Amazing Apple Afternoon at the Butterfly Park

Sunday 13th October was a warm October day - perfect weather for the second New Ferry Butterfly Park Apple Afternoon to celebrate locally grown apples.

Even more people came this year - thank you to everyone who visited and our volunteers who make it possible to hold such an event.

The first Apple Day was organised on 21st October 1990 by Common Ground to celebrate apples and orchards. Many traditional orchards were being dug up and the country became reliant on imported apples despite about 3,000 apple varieties having been grown in the UK. The aim was to bring the wide variety of local apples to the attention of the public.

At our event, John Bateman collected apples and manned the apple press so that visitors could taste freshly pressed juice. Many people took some juice away with them.

Mincing up the apples ready for juicing

John Bateman supervising the juice making

We had 28 varieties of apples picked from orchards at Brimstage, Upton Hall School and Ness Gardens. plus varieties from some of our volunteer’s gardens. What wonderful names these old varieties have - some dating back to the 17th century. Some like Lord Derby and Millicent Barnes are named after people. Catshead is named because of its shape. Red Love for the colour of its skin and flesh. A full list of the varieties we had for display and tasting is given below.

Local apple varieties on display at the Butterfly Park

Our apple peeling machine is always popular - who can create the longest piece of unbroken peel? This year the longest was 205cm. Common Ground used to run a national competition and one year someone from our Apple Day won the under 16 competition with a piece 269 cm long. No one has beaten this yet. Maybe at our 2025 Apple Afternoon?

Can you peel a whole apple without breaking the peel?

Wirral Wildlife has been holding Apple Days for many years and one little boy has always come to join in.

John, a fan of Wirral Wildlife's Apple Days,
taken at Eastham Country Park in 2016.

Over the years John has grown taller, although I have only grown older!

John at this year's Apple Afternoon!

Linda Higginbottom

New Ferry Butterfly Park Volunteer Coordinator

Apples on display:

Annie Elizabeth

Arthur Barnes

Blenheim Orange

Bramley

Catshead

Chiver’s Delight

Cox’s Orange Pippin

Crawley Beauty

Eccleston Pippin

Egremont Russett

Ellinson’s Orange

Fiesta

Golden Noble

Greensleeves

James Grieve

Jupiter

Lord Derby

Lord Lambourne

Malus Royalty

Millicent Barnes

Red Falstaff

Ribston Pippin

Peasgood’s Nonsuch

Red Love

Spartan

St Edmund’s Pippin

Tydesley Late

Withington Welter

Grayling Butterfly Conservation in the North Wirral Coastal Park

Grayling butterfly. Photo: Patrick Clement

During August, the North Wirral Coastal Park Rangers and Friends Group volunteers met up with Dave Costello, the Wirral Officer for Butterfly Conservation, to discuss habitat management for the Grayling butterfly in the Leasowe Gunsite dunes.

Dave informed us that until 2 years ago, Grayling were present on two sites in Wirral/Cheshire, namely the Gunsite dunes and Red Rocks in Hoylake. They have not been recorded at Red Rocks for 2 years and are therefore considered to be extinct at this site. This means that the Gunsite dunes is now the only site where this area's rarest breeding butterfly can be found.

Habitat management for other rare invertebrates in the Gunsite dunes such as the Spring mining bee (Colletes cunicularius) has been a key concern for Rangers and volunteers over many years with tasks such as invasive scrub control, mainly elm and poplar, and sand trapping to encourage dune formation being regular activities. One major problem within this dune system is that there is very little naturally wind blown sand from the beach available to replenish the dunes due to the presence of concrete sea defences. This has led to the formation of blow outs, over stabilisation of dunes by excessive vegetation growth and a significant reduction in bare open sandy areas.

New dune formed from imported sand

In the last few years the situation has much improved since the Rangers organised the regular import of many hundreds of tons of wind blown beach sand from further along the coast at Derby Pool where it needed to be cleared as it was blocking vehicle and pedestrian access. Since this activity, which is still ongoing, we now have significantly more open, mobile sandy areas which have formed across the frontal dune areas as the new sand gets blown inland by strong onshore winds with new small hummock dunes continually forming as some of the sand gets trapped by lyme and marram grasses.

