Crown Commercial Services Corporate Day at Butterfly Park

Claire Hastewell from Crown Commercial Services has written a blog post for us, following their corporate workday at New Ferry Butterfly Park.

At Crown Commercial Services (CCS) social value and giving something back to our communities is important to us. Supporting and investing in our local communities' health and wellbeing, the improvement of the local environment, and strengthening community cohesion, ensuring the government is getting good value for money for its contracts.

The CCS team at the Butterfly Park

A team of volunteers from CCS came down to New Ferry Butterfly Park at the beginning of March. The local volunteers made sure they got good value from their volunteering. The team of six achieved so much and were a great boost to the park.

Four square meters of turf were removed from over the railway track beds to encourage carpets of bird’s foot trefoil, a key butterfly plant.

104 hedging stakes were harvested from Hogs Head Coppice.

An impressive number of hedging stakes

15 meters of hedge was laid in Charlie’s Field.

Laying the hedge

Hedgelayers at work!

A metal frame from a former park sign at the Brick Pit was recycled and relocated to the park’s entrance. This will be turned into a permanent mount for leaflet dispensers (and will be much appreciated by the summer wardens).

The last bit of landscaping at the lower pond was completed with the butterfly bench set back from the pond edge and sandstone blocks and turf used to cover the exposed membrane.

The pond landscaping nearing completion

A woven hazel picket fence was made from the freshly cut coppice material and was used to secure this area. It is an attractive feature in itself.

Last July we worked on the pond, puddling the protective layer of clay around the edges. We were delighted to see the progress from last time and knowing that the pond will now be open this year to visitors will be fantastic.

The butterfly bench is in place and the turf has been cut for edging the pond 

On the lunch time tour there was much interest in the mistletoe and a comma butterfly, the park's logo, was seen on the wing - the first butterfly record of the year. Lunch time provided a chance for employees to chat and make new contacts. Some of CCS team delegates did not really know each other as they came from across multiple teams but do now, with this shared experience.

The feedback from the volunteers was great, "fulfilled and amazing achievements all round, working with great volunteers. They all made us feel very welcome and made the day fun as well as a learning experience."

We look forward to returning with a team from CCS towards the end of summer to see the Butterfly Park in full bloom.