Spring/ Summer 2024 Prize Quiz: Winner and Answers

Snow bunting, the answer to clue 2.
Photo: Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren, Wikimedia Commons

Very many thanks to everyone who entered the spring/ summer quiz on the theme of amber listed birds. Your support is very much appreciated.

We received a total of 143 entries, of which 58 were all correct. We had a random draw to select the winner, who is Pam Kellett, of Birdwell, Barnsley. Congratulations Pam!

The answers to the clues are listed below, followed by some notes about the ones that seemed to cause the most difficulty.

1. Baseball player after bivalve mollusc. (13). OYSTERCATCHER

2. Owns tangled string of little flags. (4, 7). SNOW BUNTING   

3. Actor (“They don’t like it up ‘em!”) – only Clive knows the beginnings. (7). DUNNOCK 

4. Late change in this clue. (4). TEAL

5. This one may be found in the Isle of Wight, I’m assured. Shanklin, Ventnor and Cowes are places to look apparently. (8). REDSHANK

6. Lab grew reeds to accommodate this one. (5, 7). SEDGE WARBLER

7. London borough put to good use, without German pronoun. (5, 5). BRENT GOOSE

8. I’m glad law has been changed. (7). GADWALL

9. Document from the pope with a little Swiss currency and a short distance. (9). BULLFINCH

10. With amazing luck, she’d find one of these! (8). SHELDUCK

11. Othello, perhaps, with an egg producer. (7). MOORHEN

12. Roughly push relative backwards. (8). SHOVELER

13. This one I hear would rhyme with 27. (4, 6). WOOD PIGEON

14. Among auks, the plumage of the Razorbill is darkest, relative to the other species. (7). KESTREL

15. Yellow Submarine, Mama Mia, or Blue Suede Shoes, say, with a fungal infection of the mouth! (4, 6). SONG THRUSH

16. Strange thing on pickle container. (8). NIGHTJAR

17. Stuart queen, surrounded by gin and tonic. (6). GANNET

18. It sounds as though this one is especially fond of the fruit of the vine. (4, 6). GREY PLOVER

19. www.3ls.ioer.bar – hack it! (6, 7). WILLOW WARBLER

20. Wood-smoothing tool for Heather. (10). SANDERLING

21. Strangely breeding until the Italian departed. (4, 7). REED BUNTING

22. Whose rare old tango danced for this one? (5-5, 3). SHORT-EARED OWL

23. Listen! Is that George Bush’s vice-president? (5). QUAIL

24. Twenty fl.oz. of French garlic. (7). PINTAIL

25. Let colour begin! (8). REDSTART

26. The parson at Robin’s funeral. (4). ROOK

27. One of the Big Six power companies, wearing judge’s headgear. (6). WIGEON

28. Smaller dupe that Cluedo victim bet on. (6, 5-6, 4). LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL 

29. You French, with the King’s fleet, begin seeing trouble over Northern Europe. (9). TURNSTONE

30. Who was prone to convulsions? (7, 4). WHOOPER SWAN

31. This one confused Ange Gray. (8). GARGANEY

32. Has this seabird come all the way from Corsica or Sicily, say? (13, 4). MEDITERRANEAN GULL

33. We absorb popular song – all time leaders follow thro’. (11). WHITETHROAT

34. This one sank its teeth into a seabird. (7). BITTERN

35. Sheffield Wednesday fan followed Devonshire river to New York. (5, 3). TAWNY OWL

36. Female member of the armed forces before 1993. (4). WREN

37. This one will wriggle at ya! (4, 7). GREY WAGTAIL

38. This one would be a rough or vicious bride according to Spooner. (5, 7). MARSH HARRIER 

39. Just what is needed for eating houmous! (6). DIPPER

40. Pay Dick Fletcher, scramble, and lose kilo! (4, 10). PIED FLYCATCHER

41. “Come on, turn!” he shouted. (6, 4). COMMON TERN

42. Stephanie, 3rd in the 2023 Women’s PGA. Did she defeat someone on the last hole? (6, 5). MEADOW PIPIT

43. To identify this one, start with a voice one can easily tell. (6). AVOCET

44. Starting price for missile, and one who advocates an aggressive strategy. (11). SPARROWHAWK

