National Pollinator Strategy

The Government has recently published the National Pollinator Strategy.

The full document can be read here:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-pollinator-strategy-for-bees-and-other-pollinators-in-england

Butterfly Conservation have given their reaction to the report:

butterfly-conservation.org/48-7322/pollinators-pushed-up-the-agenda.html

River Park Autumn Task Day - 22nd November

Click on poster to view it at larger size.

There will be a Task Day held at Port Sunlight River Park on 22nd November from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

To book contact Anne Litherland by email or telephone 0151 643 1359 or 07587 550060.

Dibbinsdale Winter Warmer - 7th December

Click on poster to view it at full size.

The Friends of Dibbinsdale have organised a Winter Warmer and Christmas Crafts event in the Walled Garden on Sunday 7th December from 1 to 4 p.m, featuring traditional crafts and activities for all the family.

Wildlife Quiz

Autumn has arrived, along with a chance to keep your brain active with the challenge of our annual quiz. Our Treasurer, John Gill, has managed to create another fiendish brain teasing collection of questions.

You can buy a copy of the quiz at our talk on November 14th, or download and print a copy by following the link on the homepage of our website:

www.wirralwildlife.org.uk

Good luck!

Bioblitz at Chester Zoo

I had the good fortune to attend the Bioblitz at Chester Zoo this year on Saturday 6th September.

The idea of a Bioblitz is to involve as many people as possible in recording native species with the help of experts in their field. The first task, a botanical recording session, was led by our own expert Dr. Hilary Ash and I then opted for the fresh water invertebrate recording. The staff of the zoo had collected water samples from different water habitats around the area and we keyed out the different aquatic life from these samples, finding dragonfly nymphs, water boatmen, water slaters, daphnia, freshwater shrimps, great diving beetles and mayfly nymphs. Interesting to compare the samples and identify which samples had the greater diversity and species richness.

A look at terrestrial invertebrates saw us heading to the elephant compost pit. Lots of beetles and other insects exploit this habitat of dung. Surrounded by the zoo life this bioblitz seemed rather demure concentrating on our small indigenous species compared to the lions, pumas, jaguars, giraffes, flamingos etc in their respective enclosures.

Later in the evening we were out again in the zoo grounds on a bat walk with detectors. It seemed rather incongruous passing the lions enclosure with their roaring, feeling more like being in Africa than Cheshire. We picked up Noctule, Common and Soprano Pipistrelle and then Daubenton’s over the ponds. It was a very enjoyable time experiencing the zoo in a different way and meeting many other like-minded people.

Paul Greenslade

Cutting With The Best

In recent years Wirral Countryside Volunteers have been expanding their activities with more tasks being organised and a larger number of volunteers attending these events. The group has had an increase of 50% in participation and was starting to be short of hand tools for those who turned up to help. The award of a Voluntary Community Action Wirral Community Grant meant two pairs of professional quality loppers could be purchased. The loppers will be used throughout the winter season for hedge trimming, scrub removal, pond clearance, hazel coppicing and hedgelaying projects at various sites in Wirral. These professional loppers will hopefully last a long time and give a clean cut. 

There has been expansion of interest in all the volunteer activities but especially in hedgelaying. Twenty-five plus have turned out to the last few free hedgelaying training events which aim to let the public have a go at hedgelaying and to gain some new recruits to the group. Several of the group members already have considerable hedgelaying skills, reflected by two first and two second places being awarded in local hedgelaying matches this season.

At this year’s free training event, in addition to the group’s in-house skills, support will come as usual from the Cheshire Ploughing and Hedgecutting Society, who keep us to the local Cheshire style and some professional jobbing hedgelayers from the National Hedgelaying Society. So it’s a real chance to cut with some of the best.

“Since the Wirral Countryside Volunteers started in 1985 they have restored over two miles of Wirral’s hedgerows. They are becoming more proficient at the job and gaining confidence in tackling trickier hedges.” said Paul Loughnane the group’s honorary secretary. “There is something very gratifying and satisfying in untangling the hedge stems, selecting the right ones and giving them a clean cut to bend over to create a living and self-renewing fence.

In October, Liverpool John Moores University Conservation Society brought a small group of students to New Ferry Butterfly Park. They enthusiastically under took a broad range of projects including scything the calcareous grassland, pond clearance, removal of rough vegetation and weeding the lengths of hedge they planted last year.  A few even had a go at hedgelaying, christening the loppers. Emma Heneghan, Social secretary, said “It was great to get involved in the different jobs that were being done. We learnt new skills and techniques and it was great to get involved in hedgelaying.” The new loppers made the job easier giving a professional finish to the hedge.

Further details of the free Cheshire style hedgelaying course on Sunday 2nd November at Barnston: contact Paul on 07527570471. Visitors and cutters welcome.

Dragonfly encounter

We are grateful to Ruth Dann for these interesting photographs of a dragonfly taken in her garden. Her grand-daughter took the photographs while the dragonfly obligingly posed on Ruth's son's hand.

Ruth thinks it could be a Southern Hawker which she hasn't attracted to her pond before.