An Amazing Apple Afternoon

Some of the apples on display at Apple Afternoon at the Butterfly Park.
Photo: Aidan Mangan

On Sunday 12th October we celebrated locally grown apples with our third New Ferry Butterfly Park Apple Afternoon.

Even more people came this year (estimate 60 - 70) - thank you to everyone who visited and our wonderful volunteers who make it possible to hold such an event.

Visitors to the Apple Afternoon. Photo: Aidan Mangan

The first Apple Day was organised on 21st October 1990 by Common Ground to celebrate apples and orchards. Many traditional orchards were being dug up and the country became reliant on imported apples, despite about 3,000 apple varieties having been grown in the UK. The aim was to bring the wide variety of local apples to the attention of the public.

A history of apples and Apple Day

At our event we have a traditional wooden apple press and other equipment. Apples are chopped, minced then put into the press. Several people collected apples for juicing and volunteers, including some Friends of Dibbinsdale, manned the apple press. Visitors could help with the juicing process, turn the handle and taste freshly pressed juice. Many people took some juice away with them.

Chopping apples, ready to be minced up and pressed.

Turning the handle on the apple press to make the juice flow

We had 28 varieties of apples picked from orchards at Brimstage, Upton Hall School and Ness Gardens plus varieties from some of our volunteer’s gardens. We are grateful for all these donations.

The display of locally grown apples on the tasting table

What wonderful names these old varieties have - some dating back to the 17th century. Some like Peasgood’s Nonsuch (one of my favourite names) are named after the person who grew them. This one was grown in the 1850s by Mrs Peasgood. Scrumptious is presumably named due to its taste. The name of Red Love apple denotes the colour of its skin and its flesh too, and was a great favourite with the children who tasted it. A full list of the varieties we had for display and tasting is given below.

The homeland of domestic apples lies in the fruit forests of Kazakhstan and surrounding regions. Apples belong to the genus Malus. Brimstage Orchard has a Siberian crab apple, Malus baccata. It is thought that breeding from these sorts of apples and selection over many centuries led to the many varieties of apple we can grow today. Apples will not breed true from seed, fruit from offspring may be better or worse than from their parent tree. Humans would choose the best to keep. Another problem is that apples do not grow well from cuttings and need to be grafted on to a rootstock to grow on. Just think of all the work that has preceded the development of the next apple you bite into.

Siberian crab apple Malus baccata, from Brimstage Orchard

Linda Higginbottom

New Ferry Butterfly Park Volunteer Coordinator



Apples on display

Annie Eiizabeth
Arthur Barnes
Blenheim Orange
Bramley
Catshead
Charles Ross
Cox’s Orange Pippin
Crawley Beauty
Discovery
Eccleston Pippin
Egremont Russett
Fiesta
Golden Noble
Grenadier
Herefordshire Russett
James Grieve
Jupiter
Lord Clyde
Lord Derby
Lord Lambourne
Millicent Barnes
Red Falstaff
Peasgood’s Nonsuch
Red Love
Scrumptious
Spartan
St Edmund’s Pippin
Worcester Pearmain

30th Anniversary of the Butterfly Park: 2024

Record breaking crowds attended New Ferry Butterfly Park Open Day on 5th May, 2024. The sun came out, the butterflies were flying, and crowds of local people came flooding in. 1,400 altogether, which was the highest attendance to date. Several species of butterfly were on the wing: Brimstones, Orange Tips, Speckled Woods, Holly Blues and Commas to name a few. The best turnout of butterflies on an opening day ever.

The new feature unveiled this year was a series of six bespoke tiles on the brick pillars of the silver jubilee entrance gates. Nigel Lanceley, the Deputy Lieutenant of Merseyside unveiled the tiles and spoke about the dedications behind each tile. 

Left to right: Nigel Lanceley, Deputy Lord Lieutenant for Merseyside; Freya Levy, artist who drew the gate plaques; Stephen Ross, chair of Wirral Wildlife; Charles Neame, Vice chair of Cheshire Wildlife Trust; Paul Loughnane, Honorary secretary of New Ferry Butterfly Park Committee 

Tiles were dedicated to individuals or groups who have significantly helped the Park. The tiles artworks were created by Freya Levy and as well as being turned into tiles, the art works are also available as greeting cards.

