Natural England are looking for volunteer surveyors to carry out breeding bird surveys at Dibbinsdale SSSI.
Email cheshire2lancashire@naturalengland.org.uk for more details.
Saturday, 25 August 2018
Friday, 24 August 2018
Heritage Open Day Walk at Butterfly Park
Sunday 9th September
2 – 3.30 p.m.
A walk around New Ferry Butterfly Park as part of Wirral Heritage Open Days
‘New Ferry Butterfly Park: An Industrial Legacy To Butterfly Haven’
The walk will explore the industrial history of this former railway goods yard (brick-making and railway operation), and how this has contributed to the wildlife diversity of the park. Short walk of only about 600 metres, but much to see.
Location: Howell Road, New Ferry (approach road to Bebington Station Car Park).
The Park is signed from Bebington Road, and the access is between Aldi (CH62 5BG) and the railway overbridge. The lower half of the park is disabled-accessible.
Booking is not necessary. Admission is free but donations are welcome.
For more information contact: Paul Loughnane,
Thursday, 23 August 2018
Bat Walk at River Park
Bat Walk at Port Sunlight River Park
Thursday 30th August
8.30 to 10 p.m.
£3 per person.
Book in advance.
Wednesday, 22 August 2018
Seabird Conservation Talk
Global Seabird Conservation: Hoisting The Mast For Hope On A Stormy Sea
A talk by Dr Cleo Small - RSPB and Birdlife International
University of Liverpool
3rd September 2018
6 p.m.
Free tickets available by email: seabirdconference@liverpool.ac.uk
Most seabird populations and species are declining, many to globally threatened levels. At sea, commercial fisheries and pollution are taking their toll; on land, alien invasive predators and habitat disturbance and destruction are impacting many colonies. Climate change may cause (or exacerbate) problems in both domains. However, the last two decades have also seen notable successes in eradicating alien predators (mainly on uninhabited islands) and in finding solutions to seabird bycatch in longline and trawl fisheries.
Dr Small will present the view from BirdLife International on whether there are reasons to be optimistic for the future of the world’s seabirds, by reviewing some current and prospective global initiatives, including the development of new research and monitoring techniques, as well as pioneering collaborations involving governments, non-governmental organisations, scientists and civil society.
Friday, 17 August 2018
Green Flag Awarded To Butterfly Park
Chair of Wildlife Trust slices a brimstone butterfly in half with a billhook…
New Ferry Butterfly Park, adjacent to Bebington Station, has been recognised as one of the UK’s very best green spaces, receiving a prestigious Green Flag Community Award for 2018-2019.
To celebrate, the volunteers held a BBQ and invited Chris Koral, the Chair of Cheshire Wildlife Trust, to raise the Green Flag and join in the fun with the volunteers.
Chris Koral, before raising Green Flag, said "What a great community asset the park is and how it has moved on considerably in the last three years since my previous visit, with more bio-diverse habitats, artworks and a greater engagement with the public. It is a great tribute to the work of a dedicated volunteer group and is exactly where the wildlife trust movement should be.’ This is Cheshire Wildlife Trust’s only reserve with a Green Flag.
Chris was handed a Yorkshire billhook to cut the yellow brimstone butterfly cake. Brimstone butterflies were first recorded breeding in Wirral at New Ferry Butterfly Park in 2014 and have remained constant residents ever since. As a thank you for being our guest of honour, Chris was given a fitting book, Butterflies of Cheshire, which contains a favourable mention of New Ferry Butterfly Park.
Paul Loughnane, Honorary Secretary of New Ferry Butterfly Park, said, “This is a record breaking summer season for the number of visiting groups to the park and for some of our butterfly residents at the park. It is great to have the volunteers’ BBQ where we can all relax instead of working. The Green Flag Award is a real pat on the back for all those volunteers involved with the habitat management and those who engage with the public and visiting groups. This year the park was judged by a mystery shopper!”
The park is open on sunny summer Sunday afternoons, 12-4pm until the close of this year’s season on Sunday 9th September. On this date there will be a free heritage walk at 2 p.m. (no need to book, just turn up) describing how the industrial nature of the site has benefited wildlife here.
