Quintessentially English: Open Garden Event at Poulton Hall

The herbaceous border at Poulton Hall

Caroline and Scirard Lancelyn Green of Poulton Hall, Bebington, hosted an open walled garden and parkland event on 4th July to allow others to see the gardens with their quirky features and a biodiverse meadow. The meadow is enclosed by a species rich hedge which was laid by Wirral Countryside Volunteers. This was a National Gardens event which benefits many charities including Wirral Wildlife and New Ferry Butterfly Park. This is the fifth time that this event has been assisted by Wirral Wildlife and the best so far, as the event grows a little each year.

The Oriental Garden

There were the customary attractions of the walled garden, honeybee demonstrations, have-a- go at hedge laying, making newspaper pots and sowing seeds, tours of the meadow, storytelling, and Samaritan plant sales, all delightfully topped off with a cream tea served on china crockery.

Crowds at the Wirral Countryside Volunteer stall

Wirral Beekeepers

The Wirral Countryside Volunteers stall was much improved with their own branded gazebo, giving a very professional look, so guests could see what the stall was about at a distance. Wirral Archaeology CIC came with fascinating finds, all found within three miles of Poulton Hall. They had found a small knife blade which they thought Roman but turned out to be much older, being from the Bronze Age. The Wirral Wildlife and New Ferry Butterfly Park joint stall were making pretty patterns from flowers hammered on to a white folded sheet. There were strolling archers, Maid Marian and Robin Hood, and witches to welcome you into the magical world of the walled garden via the wardrobe.

Making pretty patterns from flowers on the Wirral Wildlife and Butterfly Park stall

The Story Garden

A carved figure in the garden

Additional attractions were the Wirral Barn Owl Trust and the Cheshire Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers, along with Maypole dancing. The Wirral Barn Owl Trust had a very impressive display and a large team of volunteers. They have installed a barn owl box on the edge of the meadow outside the hall, the meadow providing a valuable hunting ground for the barn owls. The Cheshire Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers were spinning and weaving from various natural and manufactured materials. You were encouraged to feel all the different materials from a source sample to finished product. There was the fun of Maypole dancing complete with band and caller.

Cheshire Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers stall

Wirral Barn Owl Trust stall

Two volunteers were going round with a wheelbarrow with a tea pot to bring hot drinks and homemade cake for all the volunteers on the stalls and parking duties, it took an hour to get round them all.

Car park attendants enjoying a refreshment break

Thanks to Caroline and Scirard Lancelyn-Green, the Poulton Hall Estate Team and the twenty volunteers who supported this event on the day, those who worked behind the scenes transporting gazebos and woody materials or baking cakes for the volunteers and those who came tidying up on the Monday. With all these attractions it does make a great afternoon out. Look out for more of these garden openings on the Poulton Hall web page

The gazebo assembly team

New Ferry Butterfly Park Opening Day 2026

No butterflies but still lots of fun

New Ferry Butterfly Park held its 15th Opening Day on the Sunday of the first May Bank Holiday. This event marks the start of the park’s 31st open season to the public.

Guests of honour were the local Bromborough ward councillors Jo Bird and Ruth Molyneux. The councillors said how valuable this well-loved asset is to the community and thanked all the volunteers who keep it open and ensure its continual improvements. They also talked of the importance of biodiversity to everyone.

Bromborough ward councillors Jo Bird and Ruth Molyneux opening the new container

Then the councillors declared the new container ‘open’ by pulling a red ribbon bow attached to the doors. The new container will enable the volunteers to run community visits more efficiently. Each of the three local ward councillors, including councillor Keiran Murphy, contributed £300 to the container from Wirral Borough Council funds. This, along with a crowd funding project, a grant from Vitalflo and funds from plant sales together enabled the purchase of the container, material for the associated ground works and the addition of a sloping roof, guttering and water butt to harvest rainwater. The new container will act as an art tableau in the future as an artwork will be attached to the side with money from a legacy from the late Howard Gibson.

Mike being made Honorary President of the Butterfly Park. He never likes a fuss and is in the navy blue coat with his back to the camera.