45. A taste of liquor in Kent or Sussex. (5). SNIPE

46. Down on the bed, keeping you warm. (5). EIDER

47. Between lock and barrel, American plunged. (5, 4). STOCK DOVE

48. Tie up. (4). KNOT

49. Thermal energy in Sunderland’s river. (8). WHEATEAR

50. Liverpool footballer with number 11 or 15 of rugby union team. (7). REDWING

Notes

5. REDSHANK – Hidden in the sentences (- assuRED. SHANKlin,-).

9. BULLFINCH – A document from the pope is a “papal bull”.

10. SHELDUCK – an anagram, but a surprising number of people spelt it with two Ls. Oddly it was all the ducks that a lot of people spelt wrongly: 8 GADWALL, 12 SHOVELER, 24 PINTAIL, 27 WIGEON, and 31 GARGANEY.

13. WOOD PIGEON – Someone pointed out that in the published Amber List, this is just one word, Woodpigeon. We simply hadn’t noticed that!  Fortunately it hasn’t caused anyone a problem – all entrants got this one right.

14. KESTREL – hidden in the sentence. The reference to auks and razorbills confused a number of entrants!

18. GREY PLOVER – (Grape lover!) Some people put Wine thrush. This is apparently a dialect name for the Redwing, but it is not well known. The judges didn’t allow it.

19. WILLOW WARBLER – an anagram of WWWLLLIOERBAR.

28. LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL – there were a number of variations, none of which was accepted (Little and Great instead of Lesser; Black-headed instead of Black-backed.)

30. WHOOPER SWAN – some didn’t spot the anagram; others couldn't spell “Whooper” correctly.

32. MEDITERRANEAN GULL – perhaps not surprisingly, a lot of people struggled to spell this one.

33. WHITETHROAT – a lot of people put Nightingale, which doesn’t fit the clue and is a red-listed bird.

38. MARSH HARRIER – spoonerism is “harsh marryer”. We liked House Sparrow (“spouse harrow”), but this bird is red-listed.

41. COMMON TERN – just say it out loud!

43. AVOCET – initial letters of “A Voice One Can Easily Tell”.

50. REDWING – several people put Ruddock. That covers the Liverpool footballer, but Ruddock is another name for Robin, which is green-listed.

Not just any corporate workday, this was an M&S corporate workday

Seven employees from M&S Bank came to help out at New Ferry Butterfly Park and with nine of our in-house volunteers they were well catered for. Following a short briefing they split into three groups, one group turning compost bins and using scythes to mow the grass in Charlie’s Field, a second repairing the wire fence in Charlie’s Field and a third group installing a water butt by the tool container.

Tobi, one of the employees, was proudly sporting calluses on his hand, developed whilst scything, something that never happens on a keyboard. His team managed to cut a quarter of Charlie’s Field which is impressive as it was Tobi’s only second time scything. The fencing team replaced half a dozen fence posts and re-tensioned the wire. The park’s boundary is more secure now.

Unloading the gravel

The water butt team built a frame of railway sleepers behind the tool store and then filled it with gravel to make a base for a large water container, an intermediate bulk container (IBC) which holds 1000 litres of water. The M&S team worked strenuously and unloaded a generous ton of gravel in about 20 minutes. The newly installed water butt store means the park can harvest and store 3000 litres of rainwater, collected from the roof of the tool container for topping up the pond. The exit tap is connected to a post and the tap is high enough to get a watering can under. Bring on the rain! Thanks go to Richard Sawdon who helped with the supply and delivery of the IBCs and gravel and to Peter Martin for masterminding the project plumbing all IBCs together.

