Pam Brown MBE, Her Majesty’s Deputy
Lieutenant of Merseyside, unveiled a new interactive and exciting educational
welcome board at New Ferry Butterfly Park. This was part of New Ferry Butterfly Park’s Opening Day. The event, which attracted
870 visitors, marked the start of the Sunday afternoon opening season which goes
on until Wirral Heritage week in September.
 |
| The Welcome Board. Photo Pam Sullivan |
The welcome board has been fashioned with all the familiar elements such as secret doors, the creepy crawly bucket and the newt pond, but also has some new features. Centre stage is a new bee jigsaw, asking important questions like, can bees dance?
 |
| The Bee Jigsaw. Photo : Pam Sullivan |
There are lots of new facts to learn about the
insects in the park and an important message about recycling and not leaving
rubbish lying around. The board has been
designed and painted by artist Pamela Sullivan with thanks to Graham Smillie
and Frank Moore for their help with the build and installation of the board and
support with the more fiddly elements of the design.
An earlier version of this
welcome board was created by Pam Sullivan in 2013. It was a great focus for many of the beaver
and cubs groups who visited the park in the last five years. Streams of 15 or so excited cubs and beavers
all having a go at the board took their toll, wearing it out by their enthusiasm and love of it. This new improved version has more
interaction components and is in a more robust and weather proof format which can
be enjoyed by visitors over an extended number of years.
The
welcome board is a brilliant addition to the park, and a great hit with children
and adults. Being near the entrance, the
welcome board sets the tone of the park as somewhere to explore nature
thoroughly. It will be wonderful when
assembling visiting beaver/cub groups; a good starter for them to interact with
before starting their nature sessions.
The record breaking warm bank
holiday weather meant there was a record breaking number of butterflies on the
wing for the opening day. There was an
increased number of stalls this year spread further round the park. There was a
BBQ, cake stand, plant stall and the healthy cycle smoothie stand. There was Flourish promoting honeybees, a
spider stand, local artists demonstrating their talents, spoon carving and, being
the May Day bank holiday weekend, May Pole dancing was enjoyed too.
 |
| Pond Dipping on Open Day |
Do come and visit on quieter days when there is
more nature to see as the summer season progresses.
Paul Loughnane
No comments:
Post a Comment