Chairmen’s salute to John Magee

Wirral Countryside Volunteers have made their second contribution to the Queen’s Green Canopy to celebrate the Queen’s platinum jubilee by planting up a hedgerow and a shelter bed at Home Farm Landican, mid-Wirral.  The hedgerow is mainly hawthorn with crab apple, alder buckthorn and guelder rose reflecting the wetter ground conditions in parts.  The shelter bed planting is mainly hazel to form an under storey, a canopy of alder and oak trees.  There was good use made of different recycled coloured bailing twine; it was knotted together in alternate coloured two metre lengths to help with the tree planting spacings.  The whole project involved planting over 500 trees.  Each tree had a mulch matt and hare guard to get them off to a good start.

To celebrate former Wirral Countryside Volunteer Chair John Magee’s 90th birthday, volunteers planted a native black poplar clone M28 and sliced a celebratory homemade 90th birthday cake with one of his billhooks, now owned by Paul Loughnane.  The energy rich fruit cake and hot tea was just what was wanted on such a cold day.  

John watched all this from his warm, dry home via a video call, as he now resides in Ruislip, Middlesex.  John was able to see our hedge laying efforts by seeing last year’s hedge with a very satisfactory regrowth of over four feet.  Although he is slow, John is still laying hedges.  John was able to say hello to many volunteers he had not seen in 18 years.  He was beaming like a Cheshire Cat and was deeply humbled by the gesture.  Thirty years ago, John was propagating native black poplars from Ledsham, so it was an inspired choice to plant a native black poplar.  The native black poplar was from Chester Zoo and the location will be added to their distribution map.  The day was so inclement the volunteers drew an early close to the event, but the volunteers will be back to compete the job.  Luckily a slice of the delicious fruit cake was saved and John was sent a slice.

The native black poplar tree was planted by Alan Williams Chair of Wirral Countryside Volunteers 1995-2012 and Stephen Ross Chair of Wirral Wildlife Group, 2004 to the present. 

John Magee was the Chair of Wirral Countryside Volunteers 1988 to 1995 and Volunteer Reserve Officer for the Cheshire Wildlife Trust reserves of Thornton Wood, Foxes Intake Wood, Patricks Wood, Tom’s Paddock and Cleaver Heath from 1990 to 2004.  He was involved in many more sites such as Brimstage Hall Orchard and Thornton Common.  John initiated the Apple Days that Wirral Wildlife Group held at Eastham Country Park and Brimstage Hall.  Many of his projects continue with success, the woodland ride at Thornton Common and the coppicing at Thornton Wood come to mind.  The ride is full of marsh orchids, and Heavy Oak Coppice has expanding populations of primroses and wood anemones. 

 

Heavy Oak coppice with primroses and wood anemones

Thornton Common Ride with 60+ marsh orchids