Lifting the IBC

IBC daisy chained together, all filled to equal levels

At lunch the M&S Bank employees brought some ice lollies for everyone to share from the local supermarket, so welcome on such a hot day. After lunch a tour of the park was given. It was a sunny day and the most butterflies so far this year were spotted. Large white, large skipper, brimstone, holly blue, speckled wood, comma, peacock, gatekeeper and meadow brown butterflies were all seen on the wing. There was much interest in the pond with efts (baby newts) and dragonflies fliting around.

After the tour our M&S Bank guests were asked to raise the green flag which they were delighted to do. This is one of only two community Green Flag Awards given in the Wirral this year, the other one being Woodchurch Holy Cross Church grounds. Then M&S bank employees asked the in-house volunteers to raise the flag. Pictures below - which team is which?

2024 Green Flag raising M&S team

The Butterfly Park's in-house team raising the 2024 Green Flag 

Pip Hughes, Sustainability Lead and Hands Up Lead at M&S Bank, who organised the event said “I returned from my long weekend to some lovely emails from the volunteers who came out to you on Tuesday. They thoroughly enjoyed the day and said you and your team were very welcoming and they loved the varied nature of the work they were doing. They all said they loved being part of the flag raising as well!” Pip added “The feedback has been so good from this week’s event that other colleagues I am sure will be inspired to help!”.

These corporate workdays are a boost to the park, it stimulates our own volunteers and allows projects to be undertaken which we might not have the volunteer resources for. This M&S Bank corporate workday was timely as the next day the park was being judged for a Britain in Bloom award.

Paul Loughnane, Reserve Manager, New Ferry Butterfly Park

Cutting With The Best at Poulton Hall

Caroline and Scirard Lancelyn Green of Poulton Hall, Bebington, hosted an open walled garden and parkland event to allow others to see the quirky features and biodiverse meadow which is enclosed by a species rich hedge, laid by Wirral Countryside Volunteers. This was a fundraiser event for Wirral Wildlife and New Ferry Butterfly Park.

The cream tea team relaxing after making 120 cream teas

Caroline rang the night before to see if the cream tea making team could come early due to a sizeable number of pre–booked ticket sales. Caroline was impressed that the volunteers prepared 120 cream teas in about an hour and a quarter. That is 120 scones, sliced, buttered, jammed and creamed. It was a five-person team, a gofer, a scone slicer, a butter spreader, a jam dispenser and a cream topper. For those of you wondering about helping in future you often start as a gofer and gradually move up the ranks until you become the cream topper.  This top job was entrusted to Linda Higginbottom. Caroline had it all set out for us with special jam spoons and broad spreading knife to ensure each scone was buttered to its very edges.

With the event being brought forward this year, the mighty tulip tree in the centre of one of the walled gardens was in flower. A wonderful spectacle, which make it easy to see why it has its given common name.

Andrew Clough and son brought a demonstration beehive full of honeybees. Hunting out the queen bee amongst all her workers was quite a challenge, despite being marked with a fluorescent green marker. Interestingly the pair had a collection of bee stings, extracted using strips of Sellotape from the gloves that were used when they were dealing with a swarm.  They also had an Asian Hornet display so people know what to look out for. The hornet looks very black with a wide orange strip on the 4th segment of its abdomen and its legs look like its been dipped in yellow paint. These hornets are a new threat for native bees having arrived in the UK in 2016.  

Wirral Archaeology CIC came with fascinating finds, all found within three miles of Poulton Hall. Two meadow tours were given by Hilary Ash. The marsh orchids were particularly impressive - one species that has enjoyed the wet weather this year. Despite the showery weather, meadow brown butterflies were on the wing.