Volunteers creating bare sand areas on over vegetated south facing dune

This dune management approach using imported sand has provided to be an essential habitat requirement for the Grayling butterfly, namely the provision of plenty of open bare sand for basking in the sun, together with more sheltered sunny spots with sparse vegetation such as species of fine grasses necessary as larval food plants.

Imported sand spreading into dunes

Dave advised that the adult Grayling's preferred nectar source is Sea Holly which has a fairly sparse distribution within the Gunsite dunes. We are currently in contact with Chester Zoo to see whether they can propagate plants for us from collected seed, to plant in the dunes. We worked with the nursery team at the Zoo several years ago on a similar type of project to extend the rare Isle of Man Cabbage distribution within the Gunsite dunes. The Zoo has already carried out a similar exercise growing Sea Holly at Red Rocks two years ago to replenish the plant's population in the dunes there.

Sea holly

The Rangers and Friends Group volunteers with input from Dave Costello and the local Butterfly Conservation team will continue to carry out a range of habitat management tasks that will hopefully  be of benefit for the survival of not only the Grayling butterfly but also other dune invertebrates. These will include invasive scrub control, creating more open sandy sites especially within warm south-facing dune areas which have become over vegetated, and removing dense areas of coarse grasses from around existing sea holly plants to encourage better wind blown seed dispersal across the dunes.

John McGaw
(Friends of North Wirral Coastal Park)

Taylor Swift Butterfly Lands at New Ferry Butterfly Park

New Ferry Butterfly Park's latest art installation was last seen in Liverpool’s Albert Dock when it was created as part of a Taylor Town trail to coincide with the Taylor Swift concerts. It landed at the Butterfly Park in September and is a symbol of transformation and beauty.

The first set of wings were unloaded...

and placed in front of the container artwork.

The second half of the installation was soon in place.

The two halves needed joining together by Kirsten Little from Make CIC.

The completed installation!

The weather on the last opening afternoon of the season could not have been more different to the day the installation first appeared. A steady downpour deterred a lot of people but some bravely came to have their photographs taken standing in front of the installation.

That afternoon we were pleased to welcome Justin Madders (second from the right in photo below). He is MP for Ellesmere Port & Bromborough and his constituency includes New Ferry. Volunteers from the Butterfly Park, Friends of Dibbinsdale and Friends of Lowfields Wood spoke to him about local environmental concerns.

Justin Madders, MP for Ellesmere Port & Bromborough, visits the Butterfly Park

The Butterfly will be hibernating over the winter but we hope to welcome it back for our Open Day on Sunday May 4th, 2025.

‘Liverpool Loves Taylor’ art installations

Make CIC was commissioned by Liverpool City Council to curate the ‘Liverpool Loves Taylor’ project, commissioning eleven artworks across the city, working with twelve local makers to create a vibrant trail to celebrate the arrival of American singer Taylor Swift in Liverpool in June. The Taylor Town Trail was the centrepiece with 11 art installations, each inspired by a different Taylor Swift Era.

The butterfly was created by Simon Armstrong, Design Laser Play, and this stunning installation is now touring as part of Wirral's Borough of Culture programme.

Make CIC is a purpose-driven social enterprise with several vibrant spaces across the Liverpool City Region. They unite and enrich communities through creativity, art and culture.

Make guarantee that the work is done locally, supporting Liverpool’s City Region’s economy and grassroots network of artists, makers and designers. Keeping work local also reduces CO₂ emissions and the impact of transport. Make reuses and recycles materials, including from other regional suppliers. helping to give things a 'second life'.

Spring/ Summer 2024 Prize Quiz: Winner and Answers

Snow bunting, the answer to clue 2.
Photo: Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren, Wikimedia Commons

Very many thanks to everyone who entered the spring/ summer quiz on the theme of amber listed birds. Your support is very much appreciated.

We received a total of 143 entries, of which 58 were all correct. We had a random draw to select the winner, who is Pam Kellett, of Birdwell, Barnsley. Congratulations Pam!

The answers to the clues are listed below, followed by some notes about the ones that seemed to cause the most difficulty.

