An Assembly of Tiles: Part 5 - The Speckled Wood Butterfly

The speckled wood butterfly tile for the Butterfly Park's Jubilee Gates

The Speckled Wood butterfly tile is dedicated to the late Mel Roberts, the founder of the Park and the Park’s first secretary from 1993 until 2002.  Mel, a neighbour of the park since 1975, had the vision and confidence to get the Park going when its value as an urban nature reserve was less obvious than it would be today. At the time it was a site of antisocial behaviour and a problem to the community. In 1991 Mel produced a substantial booklet entitled “A proposal for the re-development of the Old Alma Street Goods Yard at Bebington and New Ferry Station.”  This was a 20-page booklet plus appendices, printed on card with photographs physically pasted in with glue. This booklet showed determination and that Mel meant business.

The front cover of Mel Robert's booklet with the proposal to create New Ferry Butterfly Park

The front cover of the booklet illustrated diagrammatically a railway line hitting the buffers of light industry and a branch line continuing on unimpeded into a nature reserve. Mel would be delighted by how the Park has developed and how the Opening Day is a regular feature of the New Ferry community calendar. Mel, with the considerable help of the late Frank Cottrell, convinced Cheshire Wildlife Trust to take the Park on board. With the help of the then local MP and the support of many members of the community it came into being. Mel, along with the first chair of New Ferry Butterfly Park, Gordon Reid, got the tool container installed, which is a key factor in the Park’s management. Mel died in 2002 and an apple tree was planted on the Park in his memory, near to his house and fed by his ashes, so that Mel could be recycled back into the Park. Mel was known locally as the “New Ferry Caterpillock”, though few would know that now.

Mel Roberts with Lyndon Harrison, now Lord  Harrison, and Mel's grandaughter
at the grand opening of the Butterfly Park to the public in July 1995

The Speckled Wood butterfly has chocolate brown coloured wings with yellow flecks. Its caterpillar eats tussock grasses in dappled shade. The Speckled Wood has two populations a year and is unique amongst British butterflies in that it over-winters in two forms, both as a caterpillar or chrysalis. As a result, it appears to be constantly breeding and on the wing from March to November, with only a small gap in June. It is therefore an `old faithful’, being consistently present on the Park in good numbers. 

Paul Loughnane
New Ferry Butterfly Park Reserve Manager

An Assembly of Tiles: Part 4 - the Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly

 

The small tortoiseshell tile for the Silver Jubilee gates

The small tortoiseshell tile is dedicated to the late Frank Cottrell. Frank’s passion was butterflies, but there being no locally active branch of Butterfly Conservation he became chair of Wirral Wildlife (1989 - 1998) and was a trustee of Cheshire Wildlife Trust from May 1992 until June 2005.

Frank was the key person in 1992-3 in getting the Cheshire Wildlife Trust to underwrite the lease of “Alma Street Goods Yard”, as the Butterfly Park was then known. As Chair of Wirral Wildlife, he went over the heads of Cheshire Wildlife Trust staff and got the Cheshire Wildlife Trustees on board. At that time, urban nature conservation was a new idea and a new direction for the Trust. Nearly a quarter of a century later in 2017 Frank retired as a Butterfly Park warden, at the age of 94. Frank was a Sunday afternoon warden because `it was so much fun’. He told visitors what to look out for, whatever was seasonal such as a common blue butterfly or a bee orchid, and visitors would report back to him with delight that they had spotted the wildlife feature. Frank took much pleasure in how the Park has progressed over the years and how it has engaged large numbers of people with wildlife. He gave a substantial donation to the funding of the Silver Jubilee Gates. His family gave the donations collected at Frank’s funeral to the Park. These were matched by Wirral Wildlife to enable the purchase of the industrial history interpretive lectern by the Brick Pit.

The small tortoiseshell is a familiar butterfly. It is a beautiful bright orange and black butterfly; the upper side of both the fore and hind wings are bright orange-rusty red with three black spots interspaced with yellow on the leading edge of the wing. A ring of dull blue spots or crescents line the edge of both wings. The butterfly over-winters as an adult and is often encountered while hibernating in a garage or shed. Adults emerge from hibernation at the end of March or start of April. There are two broods a year, so it is on the wing until September.

Hilary Ash, Frank Cottrell and David Hinde in the early days of the Butterfly Park

Pictured are Frank Cottrell, Hilary Ash and David Hinde (Butterfly Conservation local representative) about 1993 when the park was just getting underway, and nearly a quarter of century later at a presentation by  Alison McGovern MP, marking when Frank stepped down as a New Ferry Butterfly Park warden. 

