers who want to see how many images they can flash before the eyes in a given time - almost like a game of snap with the object of catching the viewer out before he can identify the picture. No - for him each picture had a form and a background, a something to be appreciated, a problem to be solved, a date and time to be indicated. His waders were not just birds on the shore; they on their way North before the end of the season, or youngsters that would set off South within the next couple of weeks. Instead of  presenting just a series of pictures Colin led us to appreciate a whole texture of time, ebb & flow, and seasonal development.

 

Much of his material came from the confines of his own garden, and beyond that many shots built up a wonderful picture of the seasons in Barnston Dale. Many of his most striking photographs exploited the use of water - either as droplets on mosses, leaves & trees, or on lakes and estuaries.

 

But it’s impossible to do justice in words to the quality of his photographs - and so we are grateful to Colin for allowing us to use some of them on the website. And we would encourage people who couldn’t get to this talk to keep an eye open for a future repeat performance - not to be missed!

 

Colin has his own website showcasing his talents.

www.images-of-wirral.talktalk.net

 

The Up-Dating of Birkenhead Park
 

One could be familiar with Birkenhead Park for a life-time in close focus - watching the birds, the plants, the people - without ever becoming aware of the historical basis, Senior Ranger Adam King revealed to us in his lecture in February.  

 

A Business Opportunity!

 

Take 226 acres of marshy low-lying fields outside a newly-developing industrial town and try to create a spectacular business opportunity, relying on the continuing rise in prosperity to fund crescents (like those of Bath) and Villas (as on the Mediterranean). It was a grandiose scheme, and the economic climate turned against it so that it was only partially realised - but that was the thinking that brought Birkenhead Park into being.

 

The tradition of wealthy landowners allowing the neighbouring population occasional access to their estates was well established, but Birkenhead was to have something different - an area open during daylight hours to all the population, surrounded by estates of newly constructed mansions of superior design. The rateable value of these properties was meant to pay for the maintenance of the park.

 

That the main entrance was obviously a statement of civic pride is pretty clear, but that each of the entrances has a lodge in different style has been obliterated largely by the growth of the trees.

 

Always Changing

 

The Park has never been without development - has never been static. In both wars, for instance, the whole of the Upper Park has been taken up by allotments. In World War II there were barrage balloons and air-raid shelters. Deterioration of the park set in after the railings were taken as scrap metal in 1940.

 

It is hard for us in an age dominated by the car to appreciate how important the Park was before the majority of the population had access to the countryside. From the 1970s much of the funding that would have gone into the park became redirected to the countryside parks such as Thurstaston. Only when the political climate began to change in the 1990s did it become possible to envisage the restoration of the park to something of its former condition.

 

Restoration

 

£11,000,000 - partly from Europe, partly Heritage Lottery Fund, partly the local Council - has brought about a great regeneration. 4 feet of accumulated silt had to be scooped out of the 8-foot-deep lakes; the original park furniture has been replaced close to the original design; there is now a 300-foot bore-hole to supply clean water for the lakes. Above all, there is enough man-power to defend the Park, including 7 Rangers, 4 security staff and Countryside Volunteers and Voluntary fishing bailiffs. The best defence of the Park is, of course, that many people should use it.

 

Birkenhead Park has never been designated a nature reserve, but it has a fine variety of trees and a great potential for wildlife. In the early days some thought was given to building a central palace - never realised. Today, though, thanks to recent developments, the Park has acquired not a palace but certainly an architectural jewel - a new Glass-&-Concrete Pavilion, complete with exhibition area, Rangers office, and Café. Within half a mile of Duke Street station, this is well worth a visit!

 

For more information, news and maps of the park, visit www.wirral.gov.uk/er/birkpark.htm

 

 

 

Ben Chapman’s Environmental Considerations

 

Ben Chapman took time out of his heavy schedule  to give us some insight into his thinking on the environment. Acknowledging - perhaps unreasonably - that there were many people in his audience in February who knew more about his subject than he did, he moved on to outline the vast amount of work an MP has to cover. Letters - 100 a day, with no break - a few, he admitted, fell through the cracks.

His range of interests in the House is impressive - membership of the Intelligence and Security Committee, Chair of the House of Commons Group on China (where his past experience of China puts him in a strong position), member of the Committee on the Laws of the Church of England - a polymath, indeed, who had already that Friday attended seven different meetings on items as varied as the McMillan Nurses and Bromborough Docks. “As an MP there is nothing which is not your responsibility,” he declared, adding that that “makes it only too easy to become a dilettante.”

 

One of his major concerns was the over-exploitation of the Dee estuary. Eighty different organisations had interests - many conflicting - in the estuary. He feared that short-term commercial interests were tending towards unsustainability, and that proposed dredging to bring Mostyn Dock in use 24 hours a day was potentially catastrophic -  likely to lead to the erosion of feeding areas for wildlife.