1. Baseball player after bivalve mollusc. (13). OYSTERCATCHER

2. Owns tangled string of little flags. (4, 7). SNOW BUNTING   

3. Actor (“They don’t like it up ‘em!”) – only Clive knows the beginnings. (7). DUNNOCK 

4. Late change in this clue. (4). TEAL

5. This one may be found in the Isle of Wight, I’m assured. Shanklin, Ventnor and Cowes are places to look apparently. (8). REDSHANK

6. Lab grew reeds to accommodate this one. (5, 7). SEDGE WARBLER

7. London borough put to good use, without German pronoun. (5, 5). BRENT GOOSE

8. I’m glad law has been changed. (7). GADWALL

9. Document from the pope with a little Swiss currency and a short distance. (9). BULLFINCH

10. With amazing luck, she’d find one of these! (8). SHELDUCK

11. Othello, perhaps, with an egg producer. (7). MOORHEN

12. Roughly push relative backwards. (8). SHOVELER

13. This one I hear would rhyme with 27. (4, 6). WOOD PIGEON

14. Among auks, the plumage of the Razorbill is darkest, relative to the other species. (7). KESTREL

15. Yellow Submarine, Mama Mia, or Blue Suede Shoes, say, with a fungal infection of the mouth! (4, 6). SONG THRUSH

16. Strange thing on pickle container. (8). NIGHTJAR

17. Stuart queen, surrounded by gin and tonic. (6). GANNET

18. It sounds as though this one is especially fond of the fruit of the vine. (4, 6). GREY PLOVER

19. www.3ls.ioer.bar – hack it! (6, 7). WILLOW WARBLER

20. Wood-smoothing tool for Heather. (10). SANDERLING

21. Strangely breeding until the Italian departed. (4, 7). REED BUNTING

22. Whose rare old tango danced for this one? (5-5, 3). SHORT-EARED OWL

23. Listen! Is that George Bush’s vice-president? (5). QUAIL

24. Twenty fl.oz. of French garlic. (7). PINTAIL

25. Let colour begin! (8). REDSTART

26. The parson at Robin’s funeral. (4). ROOK

27. One of the Big Six power companies, wearing judge’s headgear. (6). WIGEON

28. Smaller dupe that Cluedo victim bet on. (6, 5-6, 4). LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL 

29. You French, with the King’s fleet, begin seeing trouble over Northern Europe. (9). TURNSTONE

30. Who was prone to convulsions? (7, 4). WHOOPER SWAN

31. This one confused Ange Gray. (8). GARGANEY

32. Has this seabird come all the way from Corsica or Sicily, say? (13, 4). MEDITERRANEAN GULL

33. We absorb popular song – all time leaders follow thro’. (11). WHITETHROAT

34. This one sank its teeth into a seabird. (7). BITTERN

35. Sheffield Wednesday fan followed Devonshire river to New York. (5, 3). TAWNY OWL

36. Female member of the armed forces before 1993. (4). WREN

37. This one will wriggle at ya! (4, 7). GREY WAGTAIL

38. This one would be a rough or vicious bride according to Spooner. (5, 7). MARSH HARRIER 

39. Just what is needed for eating houmous! (6). DIPPER

40. Pay Dick Fletcher, scramble, and lose kilo! (4, 10). PIED FLYCATCHER

41. “Come on, turn!” he shouted. (6, 4). COMMON TERN

42. Stephanie, 3rd in the 2023 Women’s PGA. Did she defeat someone on the last hole? (6, 5). MEADOW PIPIT

43. To identify this one, start with a voice one can easily tell. (6). AVOCET

44. Starting price for missile, and one who advocates an aggressive strategy. (11). SPARROWHAWK

45. A taste of liquor in Kent or Sussex. (5). SNIPE

46. Down on the bed, keeping you warm. (5). EIDER

47. Between lock and barrel, American plunged. (5, 4). STOCK DOVE

48. Tie up. (4). KNOT

49. Thermal energy in Sunderland’s river. (8). WHEATEAR

50. Liverpool footballer with number 11 or 15 of rugby union team. (7). REDWING

Notes

5. REDSHANK – Hidden in the sentences (- assuRED. SHANKlin,-).

9. BULLFINCH – A document from the pope is a “papal bull”.

10. SHELDUCK – an anagram, but a surprising number of people spelt it with two Ls. Oddly it was all the ducks that a lot of people spelt wrongly: 8 GADWALL, 12 SHOVELER, 24 PINTAIL, 27 WIGEON, and 31 GARGANEY.