The Wirral Countryside Volunteers stall in the meadow at Poulton Hall

Frank from Poulton Estate was impressed when he saw the mock hedge ‘grow’ on Friday, be laid on the Saturday and removed on Monday. Thanks must go to the Wirral Countryside Volunteers who were there on Friday putting up the mock hedge, then on Saturday delivering gazebos, hedgelaying, sharpening tools and growing cuttings, and coming back to collect gazebos left for the Samaritans fundraiser on the Sunday and returning on Monday to disassemble the hedge. On the Monday the volunteers used their new brash cart for gathering the hedge debris and clearing all the hedge, and two builder’s bags of offcuts in three easy loads. It was certainly quicker than the numerous trips of previous years when we used Poulton Hall’s trolley. Half the costs of the new brash cart was met by Wirral Wildlife. Great to see it in action.

For many there was the pleasure of meeting up with acquaintances you see at such events and taking tea while watching the world go by. Thanks to Caroline, Scirard and the Poulton Estate Team for hosting the event. The staff and owners looked smart in their new dark green Poulton Hall blazers with the family crest on. These are used for hosting weddings at the hall and for gardening openings. Thanks to the twenty Wirral Wildlife/ Wirral Countryside Volunteers who made this event work so smoothly. Caroline said we are the most organised group she works with for the garden openings. So not only are our tools sharp, so are our cream tea making skills!

Paul Loughnane

A Tribute to Gill Norton

Jill Norton

We send our sympathy to the family of Gill Norton. Gill was a botanist by training, though she worked mostly as a taxonomist: her specimens can be found in Liverpool World Museum. In later life she became of of our wildlife recorders, active for some 15 years starting in the late 1990s. She was also a regular attender at our monthly talks. The photo, from her funeral leaflet, shows Gill as we often saw her, in the outdoors.

Gill had a particular fondness for Wirral Wildlife. Her daughter Sarah and the family have kindly donated the collection at her funeral to Wirral Wildlife. Thank you, Sarah.

Record Breaking Crowds Attended New Ferry Butterfly Park Open Day

Some of the visitors to the 2024 New Ferry Butterfly Park Open Day

Record breaking crowds attended New Ferry Butterfly Park Open Day on 5th May. 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.

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 

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. 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.

Nigel Lanceley DL, was most impressed, as was Dr Charles Neame, the Vice-Chair of Cheshire Wildlife Trust. Both commented that it was a most engaging community event which reached out to all people of all ages and circumstances, bringing them into contact with wildlife and environmental issues in an appropriate and accessible way. Charles said that it is what Cheshire Wildlife Trust is all about. The new tiles, which add such a final touch to the Silver Jubilee Gates and history of the park, are splendid and so appropriate. For details about the gates design, the tile dedications and the broad arrange of sponsors who enabled this project to happen, see the Silver Jubilee Gate leaflet especially created for the day.

The Silver Jubilee Gate leaflet

An explanation of the dedications for each tile on the gate

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.

Mike Maher, who grows most of the plants for the plant sale

Wirral Amphibian and Reptile group featured newts from the Butterfly Park pond

For the rest of the spring and summer, come and enjoy the Park’s wildlife at a more tranquil pace. The Park is now open every Sunday 12 noon - 4pm until the second Sunday in September. The Wirral Wildlife plant sale continues weekly whilst stocks last; new stocks are being propagated.

Paul Loughnane
New Ferry Butterfly Park Reserve Manager

An Assembly of Tiles: Part 6 - The Peacock Butterfly

Wirral Countryside Volunteers with the peacock butterfly tile and cards

The Peacock Butterfly tile is dedicated to Wirral Countryside Volunteers (WCV) who have been regularly involved in the park since April 1995 and relocated their base to the Park in 2002. WCV provide a sizable group of talented and enthusiastic volunteers who coppice, lay hedges, scythe grasslands, host corporate workdays and take on many structural jobs around the park. The volunteers provide some fantastic support for the Park’s Opening Days.