There was an array of displays from slow worms via spiders to owls and even a skunk, together with Girl Guides, jewellery, a wonderful plant sale, investigating plant pollinators, smoothies by bicycle, RECORD, children’s activities, homemade cakes and a BBQ. Being the early May Day Bank Holiday weekend, there was Maypole dancing. Guests all left with the smiling faces of having had a good day out.

A very busy New Ferry Butterfly Park Open Day in 2024

2024 was the year we decided to revamp the promotional leaflet. The front now has an illustration of the Park’s Silver Jubilee Gates, complete with the new decorative tiles inset into the supporting brick pillars. The leaflet has an email contact address, QR codes, a link to the Park’s Facebook page and another to the Wirral Wildlife website, both full of useful information about the Park and ongoing activities. These extra resources give extra life and vitality to the leaflet. Two art works within Vicky Hose’s original 2006 illustrated map have been changed, to feature creatures that visitors are more likely to encounter. One of these was first recorded breeding at the Park and Wirral in 2014. Freya Levy, an artist new to the park, has blended these images into the leaflet following style of the 2012 version.

The updated Butterfly Park leaflet

 

The map inside the leaflet, drawn by Vicky Hose with additional species added by Freya Levy

New Ferry Butterfly Park played host to an art installation which was last seen in Liverpool’s Albert Dock when it was created as part of a Taylor Town trail to coincide with the Taylor Swift concerts. It landed at the Butterfly Park in September and is a symbol of transformation and beauty. The weather on the last opening afternoon of the season could not have been more different to the day the installation first appeared. A steady downpour deterred a lot of people but some bravely came to have their photographs taken standing in front of the installation.

That afternoon we were pleased to welcome Justin Madders (second from the right in photo below). He is MP for Ellesmere Port & Bromborough and his constituency includes New Ferry. Volunteers from the Butterfly Park, Friends of Dibbinsdale and Friends of Lowfields Wood spoke to him about local environmental concerns.

The Taylor Swift butterfly artwork installation

Sunday 13th October was a warm October day - perfect weather for the second New Ferry Butterfly Park Apple Afternoon to celebrate locally grown apples.

At our event, John Bateman collected apples and manned the apple press so that visitors could taste freshly pressed juice. Many people took some juice away with them.

Local apple varieties on display at the Butterfly Park

John Bateman supervising the juice making

The amazing efforts of all our volunteers was recognised by RHS North West In Bloom.

In July, Jason Lambert, an RHS Judge, came on a visit. Volunteers from different areas explained what they did and we gave him a comprehensive tour of the Butterfly Park. He admitted to being very impressed by what he saw and told us that assessment of entries would take place in July and August. We wouldn’t know the outcome of this until the Awards Ceremony in October.

On October 30th, three volunteers set off to the venue at Bolton Wanderers FC stadium to await the results.

There are 5 levels of award, one to five. Imagine our delight when, on our first time of entering, the Butterfly Park won a Level 5 - Outstanding award.  However, that wasn’t all. We were presented with a certificate and trophy as winner of the NWIB Gardening for Wildlife (Biodiversity) award.

What an accolade for New Ferry Butterfly Park and a fantastic end to 2024.

Left to right: Phil (NFBP chairman), Linda (representing NFBP volunteers),
and Steve (representing Wirral Countryside Volunteers), with the RHS judge
at the North West In Bloom award ceremony

New Ferry Butterfly Park's Outstanding award!

The NWIB Gardening for Wildlife (Biodiversity) award

Amazing Apple Afternoon at the Butterfly Park

Sunday 13th October was a warm October day - perfect weather for the second New Ferry Butterfly Park Apple Afternoon to celebrate locally grown apples.

Even more people came this year - thank you to everyone who visited and our volunteers who make it possible to hold such an event.

The first Apple Day was organised on 21st October 1990 by Common Ground to celebrate apples and orchards. Many traditional orchards were being dug up and the country became reliant on imported apples despite about 3,000 apple varieties having been grown in the UK. The aim was to bring the wide variety of local apples to the attention of the public.