13. WOOD PIGEON – Someone pointed out that in the published Amber List, this is just one word, Woodpigeon. We simply hadn’t noticed that!  Fortunately it hasn’t caused anyone a problem – all entrants got this one right.

14. KESTREL – hidden in the sentence. The reference to auks and razorbills confused a number of entrants!

18. GREY PLOVER – (Grape lover!) Some people put Wine thrush. This is apparently a dialect name for the Redwing, but it is not well known. The judges didn’t allow it.

19. WILLOW WARBLER – an anagram of WWWLLLIOERBAR.

28. LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL – there were a number of variations, none of which was accepted (Little and Great instead of Lesser; Black-headed instead of Black-backed.)

30. WHOOPER SWAN – some didn’t spot the anagram; others couldn't spell “Whooper” correctly.

32. MEDITERRANEAN GULL – perhaps not surprisingly, a lot of people struggled to spell this one.

33. WHITETHROAT – a lot of people put Nightingale, which doesn’t fit the clue and is a red-listed bird.

38. MARSH HARRIER – spoonerism is “harsh marryer”. We liked House Sparrow (“spouse harrow”), but this bird is red-listed.

41. COMMON TERN – just say it out loud!

43. AVOCET – initial letters of “A Voice One Can Easily Tell”.

50. REDWING – several people put Ruddock. That covers the Liverpool footballer, but Ruddock is another name for Robin, which is green-listed.

Not just any corporate workday, this was an M&S corporate workday

Seven employees from M&S Bank came to help out at New Ferry Butterfly Park and with nine of our in-house volunteers they were well catered for. Following a short briefing they split into three groups, one group turning compost bins and using scythes to mow the grass in Charlie’s Field, a second repairing the wire fence in Charlie’s Field and a third group installing a water butt by the tool container.

Tobi, one of the employees, was proudly sporting calluses on his hand, developed whilst scything, something that never happens on a keyboard. His team managed to cut a quarter of Charlie’s Field which is impressive as it was Tobi’s only second time scything. The fencing team replaced half a dozen fence posts and re-tensioned the wire. The park’s boundary is more secure now.

Unloading the gravel

The water butt team built a frame of railway sleepers behind the tool store and then filled it with gravel to make a base for a large water container, an intermediate bulk container (IBC) which holds 1000 litres of water. The M&S team worked strenuously and unloaded a generous ton of gravel in about 20 minutes. The newly installed water butt store means the park can harvest and store 3000 litres of rainwater, collected from the roof of the tool container for topping up the pond. The exit tap is connected to a post and the tap is high enough to get a watering can under. Bring on the rain! Thanks go to Richard Sawdon who helped with the supply and delivery of the IBCs and gravel and to Peter Martin for masterminding the project plumbing all IBCs together.

Lifting the IBC

IBC daisy chained together, all filled to equal levels

At lunch the M&S Bank employees brought some ice lollies for everyone to share from the local supermarket, so welcome on such a hot day. After lunch a tour of the park was given. It was a sunny day and the most butterflies so far this year were spotted. Large white, large skipper, brimstone, holly blue, speckled wood, comma, peacock, gatekeeper and meadow brown butterflies were all seen on the wing. There was much interest in the pond with efts (baby newts) and dragonflies fliting around.

After the tour our M&S Bank guests were asked to raise the green flag which they were delighted to do. This is one of only two community Green Flag Awards given in the Wirral this year, the other one being Woodchurch Holy Cross Church grounds. Then M&S bank employees asked the in-house volunteers to raise the flag. Pictures below - which team is which?

2024 Green Flag raising M&S team

The Butterfly Park's in-house team raising the 2024 Green Flag 

Pip Hughes, Sustainability Lead and Hands Up Lead at M&S Bank, who organised the event said “I returned from my long weekend to some lovely emails from the volunteers who came out to you on Tuesday. They thoroughly enjoyed the day and said you and your team were very welcoming and they loved the varied nature of the work they were doing. They all said they loved being part of the flag raising as well!” Pip added “The feedback has been so good from this week’s event that other colleagues I am sure will be inspired to help!”.