Frank was presented with a framed print by Alison McGovern MP
when he retired as a warden at the Butterfly Park

Paul Loughnane
New Ferry Butterfly Park Reserve Manager

Crown Commercial Services Corporate Day at Butterfly Park

Claire Hastewell from Crown Commercial Services has written a blog post for us, following their corporate workday at New Ferry Butterfly Park.

At Crown Commercial Services (CCS) social value and giving something back to our communities is important to us. Supporting and investing in our local communities' health and wellbeing, the improvement of the local environment, and strengthening community cohesion, ensuring the government is getting good value for money for its contracts.

The CCS team at the Butterfly Park

A team of volunteers from CCS came down to New Ferry Butterfly Park at the beginning of March. The local volunteers made sure they got good value from their volunteering. The team of six achieved so much and were a great boost to the park.

Four square meters of turf were removed from over the railway track beds to encourage carpets of bird’s foot trefoil, a key butterfly plant.

104 hedging stakes were harvested from Hogs Head Coppice.

An impressive number of hedging stakes

15 meters of hedge was laid in Charlie’s Field.

Laying the hedge

Hedgelayers at work!

A metal frame from a former park sign at the Brick Pit was recycled and relocated to the park’s entrance. This will be turned into a permanent mount for leaflet dispensers (and will be much appreciated by the summer wardens).

The last bit of landscaping at the lower pond was completed with the butterfly bench set back from the pond edge and sandstone blocks and turf used to cover the exposed membrane.

The pond landscaping nearing completion

A woven hazel picket fence was made from the freshly cut coppice material and was used to secure this area. It is an attractive feature in itself.

Last July we worked on the pond, puddling the protective layer of clay around the edges. We were delighted to see the progress from last time and knowing that the pond will now be open this year to visitors will be fantastic.

The butterfly bench is in place and the turf has been cut for edging the pond 

On the lunch time tour there was much interest in the mistletoe and a comma butterfly, the park's logo, was seen on the wing - the first butterfly record of the year. Lunch time provided a chance for employees to chat and make new contacts. Some of CCS team delegates did not really know each other as they came from across multiple teams but do now, with this shared experience.

The feedback from the volunteers was great, "fulfilled and amazing achievements all round, working with great volunteers. They all made us feel very welcome and made the day fun as well as a learning experience."

We look forward to returning with a team from CCS towards the end of summer to see the Butterfly Park in full bloom.

An Assembly of Tiles: Part 3 - the White-tailed Bumblebee

Presentation of the bumblebee tile at the Wirral Farmers Market

The white-tailed bumble bee tile is dedicated to Wirral Farmers’ Market who have helped the park in so many ways over many years. The market helped via its Community Grant Fund in sponsoring the construction of composting bins in 2005. The bins have been repaired and the number of bays doubled and are still being used to produce a source of soil improver for allotment holders.

Anne Benson, chair of Wirral Farmers' Market, with the new compost bins in 2005

In 2014 the market sponsored 500 bluebell bulbs which were planted under the hazel in Brick Pit Coppice and most recently sponsored the Silver Jubilee gates. They also provide the essential gazebos and tables for our opening days as well as the tombola drum. The current Chair of Wirral Farmer’s market, Steve Niblock, helped the park with the layout of the 2006 promotional leaflet and with council funding of various projects including the brown tourist sign on the junction of Howell and Bebington Road.

Bluebell planting at Brick Pit Coppice in November 2014

The next Wirral Farmer’s Market is on Saturday 13th April, 9am - 12 noon, where many items of quality food can be purchased, and profits made are ploughed back into the New Ferry area.  New Ferry Butterfly Park will have a stall sowing seeds into freshly prepared newspaper pots made by your own hand to take away in a window ledge micro-propagator. It is a chance to pick up our new leaflets to distribute to friends and family and purchase some of our greeting cards based on the tile designs.

The Butterfly Park stall at Wirral Farmers' Market, sowing seeds

Simon, treasurer of Wirral’s Farmers Market is pictured above with the tile dedicated to the market, alongside the greeting card based on the tile with the dedication written on the back. Simon and his family helped with the planting of the bluebell bulbs back in 2014. The white-tailed bumble bee is distinctive in appearance. It has a black body, a pale-yellow collar, a yellow band on the second abdominal segment and, of course their white tail. The bees emerge early in spring and can be seen feeding on flowers right through to August. They nest underground in old rodent burrows, crevices in brickwork or bases of hedgerows. Colonies can reach up to 200 workers but in the autumn only the new queen hibernates to start the cycle anew in the spring.