At our event, John Bateman collected apples and manned the apple press so that visitors could taste freshly pressed juice. Many people took some juice away with them.

Mincing up the apples ready for juicing

John Bateman supervising the juice making

We had 28 varieties of apples picked from orchards at Brimstage, Upton Hall School and Ness Gardens. plus varieties from some of our volunteer’s gardens. What wonderful names these old varieties have - some dating back to the 17th century. Some like Lord Derby and Millicent Barnes are named after people. Catshead is named because of its shape. Red Love for the colour of its skin and flesh. A full list of the varieties we had for display and tasting is given below.

Local apple varieties on display at the Butterfly Park

Our apple peeling machine is always popular - who can create the longest piece of unbroken peel? This year the longest was 205cm. Common Ground used to run a national competition and one year someone from our Apple Day won the under 16 competition with a piece 269 cm long. No one has beaten this yet. Maybe at our 2025 Apple Afternoon?

Can you peel a whole apple without breaking the peel?

Wirral Wildlife has been holding Apple Days for many years and one little boy has always come to join in.

John, a fan of Wirral Wildlife's Apple Days,
taken at Eastham Country Park in 2016.

Over the years John has grown taller, although I have only grown older!

John at this year's Apple Afternoon!

Linda Higginbottom

New Ferry Butterfly Park Volunteer Coordinator

Apples on display:

Annie Elizabeth

Arthur Barnes

Blenheim Orange

Bramley

Catshead

Chiver’s Delight

Cox’s Orange Pippin

Crawley Beauty

Eccleston Pippin

Egremont Russett

Ellinson’s Orange

Fiesta

Golden Noble

Greensleeves

James Grieve

Jupiter

Lord Derby

Lord Lambourne

Malus Royalty

Millicent Barnes

Red Falstaff

Ribston Pippin

Peasgood’s Nonsuch

Red Love

Spartan

St Edmund’s Pippin

Tydesley Late

Withington Welter

Apple Afternoon at New Ferry Butterfly Park

A tasty display of apple varieties next to our apple information board

Sunday 8th October was a warm October day - perfect weather for all things appley. Volunteers at New Ferry Butterfly Park organized an afternoon to celebrate locally grown apples. Thank you to everyone who visited.

John has been coming to Apple Days since he was about 4 years old!

The first Apple Day was organised on 21st October 1990 by Common Ground to celebrate apples and orchards. Many traditional orchards were being dug up and the country became reliant on imported apples despite about 3,000 apple varieties having been grown in the UK. The aim was to bring the wide variety of local apples to the attention of the public.

A selection of apples to take home

Many groups joined in the annual celebration and Wirral Wildlife began organising Apple Days. As far as I know the first Wirral Wildlife Apple Day was held on 19th October 1996 at Bob’s Orchard in Eastham.

Using the traditional wooden apple press to make juice

Later it moved to Brimstage Hall and then we added a second day at Eastham Country Park. In the last Apple Day before Covid (Wirral Wildlife’s 22nd Apple Day) we had 28 varieties of apples from orchards at Brimstage, Willaston and Upton Hall School. We also had enough apples to juice using our traditional wooden press. The Mersey Morris Men danced and the Tree Wardens sold apple goodies like pies and jam.

Checking the apple juicing equipment

This year we decided to reinstate a smaller version – an Apple Afternoon at New Ferry Butterfly Park. John Bateman collected apples and manned the apple press so that visitors could taste freshly pressed juice. We had 21 varieties of apples picked from Brimstage and Upton Hall School orchards plus two varieties from the NFBP committee chairman’s garden. What wonderful names these old varieties have – some dating back to the 17th century. Some varieties like Peasgood’s Nonsuch are named after the person who raised them. Others like Lord Lambourne are named after a person. Catshead is named because of its shape, Red Love for the colour of its skin and flesh and Bee Bench after the tradition of taking bee hives to orchards to pollinate the flowers. A full list of our varieties is given below.

The peeling machine in action

Our apple peeling machine is always popular – who can create the longest piece of unbroken peel? This year the longest was 266 cm. Common Ground used to run a national competition and one year someone from our Apple Day won the under 16 competition with a piece 269 cm long. Maybe someone will break this record next year.

