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| Common blue butterfly at New Ferry Butterfly Park. Photo: June Mortazavi |
New Ferry Butterfly Park is open for visiting from May to mid-September. Now we have reached the end of this year's season, here is a review of what we got up to.
In May, the Butterfly Park celebrated its 27th season of being open to the public with the unveiling of the Silver Jubilee entrance gates.
https://wirralwildlife.blogspot.com/2022/05/two-new-sets-of-wings-for-butterfly-park.html
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| The Silver Jubilee gates at the Butterfly Park |
Including that Open Day there were 2,453 visitors to New Ferry Butterfly Park this year, which is a good recovery in numbers from the Covid pandemic. There were 16 guided visits this year: 2 schools, 13 uniformed groups (Beavers, Rainbows etc) and 1 adult group of refugees, totalling 366 people. The Butterfly Park also welcomed Bebington Photographic Society and Cheshire Bee Group and Dr Hilary Ash gave two plant identification courses. Over the last 19 years an impressive total of 29,794 visitors have visited.
The new entrance gates have helped with raising the profile of the Butterfly Park and the regular plant stall has been an additional attraction. Thanks are due to Mike Maher for hosting the plant stall every Sunday and to the Wardening Team who all make the Park so welcoming and engaging for our visitors. Wirral Countryside Volunteers have continued to scythe the grassland, lay hedges and physically maintain the site. It is thanks to all these efforts that we were awarded a Green Flag for the tenth year running.
https://wirralwildlife.blogspot.com/2022/08/raising-green-flag-at-new-ferry.html
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| Raising the 2022/23 Green Flag |
Sunday 18th September fell in Heritage Week and was an extra opening date. There were 60 visitors on the day including 30 for the two guided heritage walks.
On Sunday 11th and 18th September nine Eco Art flower sculptures were brought to the park, hence the extra opening on Sunday 18th. Thanks are due to June Mortazavi, John Bateman and Lynn Struve for helping in the logistics of transporting these artworks back and forth. The giant flowers were well received by the visitors.
https://wirralwildlife.blogspot.com/2022/09/eco-art-at-butterfly-park.html
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| White clover (left), dandelion (middle) and spear thistle (right) sculptures made by Alison Bailey Smith from repurposed materials |
We held an ‘End of Season’ BBQ for volunteers and, despite the heavy rain that afternoon, 22 people turned up. A October workday had 20 volunteers, including some students from Liverpool John Moores University Conservation Society working at the Park. Some apple pressing was expertly organised by John Bateman with 25 litres of apple juice being pressed. Volunteers got a bottle of apple juice to take home.
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| John Bateman collecting apples for juicing |
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| Mashing up the apples - the start of the process of turning them into juice |
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| Pressing juice from the apple pulp |
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| The resulting apple juice! |
We were also pleased to install two new 1000 litre translucent water butts which have now been covered in a carpet to reduce algal growth. In October the 2000 litres of water collected in them was added to the pond which had suffered from this year’s lack of rain and the water level was raised by 5cm.
We continue to record wildlife in the Park and were thrilled by some unusual sightings.
In May a dingy skipper butterfly, which has not been seen at the park for over two decades, was photographed.
https://wirralwildlife.blogspot.com/2022/05/two-new-sets-of-wings-for-butterfly-park.html
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| Dingy skipper. Photo: Roy Lowry |
In June, Roy Lowry noticed a fly which struck him as very different. It was confirmed as a locust blowfly - an African species that has been reported more frequently in recent years as a vagrant in the south of England. Definitely a first for the Butterfly Park. Roy is continuing to photograph and identify insects at the Park and has recorded 34 species of hoverflies this season!
https://wirralwildlife.blogspot.com/2022/06/a-most-unusual-visitor-to-new-ferry.html
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| Locust blowfly. Photo: Roy Lowry |
In July Colin Millington photographed a white letter hairstreak butterfly. This species was last recorded at the Butterfly Park on 5th July 2003. We rarely see them as they are feeding on the honeydew in the tree canopy (especially on elms).
https://wirralwildlife.blogspot.com/2022/07/white-letter-day.html
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| White letter hairstreak butterfly. Photo: Colin Millington |
These are a great endorsement of our habitat management for invertebrates at the Park.
We are now looking ahead to 2023 with our Open Day on April 30th. Hope to see you there.
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