A special presentation was given to volunteer Mike Maher who has been at the forefront of the plant sales at these opening days since 2012 and in the last four years extending to weekly plants sale throughout the season, constantly renewing the stocks. The money raised is important - over £4,000. But just as important, Mike made it an opportunity to engage with the park’s visitors, swap stories and learn a little more about wildlife. Mike even charmed a couple of his plant customers into joining the wardening team. A new team will continue with the plant sales. Mike Maher was made the First Honorary president of the park and given a certificate and a president’s trophy, a miniature of the butterfly bench that many butterfly park guests have sat on. This miniature of the bench was created by Ian Ramsay, whose wife Carol created the original bench.

Presentation of the model bench to Mike

Despite the unpromising weather, the 1,118 guests enjoyed a tempting BBQ, delicious homemade cakes, a tombola, local craft stalls, plus wildlife exhibits allowing close encounters with spiders, newts, slow worms, owls and a skunk.

BBQ

The Owl Man (with owls!)

A slow worm, brought along by Wirral Amphibian and Reptile Group

Sophie Lewis shared her pond dipping pleasures (see her blog post). RECORD was there to help guests hone their recording skills of plant and animals and informing people how to contribute their records. You could make newspaper pots and sow seeds in them to take home, and of course you could buy plants lovingly grown by volunteers. There was a stall about honeybees and honey from the Park was also available.

Sophie at the pond dipping table

Sewing seeds in pots with Steve of Wirral Countryside Volunteers

Honey from very local bees

A quieter spot was the storytelling gazebo where the children were spell bound by the storyteller and entered a world of calm. They made up their own stories about butterflies and they all knew about their life cycles. This year there was a special stall from the Cheshire Guild of Spinners and Weavers. They brought four spinning wheels and samples of various fibres such as alpaca, camel, possum, plastic before they were spun. A blanket had been made up of squares of all these various materials which you could feel.

Cheshire Guild of Spinners and Weavers

Examples of woven yarn

Although the Park had more spring flowers than ever there were no butterflies on the wing due to the unpromising weather. However, Alistair Noakes of Butterfly Conservation was on hand to show the milk bottle shaped eggs of a brimstone butterfly, so at least some butterflies were seen but without their wings yet.

Phil Putwain, chair of New Ferry Butterfly Park, said,  “The success of Opening Day, year after year, is a testament to the incredible hard work and commitment of so many of the park’s volunteers and Wirral Countryside Volunteers, often including spouses, partners and children, not only in organising, preparing for and then running the Opening Day but clearing up and returning many items back from whence they came. I thought this year was a lovely local community occasion, so relaxed and friendly and sometimes meeting and re-acquainting with people that one has not seen for a while and not too overcrowded. An experience of the best of local community culture at work.”

RECORD stall

Plant sale

Thanks to Bebington Tesco for donations to the BBQ and tombola, to the Refreshment Rooms, Rock Ferry, for sponsoring 100 burgers and more importantly use of a large chest freezer, to The Easter Lily for ribbon and to New Ferry Village Hall for the loan of gazebos and tables. Thanks to the team of 42 volunteers involved in the day; the team gets stronger every opening day.

The tombola

The Park is now open every Sunday between 12 noon and 4 pm until mid-September.

So do come back on a quieter Sunday and enjoy the succession of wildlife as the season progresses. The plant sales continue throughout the season.

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

Mayor Keeps Countryside Volunteers at the Cutting Edge

The gathering crowd at the Wirral Countryside Volunteers 40th Anniversary celebrations

Mayor, Councillor Brian Kenny, and Mayoress, Helen Kenny, marked 40 years of Wirral Countryside Volunteers and helped keep them at the cutting edge at their 40th year celebration BBQ at New Ferry Butterfly Park.

First, the Mayor unveiled a foot treadle operated sandstone wheel, recently restored by the volunteers. The wheel is used for sharpening axes and billhooks which are required for effective coppicing and hedge laying. The mayor had a go turning the wheel and sharpening a billhook.