New Ferry Butterfly Park workdays are on the second Sunday of the month from September to March starting from 9.30am onwards - do join them. Good company, tea and homemade cakes are provided. Follow them on Facebook or check the WCV website for more details. On each event there are a good variety of jobs to suit different aptitudes. The WCV host some mid-week events which are more impromptu, tackling any problems that arise and helping keep up the momentum of various Park projects.

Pictured above are the Wirral Countryside Volunteers with the tile and cards by the lower pond. This is from the April workday when they installed bamboo chimes for the Elastatone, completed a new leaflet dispenser, spread clay over some uncovered edges of the lower pond, mowed bays for stalls for the forthcoming opening day, turned the compost and cleaned the road of vegetation debris that had accumulated over the last two years. Dr Hilary Ash, the Park’s Conservation Officer said, “WCV are the mainstay of volunteers who carry out the practical habitat management at the park. Their varied skills are vital to the wildlife value of the park and its smooth running, we were delighted to acknowledge this by dedicating a tile and card to them.”

The new leaflet holder by the park entrance

Bamboo chimes for the restored Elastatone

The Peacock butterfly is a familiar butterfly and unmistakeable with its spectacular eyes on their wings, like those on the bird peacock’s tail. The caterpillars are nettle feeders. The caterpillars form a communal web at the top of a nettle plant. They are easily spotted being black, spiny and usually seen in large numbers. In a good year they can cause extensive damage to nettle patches, helping to keep the plant in check. Sunny nettle beds at the park are fed with potash from the BBQs and compost from our bins to keep the nettles vigorous for the Peacock butterfly populations.

Peacock caterpillar enjoying munching the nettles at the park

Paul Loughnane
New Ferry Butterfly Park Reserve Manager

An Assembly of Tiles: Part 5 - The Speckled Wood Butterfly

The speckled wood butterfly tile for the Butterfly Park's Jubilee Gates

The Speckled Wood butterfly tile is dedicated to the late Mel Roberts, the founder of the Park and the Park’s first secretary from 1993 until 2002.  Mel, a neighbour of the park since 1975, had the vision and confidence to get the Park going when its value as an urban nature reserve was less obvious than it would be today. At the time it was a site of antisocial behaviour and a problem to the community. In 1991 Mel produced a substantial booklet entitled “A proposal for the re-development of the Old Alma Street Goods Yard at Bebington and New Ferry Station.”  This was a 20-page booklet plus appendices, printed on card with photographs physically pasted in with glue. This booklet showed determination and that Mel meant business.

The front cover of Mel Robert's booklet with the proposal to create New Ferry Butterfly Park

The front cover of the booklet illustrated diagrammatically a railway line hitting the buffers of light industry and a branch line continuing on unimpeded into a nature reserve. Mel would be delighted by how the Park has developed and how the Opening Day is a regular feature of the New Ferry community calendar. Mel, with the considerable help of the late Frank Cottrell, convinced Cheshire Wildlife Trust to take the Park on board. With the help of the then local MP and the support of many members of the community it came into being. Mel, along with the first chair of New Ferry Butterfly Park, Gordon Reid, got the tool container installed, which is a key factor in the Park’s management. Mel died in 2002 and an apple tree was planted on the Park in his memory, near to his house and fed by his ashes, so that Mel could be recycled back into the Park. Mel was known locally as the “New Ferry Caterpillock”, though few would know that now.

Mel Roberts with Lyndon Harrison, now Lord  Harrison, and Mel's grandaughter
at the grand opening of the Butterfly Park to the public in July 1995

The Speckled Wood butterfly has chocolate brown coloured wings with yellow flecks. Its caterpillar eats tussock grasses in dappled shade. The Speckled Wood has two populations a year and is unique amongst British butterflies in that it over-winters in two forms, both as a caterpillar or chrysalis. As a result, it appears to be constantly breeding and on the wing from March to November, with only a small gap in June. It is therefore an `old faithful’, being consistently present on the Park in good numbers. 

Paul Loughnane
New Ferry Butterfly Park Reserve Manager