Paul Loughnane

New Ferry Butterfly Park Reserve Manager

An Assembly of Tiles: Part 2 - the Broad-bodied Chaser Dragonfly

Caroline Lancelyn-Green at Poulton Hall with the Broad-Bodied Chaser tile

The broad-bodied chaser tile is the most detailed of all the tiles that Freya Levy has painted. Freya has patiently captured the wing vein pattern of this dragonfly in excellent detail. The tile is dedicated to Caroline Lancelyn Green of Poulton Hall, Bebington.

Caroline has been a long-term supporter of the park and was the guest of honour at the 2023 Opening Day wearing a theatrical butterfly themed scarf. Pictured below is Caroline being presented with a wild pear tree from Willaston stock, as a thank you for being the guest of honour to unveil a new noticeboard. Caroline hosts fund-raising open garden events for a range of charities, including one for Wirral Wildlife and New Ferry Butterfly Park. Do visit the garden open days at Poulton Hall. They are well worth several visits throughout the season as there is a succession of flowering plants. Come especially on the Wirral Wildlife and New Ferry Butterfly Park fundraiser event on Saturday 29th June at 2pm.

See the Poulton Hall web page www.poultonhall.co.uk closer to the day for details and to book tickets.

Presentation of a wild pear tree to Caroline at the 2023 Butterfly Park Open Day

 
Caroline does much for nature conservation at Poulton Hall including the wildflower meadow beyond the ha-ha. It is a haven for the meadow brown butterflies which are on the wing even in light rain. Cheshire Wildlife Trust lease Tom’s Paddock, Foxes Wood, Thornton Wood, and Intake Wood from the Poulton Hall Estates and manage these sites for nature conservation.

Male Broad-Bodied Chaser dragonfly

The Broad-Bodied Chaser is an easily recognised dragonfly with is distinctive, broad, flattened body, which has yellow patches on the side of its abdomen. Painted on the tile is the male which has a blue abdomen. It is on the wing in June and July. Egg laying occurs by the female dipping her abdomen over shallow water at the muddy edge of the pond. The chaser has a marked preference for new ponds, so hopefully will continue to make use of the newly restored pond at the park. They patrol ponds regularly, returning to the same low perch after swift flights along the pond margins, so they can easily be observed.

Paul Loughnane

New Ferry Butterfly Park Reserve Manager

Hoylake Beach Management Consultation

Wirral Council is undertaking a Have Your Say consultation on Hoylake Beach. The purpose of the consultation is to seek views from residents and the wider community on their preferred management option for Hoylake Beach. The management options for consultation have been developed based on the initial consultation undertaken from June to August 2022.

The consultation is open until 25th March 2024 and can be found here:
https://haveyoursay.wirral.gov.uk/hoylake-beach-management-plan

The outputs from the consultation will be used to identify a preferred management option for Hoylake Beach and will be taken forward for political approval via Wirral Council’s Environment, Climate Emergency and Transport Committee in spring 2024. A preferred option will then be submitted to Natural England for their consideration, as the beach is internationally important, being a Site of Special Scientific Interest, Special Protection Area for birds and a Ramsar site.

Option 1: Access for All

Option 2: Amenity Beach

There are details of both options on the Hoylake Beach Management Plan website.

Wirral Wildlife committee feel that the best option for wildlife of the beach would be not to have any clearance at all of the naturally developing vegetation as it will remove important habitat. However, if clearance is needed for the RNLI operations, this should be the minimum area possible. Option 1 would be better than Option 2 as that involves least clearance but we would still have concerns about the damage this would cause to this rare habitat. The cost of yearly operations to achieve this outcome is another consideration. These are the points we will make in our submission.

We would encourage you to submit any comments you may have regarding this phase of consultation to hoylakebeach@wirral.gov.uk by 25th March 2024. More information regarding Hoylake Beach and the consultation process can be found here:
https://haveyoursay.wirral.gov.uk/hoylake-beach-management-plan

Ron's Rotary Club Award

Ron Warne (on right in Christmas jumper)
after being given his award from the Rotary Club

We are very pleased to congratulate Ron Warne for his recent award from The Rotary Club of Birkenhead.

Ron was awarded the Sam Lamour Award for Developing Youth. This is because he has quietly worked to ensure that the world young people will inherit will be a good physical environment. He has provided support for the amazing fundraising by Woodchurch High School pupils, by identifying a system whereby funds raised can be shared amongst voluntary groups that aim to improve Wirral's environment.

Ron was a recorder with Wirral Wildlife for some years, recording small mammals and plants. It is due to his good offices that Wirral Wildlife has received generous funding from Woodchurch High School's fundraising activities, for heathland restoration work at Cleaver Heath. Also New Ferry Butterfly Park has received funding towards a new large barrow.