WCV's Paul Loughnane showing the Mayor how to sharpen a billhook

The mayor gave a great speech about the achievements of the volunteers making it to their 40th year and how they have worked on over 40 Wirral sites, on council sites and other areas, with rangers, Friends Groups and farmers as well as having helped with open days at New Ferry Butterfly Park and afternoon teas at Poulton Hall.

An amazing seven kilometres of hedge has been laid/restored by the Wirral Countryside Volunteers over the last 40 years, and they have kept the local Cheshire style of hedge laying alive by taking part in local and national competitions. They have promoted hedgerow restoration and have hosted twenty free hedge laying training days, which proved to be exceedingly popular with fifty-eight people on one occasion. The Volunteers hedge laying projects have been sustained by hedging stakes harvested from coppicing regimes at Thornton Wood, Eastham Country Park and New Ferry Butterfly Park. These coppice regimes have benefited the spring woodland flowers. As well as being experts in hedge laying and coppicing they are also experts in scything which they use to maintain wildflower meadows and woodland glades around Wirral and in particular at New Ferry Butterfly Park.

The 40th anniversary cake

The Mayor and Mayoress slicing the cake with a billhook

After the speech, the mayor and mayoress sliced a ceremonial cake made by the group’s treasurer. They cut the cake together using a billhook, a tool used for cutting the woody stems in hedge laying. Following this, they raised the Green Flag for New Ferry Butterfly Park which the Wirral Countryside Volunteers have had a constant and extensive input into for the last 30 years. This is the 13th consecutive year the park has gained this award.

The Mayoress raises the Green Flag with Wirral Countryside Volunteers

The mayor met many of the volunteers who were enjoying a BBQ, including Jonathan Grice, one of the original volunteers from 1985!

The BBQ team

Mayor with an original 1985 Wirral Countryside Volunteer

The mayor had a go at scything the meadows and viewed laid hedges. The enthusiasm and gusto of the mayor impressed everyone. The Mayor of Wirral was a delightful guest of honour.

The Mayor has a go at scything

Paul Loughnane, Secretary, Wirral Countryside Volunteers

Tea, Tours and Traditional Skills: Poulton Hall Open Gardens 2025

Looking through the meadow towards Poulton Hall

The Lancelyn-Greens hosted an open garden event at Poulton Hall Walled Garden and parkland as a fundraiser for Wirral Wildlife and New Ferry Butterfly Park. Poulton Hall lies secluded by woods just above the 'Dibbinsdale Dip' on Poulton Road which connects Spital Crossroads and Bromborough. Many people pass the hall in their cars, but few get a chance to visit -  however when they do, they are delighted to find such an enchanting area on their doorstep.

Meadow Tour at Poulton Hall Gardens

Celebrating National Meadows Day, the first Saturday of July, Dr Hilary Ash gave two meadow tours with the first one having the largest number of participants to date. The tour was a great chance to celebrate meadows and increase awareness about the vital role meadows play in supporting biodiversity, providing habitats for wildlife and enhancing the landscape. Hilary is a keen grass champion and is good at encouraging others to gain an interest in the 12 different grass species present. As well as the interesting flora there were a respectable number of meadow brown butterflies fluttering around the meadow. Marsh Orchids were popular, and there was a good population of Yellow Rattle, which weakens the grasses and allows more wildflowers to thrive.

The Wirral Countryside Volunteers area with a woven hurdle demonstration

Wirral Countryside Volunteers (WCV), who were set up in the parkland under the shade of the large oak, had a mock-up hedge to have a go at hedge laying. This gained a few participants and acted as a window shop for WCV, as a Willaston landowner was interested in getting the WCV to lay his hedge. The WCV will follow up and investigate this lead. There were tool sharpening demonstrations where most the of tool edges were so highly polished, they were like mirrors. Also a newspaper pot making and seed sowing seed activity. There was a display about the coppicing the volunteers conduct in Thornton Wood which is part of the Poulton Hall Estate. New this year was 'have a go at making a woven hurdle'. This hurdle was a small one, but the WCV realised a miniature one would be an even better activity for youngsters. It could be put on a table, would be easily to complete and make a take-home souvenir of the day.