 

About wind farms he also had his doubts, not favouring the thought of more than 200 turbines off the Wirral Coast at a relatively low level of efficiency and at possibly three times the cost of conventional generation.

 

For several years he had been involved with the Mersey Basin Campaign, and was glad to see that, though he was no longer directly involved, the Campaign had achieved a huge improvement in the state of the river & its tributaries.

 

Mr Chapman was overly frank about his practical work. “I do these token bits of work - nothing really strenuous.” “The same tokenism took place when I went coppicing.” (He was being too severe on himself - to those who were labouring with him it didn’t look like tokenism.)

 

On the Green Belt he was firm; it was “one of our most successful policies” - so of the proposed development at The Warrens (to use part of the former plant nursery as a site for a Health Centre at the edge of its catchment area) his view was that “we must prevent it at all costs”. Declining school rolls, he suggested, meant that in the near future other sites could become available which would not require the destruction of areas designated as green belt land.

 

We are grateful to Mr Chapman for showing how vision is bound to be constrained by political realities. His heart is clearly in the right place.

 

 

 

A Better Year for Barn Owls?

 

We are all hoping that 2007 turns out a better year for Wirral’s Barn Owls than 2006. The Wirral Barn Owl Trust had been recording year-on-year increases in breeding pairs since it was formed in 1999, and in 2005 recorded the highest totals so far, 31 active pairs producing 92 young.

 

In 2006 however a cold wet spring coupled with a scarcity of voles, resulted in 24 pairs struggling to raise only 22 chicks.

 

Members of the WBOT are already monitoring sites across Wirral hoping to see signs of an early recovery.

 

On www.wirralbarnowltrust.org you can find details of the WBOT and you can also record your sightings anywhere in Wirral.

 

 

 

Natural England in Difficulty

 

Many readers will be aware of the £3m fine imposed by the EU over the failure by DEFRA to pay Single Farm Payments to farmers. It has been decreed that the fine must be borne by DEFRA and that no other source is available to restore moneys lost by the fine and by the unexpected costs stemming from the threat of Avian Flu.

 

The impact of this decision has fallen heavily on bodies associated with DEFRA such as the newly-created Natural England. It also directly affects the designation of SSSIs and the determining of Higher Level Stewardship grants - which, in turn, affects the funding to farmers which brought about the imposition of the fine!

 

Impact Here in Wirral

 

Wirral Wildlife has for years worked regularly with the field staff of English Nature and the Rural Development Service of DEFRA. The merger of these organisations into Natural England has been very difficult, and has created long-term job uncertainty for the staff and continuity problems for voluntary bodies who have to deal with the staff. Locally, the very active EN Conservation Officer covering Wirral SSSIs has left the organisation, and the staff member who for several years has most usefully attended Wirral Biodiversity Action Partnership and Wirral Coastal Partnership has been removed from those roles.

 

To groups such as Wirral Wildlife this is a serious loss, for it appears to us that it puts in jeopardy past achievements brought about by much effort - professional and voluntary -  and by past funding.

 

We must hope that the growing concern over global warming and the international significance of our two estuaries will compel those responsible to acknowledge the urgency:

Natural England needs adequate funds.

 

Visit the Natural England website: www.naturalengland.org.uk

 

 

 

New Fund-Raising Ventures

 

Wirral Wildlife Calendar for sale to the general public. John Gill would like to hear from anyone who has digital  photographs which might be appropriate. On 342 1315, or Email

 

Wirral Wildlife Mugs - Linda Higginbottom has a project to design sets of mugs to be offered for sale. Suitable digital photographs would be welcome - 342 1395, or Email

 

 

 

Fungal Friends

 

Some types of wildlife can get overlooked (especially if it’s not cute and fluffy) so we asked Dave who runs the recently formed Fungal Friends group to write an article for our online newsletter.

“Having had an interest in all aspects of wildlife for several years and always on the look-out for new information and websites, I stumbled across The Association of British Fungus Groups web pages. I joined the ABFG and starting up a new fungi group for Cheshire: ‘Fungal Friends – The Fungus Group of Cheshire and Flintshire’

 

The main aim of the group is to support and promote the Association of British Fungus Groups by encouraging people to join Fungal Friends and hopefully become a member of the ABFG.  It is also essentially a family based group with open invitation to all ages to come along and learn about the fascinating world of mushrooms.  We hope to break the traditional image of mushroom hunters as being aging, bearded cranks muttering unintelligible jargon to one another.  We want this group to be as welcoming and enjoyable as possible and for all to contribute to its success and assist in the conservation of fungi in general.

 

There is a small annual subscription of £5 to cover costs of newsletters, publicity and identification materials (under 16’s are free).

Hopefully you are curious enough to want to know more so please contact Dave or Gill on 0161 286 1427 or e-mail and introduce yourself and hopefully become a member of this new adventure.”

 

“See you at a foray!”

 

Visit the Fungal Friends webpages here:

www.fungalpunknature.co.uk/mainframespage.htm