Monday, 6 August 2018
Summer 2018 at Cleaver Heath
The Tesco 'Bags of Help' grant is now making an impact on site. This grant along with Natural Futures funding provides help with new signage, an interpretation board, a proper northern gateway and some approved gritstone to reinforce the vulnerable main path through the heather.
Last week, some kind CWT volunteers helped lay down the first load of gritstone. It turned out to be the hottest day of the year. However, this hard work should make a real difference, turning what can be a mud bath in winter (below left) into an attractive path (below right) which will encourage visitors to respect the fragile heathland all year round.
The grant will also provide us with signage to identify the recommended route to maximise visitors’ enjoyment of the reserve and its stunning views. No wildlife or visitors were harmed during those activities although I almost ran over a Common Lizard with my wheelbarrow full of stone.
Summer has now really arrived. We have had a continuous sequence of flowering plants and shrubs - from the Oxeye Daisies, Red Campion and Ragwort in our ‘insect nursery’ (ex-carpark) to the Common Heather (Calluna) and Western Gorse out on the reserve. The Bell Heather (both plants!) bloomed defiantly in June and then lapsed back into obscurity. The Common Heather is now starting to turn from white to purple.
The small butterfly shown above is a male Holly Blue. This has a blue underwing with black spots. It was photographed during a brief rest period in the stoning! There were plenty of Common Blue butterflies on the wing as well. We were also surrounded by Swallows and House Martins which were feeding low over the heather showing just how productive the heathland is in summer.
Swallows in flight are very hard to photograph for us amateurs, as the photograph above demonstrates. What with humming bees, swarms of insects, fluttering butterflies and swooping swallows, the reserve seems very alive following several weeks of warm weather. The downside of course is that some of the vegetation is visibly starting to wilt.
A new beetle for me this summer has been the Swollen-thighed Beetle seen on both Red Campion (above left) and Oxeye Daisy above centre). The shiny green colouring is quite striking and the name perfectly describes it. The Buff-tailed Bumble bee on the Foxlove (above right) is of course more familiar. There have been spectacular displays of Foxgloves around the woodland path edges providing a popular source of nectar. Foxgloves like the disturbance associated with paths.
The nest boxes installed last winter - see the Winter Newsletter - seem to have been used. I had firm sightings of Blue Tits (above) and Great Tits using at least 6 of the 10 boxes. No sign of occupancy at the Tawny Owl box however.
This year’s Common Bird Census took place between 5th April and 11th June. The overall numbers were down on 2017 probably due to the poor weather in the early breeding season. The Linnets were here again this year (above left) – possibly 2 pairs? Both Mistle and Song Thrush (above right) bred. We had the usual warblers holding territory – Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Willow Warbler. I am not sure if the Willow Warblers actually bred. They seemed to disappear at the end of May but returned in late June. I even heard one singing in the last week of July!
Butterfly sightings have picked up after a slow start – the Cleaver to Thurstaston survey numbers are now running at roughly double those to the same point in 2017: 800 up from 400. Top left is a rare (for me) photo of a male Orange Tip at rest. These were quickly replaced by the other small whites then Meadow Brown and Gatekeeper (top right) and other smaller things such as the Small and Large Skipper (bottom left) and the Blues. The Speckled Woods (bottom right) have been present throughout the surveys. We have had the odd Small Copper, Peacock and Red Admiral and a few Commas, but still no Painted Ladies (as of end July). Our Species Count for the transect this summer remains stubbornly at 15.
Further activities in the pipeline include another round of bracken spraying. This needs to be done annually in a relatively narrow window in time and weather conditions. We also hope to get some of the new signage infrastructure installed in the autumn.
Looking ahead to the monthly workdays, there is plenty to be done. We need to check and clean out the bird boxes, tidy up some path work, remove some non-native shrubs and saplings, start on the annual birch control work using the new pull or cut and treat methods. The first date is Sunday 2nd September from 10 a.m.
This year’s ‘Beauty of Heswall’s Heathland’ guided walk will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday 19th August. More details on the Wirral Wildlife website at www.wirralwildlife.org.uk or on the main Cheshire Wildlife site at www.cheshirewildlifetrust.org.uk.
Alan Irving
Volunteer Reserve Warden for CWT
Cleaver Heath
Volunteer Reserve Warden for CWT
Cleaver Heath