The mock hedge

There was a taster archery session laid on by Wirral Archers; their coaches were good and coached complete novices until they could shoot arrows to hit the golden area in the centre of the target. Butterfly related crafts for children raised awareness of New Ferry Butterfly Park and Wirral Wildlife. It was possible to learn about honeybees, local archaeology, buy some plants sold to support the Samaritans, listen to stories, be greeted by a witch and just enjoy the main feature, the enchanting gardens followed by a cream tea. It is very much a personal and family garden - charming, quirky, full of humour and literary associations. It is a memorial to Roger Lancelyn-Green, the biographer and writer of children’s fiction.

Anyone for a cream tea?

Two volunteers were going round with a tea pot to bring tea and cake for the volunteers on stalls and parking duties, but guests hailed us for a top up of tea - not really our job, but as we had the means to hand, we were happy to oblige!

Thanks to Caroline and Scirard Lancelyn-Green, the Poulton Hall Estate Team and the twenty-two volunteers who supported this event on the day, those who worked behind the scenes transporting gazebos and woody materials, baking cakes for the volunteers and those who came tidying up on the Monday.


Paul Loughnane

(Photographs by Paul Loughnane and Ben Hart)

The Woodland Inspectors Call

 

Bluebells in Entrance coppice in Thornton Wood

The Cheshire Wildlife Trust reserves of Foxes Wood and Thornton Wood are both units that lie within Dibbinsdale Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and as such are inspected by Natural England to assess their condition. The lowest point of these woods converges at the hump backed bridge at the bottom of Thornton Common Road, near Raby Mere.

They are designated as part of an SSSI because they are classed as an ancient woodland and the question is do they still match this criteria? Do they match up to the natural communities of species that one would expect in a semi-natural woodland? Two Officers from Natural England, came to carry out a condition survey. I was delighted to be invited to take part in the survey to understand the process. Pre-determined quadrats were taken, five in Thornton Wood and four in Foxes Wood. (See map for the locations of the quadrats and woods.)

Location of quadrats in Thornton Wood and Foxes Wood

Once in the centre of the 100m² quadrat, the following measurements were recorded:

• percentage of canopy cover and species composition
• extent and species composition of under storey
• spread of age and classes of trees
• presence of over mature trees
• extent of dead wood, standing and fallen

The sapling species composition arising is also recorded and the regeneration of Sycamore. This has to be less than 50% and Beech, Laurel and Rhododendron have to be less than 10% of the quadrat to pass. The species of plants on the woodland floor were also assessed with 95% of the coverage needing to be native species to pass.

A packed lunch was enjoyed in the freshly cut Entrance Coppice where the woodland inspectors were impressed by the dense bluebell display and the several butterflies fluttering in the coppice. This survey was in mid-May when the days are getting warmer but just before the canopy opens and shades and cools the coppice floor. Wirral Wildlife spring walks are held in the woods in late April to catch the primrose and wood anemone in flower. However, it is too early to catch the woodland butterflies. Sadly, none of the four coppice areas in Thornton Wood were included in these predetermined quadrats. Luckily one clump of wood anemone was picked up in the survey, which is one of the largest clumps in Thornton Wood, approximately 2m diameter. The extensive area of Variegated Yellow Archangel in the southern tip of Thornton Wood could hardly be missed and was picked up in the survey.

Foxes Wood passed on 14 of the 16 criteria, failing due to Ash die back affecting more than 20% of the canopy and the presence of Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS). In Foxes Wood the INNS are Himalayan Balsam, Pink Purslane, Yellow Archangel, Fringe Cups, Sycamore, Beech and Scots Pine. Thornton Wood passed on 13 of the 16 criteria, failing due to Ash dieback affecting more than 20 % of the canopy and INNS such as Himalayan Balsam, Variegated Yellow Archangel, Pink Purslane, Sycamore and failed a further criteria because in one quadrat 60% of the regeneration of the trees in the quadrat were Sycamores. Very few ancient woodlands in England are in favourable condition, largely because of INNS and Sycamore.

