A Hot ‘Cool’ Day and a Windy Biodiversity Day

Wirral Wildlife volunteers were at two local events in May.

The Wirral Wildlife stall at Cool Heswall

‘Cool Heswall’ was held on May 14th in Hill House Gardens. It was organised by the Joint Rotary Environment Group to showcase local organisations with an environmental message to impart.

Visitors and stalls in the sunshine at Cool Heswall

We took information about our reserves, including New Ferry Butterfly Park and have since welcomed visitors who first heard about us there. We also had paper craft activities and bug houses for children to make. More than 30 other organisations were there including Wirral Countryside Volunteers, Wirral Borough Council's Tree Planting Officer, Planet Heswall, Waste Not Want Not, Friends of Hill House Gardens, Merseyside Cycling Campaign, Wirral Wombles and Our Dee Estuary. Visitors could find out about local flora and fauna, play a recycling game, take home a free native tree, make a paper seed pot and plant a seed, taste vegetarian soup and curry and lots more.

Wirral Countryside Volunteers stall,
where visitors could make a paper seed pot and plant a seed.

On May 26th a Biodiversity Day was held on the school field at Castleway Primary School, Leasowe. The day was inspired by the Wirral’s Wild 50 monthly activity sheets that Wirral Wildlife created to mark their 50th anniversary last year. These were made available to local schools. The event was organised jointly by Lynn Struve, Eco Schools Programme Manager for Wirral Council, Diana Powell, CEO of Wirral Unplugged and Naomi Graham, Project Manager at Wirral Environmental Network.

Learning about butterflies and their lifecycles at the Biodiversity Day.
Photo: Diana Powell

Several primary schools brought pupils to experience a wide range of activities. We had information about our reserves and the plants and animals found there. We looked at the life cycles of natterjack toads and butterflies and considered camouflage and symmetry. The pupils also had opportunity to look at the wildflower meadow and recent tree planting at Castleway, to learn about hedgehogs, make models of different animals and sow seeds.

Making a fold out lifecycle of the natterjack toad.
Photo: Diana Powell.

Unlike ‘Cool Heswall’ where the sun shone all day this day was damp and extremely windy and not everyone’s gazebo survived the day upright. Nevertheless the pupils were full of enthusiasm and chasing paper across the field added to the fun.

Learning how to identify trees from their leaves with Wirral Eco Schools

We must give a big thank you to our volunteers without whose involvement we wouldn’t be able to participate in these events.