Butterfly Park Open Day - 8th May

Don't forget to put this date in your diary.

Tombola prizes and homemade cakes welcome. Help also needed to put up and clear away or to take a turn on a stall or with pond dipping.

Contact Paul or Hilary for more details if you want to help.

Hoylake Food Fair

Abseil for Cheshire Wildlife Trust

Swarm to Ness Gardens

The future of the UK bee population is under threat. On Sunday 13th March, Ness Gardens are hosting a full day of bee activities to support the ‘Save our Bees’ campaign as part of National Science and Engineering Week.

You will be able to test your navigation skills in the 'Bee-line' orienteering course, plant bee-friendly flower seeds in plant pots of your own creation, explore the world of honey through your tastebuds with honey sampling, learn all about the many different bee species from local experts, and much more.

Ness gardens staff will also be installing hives on the day which will be home to new bee colonies. These bees will collect pollen and nectar from Ness’s award-winning bee garden.

Buzz on down to this family friendly event and learn what you can do to help the bees before its too late...

Wildlife Gardening event

Save England's Forests

Whilst welcoming Government intentions to abandon plans for disposal of public forests, the campaign to protect and restore England's ancient forests must go on, warns the Woodland Trust.

"We welcome the opportunity for a more considered approach to the future of our much loved woodlands but our campaign continues. Whilst we welcome the removal of threats to public access, there is still an acute need for better protection of Ancient Woodland, our equivalent of the rainforests, and restoration of ancient woods planted with conifers. Even if there are no sales of publicly owned forests, the worst of all worlds would be for there to be no change to the loopholes that have allowed 850 ancient woods to be threatened by built development over the past decade. Ministers have made strong commitments over the past few weeks to increase protection for ancient woods, and we will be holding them to these commitments.

As I write, there is a proposal to water down protection for ancient woodland in the planning system. We need your help to defeat this proposal by 28th February.

What's it all about:
www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/en/campaigning/planning-changes/Pages/default.aspx

Take action now:
www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/en/campaigning/planning-changes/Pages/planningpolicychanges.aspx

We must not let public passion and support for our woods and forests die down and now that ownership is no longer an issue, we must not lose sight of the need to increase protection for ancient forests and restore those planted with conifers, a once in a lifetime opportunity for woodland conservation.

Our campaign will continue and we urge everyone to continue to sign our petition and transfer their passion about who owns England's public woods to ensuring that all of England’s woods survive in the future".

Thank you,
Sue Holden,
Chief Executive Woodland Trust

Good news and bad news

An otter has been found in Wirral!

Unfortunately the animal was electrocuted on the railway line not far from Meols Meadow SSSI. Its body was recovered by Duncan Bevell, a Biodiversity Officer from the Environment agency who was alerted to it by a train driver.