Although the official results for both woods were “declining unfavourable”, the part of Foxes Wood managed by Cheshire Wildlife Trust and local volunteer, Tom McCullough, was in good condition and one quadrat passed all the categories. It did not even fail due to Ash die back as there are no Ash trees in that part of Foxes Wood, this area being dominated by oak. However, most of Foxes Wood which is not under CWT management was in an unfavourable declining condition. There are a few honey pots of biodiversity in Thornton Wood, in particular the coppice areas where Primrose, Greater Stitchwort, Barren Strawberry, Wood Anemone and Wood Sorrel occur. It is hoped that these areas are improving as nutrients are cropped at each coppice cut. 

Some of these favourable areas within the woods can be viewed on a guided spring walk with the Wirral Countryside Volunteers on Saturday 26th April at 9.30 am. Places are limited so booking is essential via the Ticket Tailor link below:
https://www.tickettailor.com/events/wirralcountrysidevolunteers/1468284

Note: there are no defined paths in the wood and it is steep in parts so stout footwear is required.


Paul Loughnane
Thornton Wood Reserves Manager and Secretary of Wirral Countryside Volunteers

Home Farm Hedges

Miles Duncan, the tenant of Home Farm, Landican

Home Farm, part of the Leverhulme Cheshire Estate, lies in mid Wirral in the centre of the settlement of Landican to the west of the cemetery of the same name. Wirral Countryside Volunteers (WCV) have worked there over the last seven years, laying over 700 metres of hedge with skill and dedication. Arnold Plumley, a Cheshire hedgelaying judge at local and national competitions, said “The hedges laid here are up to competition standard.”

Hedge planters at work

The volunteers ran their 14th, 19th and 20th hedge laying training days on the farm. The 14th training day was the largest training day to date with fifty-eight participants, including twenty students attracted from nearby Woodchurch High School.

WCV planted over six hundred hedgerow whips to form a hedge in the Thingwall Corner Field and planted 200 trees to form a shelterbelt. The volunteers christened the shelterbelt “Rough Shoots Wood” from the field name on the 1847 Landican tithe map. New volunteers were surprised by the effort it took to plant hedgerow whips; five hours of digging is a good workout! When hedgerow planting, lunch was in a neighbour’s garden overlooking the freshly planted hedgerow in the warm January sun.

Hedge planters having a welcome lunch break!

On the 20th hedgelaying training event in February, the volunteers were equally blessed with the weather and laid 168 metres of hedge between the preparation day, the main day itself and a follow up day. This is by far the longest length laid on a training event, reflecting the hedge used and the increased proficiency of the volunteers at hedge laying. It is pleasing to see over the years trainees have developed into trainers.

The WCV have worked in conjunction with Miles Duncan the tenant of Home Farm, Landican.  Miles is so encouraging and greatly appreciates the input of the volunteers and has given generous donations to the volunteers. A professional hedgerow condition survey was made in November 2024 showing ten kilometres of the Landican hedgerows (see below extract showing the areas tackled by the WCV). The report found 3% of hedges were largely gappy (really only self-seeded), 3% in poor condition, 36% in moderate condition and a stunning 58% in good condition.

There were 151 hedgerow trees recorded in the 10-kilometre survey which was also above the survey target of one hundred trees per 10km. When hedge laying the volunteers take the opportunity to keep some trees, mainly crab apples, to promote as future hedgerow trees.  Several kilometres of hedges were planted 10 -15 years ago and the WCV are working to lay them so that the farm looks much more hedged than it had been. Since the report, WCV have planted 150 metres of hedge and laid another 168 metres, putting another 3% of the Home Farm Landican hedges into the good or improving category. 

Map of Home Farm, showing condition of the hedges

Next winter season the volunteers hope to be working on establishing a hedgerow from the former agricultural worker cottages on the sharp bend of Landican Lane, west to Home Farm itself and continue to host further hedge laying training days at Home Farm. Look at the Wirral Countryside Volunteers website in the autumn for further updates.

Paul Loughnane, Secretary, Wirral Countryside Volunteers