Can you peel a whole apple without breaking the peel?

So watch our Event listings for 2024 and put the Apple afternoon onto your calendar.


Apple varieties on display:

Annie Elizabeth
Arthur Barnes
Ashmead’s Kernel
Bee bench
Bramley
Burr Knott
Catshead
Court Pendu Plat
Crawley Beauty
Egremont Russett
Golden Noble
Grenadier
James Grieve
Lord Derby
Lord Lambourne
Peasgood’s nonsuch
Phil’s cooker
Red Love
Redsleeves
Ribston Pippin
Withington Welter
Worcester Pearmain

Apple Days Revisited

Display of apple varieties at Apple Day

This year should have been the 23rd Apple Day organised by Wirral Wildlife. As it has had to be cancelled I thought I would look at the history of our Apple Days and what has been achieved.

Apple Day was initiated on October 21st 1990 by Common Ground at an event in Covent Garden, London. They had noticed a decline in local orchards and apple varieties and wanted to create a ‘calendar event’ to remind everyone about the relevance of local apples and orchards.

As far as I know the first Wirral Wildlife Apple Day was held on 19th October 1996 at Bob’s Orchard in Eastham. The original organiser was John McGee and, when he moved to live in the south of England, Frank Cottrell took over until 2010. My first personal records date back to 2005 when I was organising some children’s activities. Common Ground had a competition to see how long a continuous piece of apple peel could be produced using a knife or a mechanical peeler. I set up a mechanical peeler for the children to use and measured the peel taken off the apple. The secret was to have as round an apple as possible, not necessarily an enormous apple. In 2006 someone from our Brimstage Apple Day won the national Under 16 Competition with peel 269 cm long and in 2008 we had another winner from Eastham Country Park with a peel 240cm long.

The Longest Apple Peel competition

The Longest Apple Peel competition

The Longest Apple Peel competition

We used to hold two Apple Days – on the Saturday at Brimstage Hall and on the Sunday at Eastham Country Park. As our days attracted more and more people and got very busy for a small band of volunteers, in 2012 we moved to one event only at Eastham Country Park. The original Apple Days were held around October 21st but we noticed local apples were ripening earlier. We moved Apple Day to the first weekend in October and then since 2015 we have held it on the last Sunday in September.

Home made apple pie at Brimstage Hall

Apples on display at Brimstage Hall

We have always had on display (and for tasting) as many locally grown apples as possible and in 2018 hit a peak of 28 varieties.

Apple varieties at Eastham Country Park

Apple varieties at Eastham Country Park

These come from the trees in Brimstage Hall Orchard, Willaston Community Orchard, Upton Hall Orchard and others from people’s gardens.

Apple trees at Brimstage Hall orchard

A closer look at the fruit on an apple tree

The wooden apple press is popular with everyone and children love to help squash the chopped apples, mash them up and then turn the handle on the press. The resulting juice looks a bit brown but I bet it is the tastiest apple juice around.

Chopping up apples ready to be pressed into juice

Crushing the apples with a big stick!

Crushing the apples

Mincing up the crushed apples

Turning the handle on the apple press

The tastiest apple juice

As well as the apple peeler we have other things for the children to do like making badges, writing apple poems, colouring and wordsearch.

Making pollinator mobiles

Coloured in apple shapes and apple poems hung on the tree

Coloured in apple shapes

Making badges

For the last few years Lena and her team have brought home made apple products like cake, crumble and apple butter to sell.

Home made cake, crumble, jam and apple butter

Another highlight is the presence of Mersey Morris Men who dance for us come rain or shine. Although last year the pouring rain meant it was a bit of a squeeze inside the visitor centre!

The Mersey Morris Men

Music from the Mersey Morris Men

Volunteers wanted for the Mersey Morris Men

The Mersey Morris Men performing in the courtyard at Eastham Country Park

The Mersey Morris Men performing indoors on a rainy Apple Day at Eastham Country Park

Our aim has been to highlight the range and taste of locally grown apples as opposed to the limited range available at the supermarket. We hope to convince everyone of the value of ancient orchards and new community orchards for both people and wildlife.