New Year's Honours surprise

Paul Loughnane has been awarded a British Empire Medal in the New Year's Honours for services to nature conservation in Wirral. For the last 20 years, Paul has led the management work on New Ferry Butterfly Park, Cheshire Wildlife Trust's popular community nature reserve next to Bebington station. Without such management, the value of the Park to butterflies and bees would be much less than it now is. For the last 11 years he has been the Park's secretary. For at least 25 years Paul has been a key person in Wirral Countryside Volunteers, for much of that time serving as secretary and organising the various tasks undertaken by the group. Paul is an expert hedge-layer and scytheman, and skilled at other woodland conservation work such as coppicing and tree planting. His skills have benefited many sites across Wirral, including Thornton Wood in Dibbinsdale, Gilroy Nature Park, the Wirral Way and Big Meadow at Willaston. He is always keen to share those skills with others and runs regular training days in scything and hedge laying, often using New Ferry Butterfly Park as a base. Scything keeps the grasslands rich in wild flowers by removing long grass, while hedge laying creates a thicker hedge, making good shelter for all sorts of wildlife. Somehow he manages to do this on top of a full-time job!

Charlotte Harris, CEO of Cheshire Wildlife Trust, said "We're thrilled to hear of Paul's richly deserved award after 25 years of dedication to wildlife across the Wirral. Volunteers are the bedrock of the conservation movement and not least the Wildlife Trusts, who themselves were founded by keen amateurs a century ago. "The best results for wildlife can often be achieved when time is dedicated to understanding a site and its habitats, and Paul's work demonstrates this superbly at New Ferry Butterfly Park with the continued successes there not only for biodiversity, but for involving the local community too.

"Paul's ongoing commitment to rural skills like hedgelaying and other crafts mean that traditional methods of managing our countryside are being kept alive as well, an added bonus in our increasingly technological rural environment."

To see Paul and his colleagues in action, come to New Ferry Butterfly Park on Sunday 12 January, between 9.30 a.m and 4 p.m, when they will be maintaining the Park's hedges - but expect to join in! Full training and equipment available. For details see www.wirralwildlife.org.uk or ring 0151 645 8937.