These corporate workdays are a boost to the park, it stimulates our own volunteers and allows projects to be undertaken which we might not have the volunteer resources for. This M&S Bank corporate workday was timely as the next day the park was being judged for a Britain in Bloom award.

Paul Loughnane, Reserve Manager, New Ferry Butterfly Park

Cutting With The Best at Poulton Hall

Caroline and Scirard Lancelyn Green of Poulton Hall, Bebington, hosted an open walled garden and parkland event to allow others to see the quirky features and biodiverse meadow which is enclosed by a species rich hedge, laid by Wirral Countryside Volunteers. This was a fundraiser event for Wirral Wildlife and New Ferry Butterfly Park.

The cream tea team relaxing after making 120 cream teas

Caroline rang the night before to see if the cream tea making team could come early due to a sizeable number of pre–booked ticket sales. Caroline was impressed that the volunteers prepared 120 cream teas in about an hour and a quarter. That is 120 scones, sliced, buttered, jammed and creamed. It was a five-person team, a gofer, a scone slicer, a butter spreader, a jam dispenser and a cream topper. For those of you wondering about helping in future you often start as a gofer and gradually move up the ranks until you become the cream topper.  This top job was entrusted to Linda Higginbottom. Caroline had it all set out for us with special jam spoons and broad spreading knife to ensure each scone was buttered to its very edges.

With the event being brought forward this year, the mighty tulip tree in the centre of one of the walled gardens was in flower. A wonderful spectacle, which make it easy to see why it has its given common name.

Andrew Clough and son brought a demonstration beehive full of honeybees. Hunting out the queen bee amongst all her workers was quite a challenge, despite being marked with a fluorescent green marker. Interestingly the pair had a collection of bee stings, extracted using strips of Sellotape from the gloves that were used when they were dealing with a swarm.  They also had an Asian Hornet display so people know what to look out for. The hornet looks very black with a wide orange strip on the 4th segment of its abdomen and its legs look like its been dipped in yellow paint. These hornets are a new threat for native bees having arrived in the UK in 2016.  

Wirral Archaeology CIC came with fascinating finds, all found within three miles of Poulton Hall. Two meadow tours were given by Hilary Ash. The marsh orchids were particularly impressive - one species that has enjoyed the wet weather this year. Despite the showery weather, meadow brown butterflies were on the wing.

The Wirral Countryside Volunteers stall in the meadow at Poulton Hall

Frank from Poulton Estate was impressed when he saw the mock hedge ‘grow’ on Friday, be laid on the Saturday and removed on Monday. Thanks must go to the Wirral Countryside Volunteers who were there on Friday putting up the mock hedge, then on Saturday delivering gazebos, hedgelaying, sharpening tools and growing cuttings, and coming back to collect gazebos left for the Samaritans fundraiser on the Sunday and returning on Monday to disassemble the hedge. On the Monday the volunteers used their new brash cart for gathering the hedge debris and clearing all the hedge, and two builder’s bags of offcuts in three easy loads. It was certainly quicker than the numerous trips of previous years when we used Poulton Hall’s trolley. Half the costs of the new brash cart was met by Wirral Wildlife. Great to see it in action.

For many there was the pleasure of meeting up with acquaintances you see at such events and taking tea while watching the world go by. Thanks to Caroline, Scirard and the Poulton Estate Team for hosting the event. The staff and owners looked smart in their new dark green Poulton Hall blazers with the family crest on. These are used for hosting weddings at the hall and for gardening openings. Thanks to the twenty Wirral Wildlife/ Wirral Countryside Volunteers who made this event work so smoothly. Caroline said we are the most organised group she works with for the garden openings. So not only are our tools sharp, so are our cream tea making skills!

Paul Loughnane

A Tribute to Gill Norton

Jill Norton

We send our sympathy to the family of Gill Norton. Gill was a botanist by training, though she worked mostly as a taxonomist: her specimens can be found in Liverpool World Museum. In later life she became of of our wildlife recorders, active for some 15 years starting in the late 1990s. She was also a regular attender at our monthly talks. The photo, from her funeral leaflet, shows Gill as we often saw her, in the outdoors.

Gill had a particular fondness for Wirral Wildlife. Her daughter Sarah and the family have kindly donated the collection at her funeral to Wirral Wildlife. Thank you, Sarah.