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.