Charity Spectacular at Gordale

Have an evening at Gordale Garden Centre and help raise money for Cheshire Wildlife Trust.

Monday 11th November

6 – 9 pm

Gordale Garden Centre, Chester High Road, Burton, CH64 8TF

£6 (£3 from every ticket sold goes to charity)

Tickets available at Gordale or from the Cheshire Wildlife Trust website:

https://www.cheshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/events/2019-11-11-gordale-christmas-charity-spectacular-evening

Ticket includes a welcome drink and nibbles, food tasting, musical entertainment, live demonstrations.

Also enjoy a 15% discount on all purchases sold during the evening.

Thank You Ed and John

At our recent AGM two committee members retired. We will miss them both as they have made significant contributions to the group and for wildlife in Wirral.

Ed (on the left) and John received Thank You certificates from Cheshire Wildlife Trust.

Dr John Gill

John has been our Treasurer for the last 19 years. He has not only kept excellent accounts but has always taken a full and active part in our affairs, from helping remove invasive rhododendron and coppicing hazel to participating in events such as Ness Children’s Day, Apple Day, Walks, Events and Talks. His skills at proof reading were much appreciated when we produced our paper and online newsletters and he would always scrutinise our draft papers and propose wise and thoughtful amendments. John’s abilities as a photographer have helped us keep a good record of our activities such as New Ferry Butterfly Park Open Day and Apple Days. John has completed the Wirral Coastal Walk on 15 occasions, each time raising considerable donations for Cheshire Wildlife Trust. Each year he devises a brain-teasing cryptic quiz – look on our website or buy a copy at our next talk – and has promised to continue with this tradition.

Dr Edwin Samuels

Ed, who is a skilled botanist and bird watcher, spent his final pre-retirement year from Unilever at Cheshire Wildlife Trust so it was perhaps inevitable that he would find a role with Wirral Wildlife. On his retirement he took up Recording for Wirral Wildlife and for over ten years he has organised all our vital Recording work. For decades Ed has been a recorder of Wetland Birds and undertaken monthly counts of wintering birds on our estuaries and wetlands. He is also a Licenced Ringer and completed a long running study of breeding birds in a Welsh Woodland. As well as completing such painstaking work Ed has been a keen helper at our Apple Days and knows the intricacies of our mincer and apple press, even creating a modification to make it safer for children to help with the machinery. Ed has made an invaluable contribution for which we are all most grateful. It says much for his contribution that we have replaced him with two people.

Ed (wearing the hat) with the apple pressing equipment.

Out In All Weathers

Recording flora and fauna on our Reserves and other local sites is a vital part of the work of Wirral Wildlife.

Whatever the weather our Recorders will be there at the appointed time.

The photo above shows some very wet volunteers doing the annual survey of the fixed quadrats at Thurstaston Common - inspected by some equally wet Galloway heifers.

Monitoring Wildlife at Chester Zoo Nature Reserve

RECORD are holding another Wildlife Exchange Session at Chester Zoo this month.

Book your place on eventbrite here

Wednesday 30th October

7-9 pm

Cedar House, Chester Zoo

Come and find out about the regular wildlife monitoring that happens each year at the Chester Zoo Nature Reserve, and discover how you can get involved. Sarah Bird, Chester Zoo’s Biodiversity Officer will lead the session, with Eric Fletcher, RECORD Manager, telling us about the wildlife highlights.

In the last 3 years Andy Jennings-Giles has developed a range of systematic monitoring methods for various species groups, to help us to understand how wildlife is changing on the reserve. We now need volunteers to help with this monitoring. Whether you want to help with regular recording or just drop in now and then, its all valuable data and we want to know what you see. We will describe the monitoring techniques, and explain how RECORD can support you to help us, and develop your own wildlife identification skills too.

These evenings provide an opportunity for wildlife recorders, conservationists and anyone with an interest in local wildlife to get together in a relaxed environment and find out about our natural environment and how it is changing. The ‘exchange’ sessions also allow sharing of ideas, knowledge, experience and views on Cheshire’s natural history and how we can monitor and conserve it.

Tea/coffee and snacks will be provided.

Hosted by RECORD and Chester Zoo.

Please note photos may be taken at this event for use in RECORD publications.

If you would like to sign up to the RECORD mailing list to hear about future events please click here

Kind regards,
The RECORD Team
Tel: 01244 383749
RECORD LRC, Cedar House, Chester Zoo, Caughall Road, Upton, CH2 1LH.
WWW.RECORD-LRC.CO.UK

Wildlife Exchange Session

Here is information about this month’s RECORD event, held at Chester Zoo.

We would like to invite you to our upcoming Wildlife Exchange Session, book your place on eventbrite here.

Join us on our September Wildlife Exchange Session as we welcome back Dr Hilary Ash, who will take us through the whys and wherefores of hedgerow recording; detailing how recording hedges can make a vital contribution to conservation. Not only does hedgerow recording identify important habitats within our landscape, but it ensures these wildlife-rich havens are conserved.

Hedges perform vital functions within our environment, from preventing soil erosion, retaining livestock and providing valuable connectivity for wildlife to commute into the wider environment. However, if you’ll excuse the pun, our hedges are often overlooked and underappreciated! In 1946 the UK had an estimated 500,000 miles of hedgerow, over half of which was lost by 1993; when only 236,000 miles remained (figures from PTES).

Join us to find out how you can get involved in hedgerow recording and help prevent further loss of these important wildlife highways.

These evenings provide an opportunity for wildlife recorders, conservationists and anyone with an interest in local wildlife to get together in a relaxed environment and find out about our natural environment and how it is changing. The ‘exchange’ sessions also allow sharing of ideas, knowledge, experience and views on Cheshire’s natural history and how we can monitor and conserve it.

Tea/coffee and snacks will be provided.

Hosted by RECORD and Chester Zoo.

Please note photos may be taken at this event for use in RECORD publications.

If you would like to sign up to the RECORD mailing list to hear about future events please click here

Kind regards,
The RECORD Team
Tel: 01244 383749
RECORD LRC, Cedar House, Chester Zoo, Caughall Road, Upton, CH2 1LH.

WWW.RECORD-LRC.CO.UK

‘Trees In A Changing Climate’ conference

‘Trees In A Changing Climate’

Saturday 19th October

from 10 a.m.

Birkenhead Town Hall

£15

A conference for Tree Wardens, Friends of Parks Groups, Tree Officers, Councillors, Council officers and staff, volunteers and workers in Wildlife, Biodiversity and environmental groups.

An opportunity to network and provide commentary on issues relevant to realistic long-term and strategic planning for trees in the North of England. The new Wirral Borough Council collaborative Tree Strategy will be unveiled as an example of work-in hand, linked to Climate Change Strategies.

Book your ticket here:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/northern-tree-warden-regional-forum-2019-tickets-69022364751

As the Tree Council are hosting the meeting, there will be a cadre of Tree Wardens, but we are keen to say that the meeting is for everyone who wants a tree strategy for Wirral and is keen to get involved with the Wirral Tree Strategy, and management of trees in your local areas.  So if you can help get the word out as widely as possible, that would be great.

Wirral Council has also made a climate change statement and are looking across the Council to explore how this statement will affect and influence the working of the Council. The Tree Strategy is a Council wide strategy, cutting across all departments and teams.

If anyone who will be attending the event can help out on the day, please contact Helen Ellis (helen.ellis@mac.com) as she is one of the key organisers of the day at Birkenhead Town Hall.

Can you help us find reptiles?

Cheshire Wildlife Trust would like to know if you spot a reptile.

Reptiles are found in a wide range of places, from sandy heaths and woodland ridges to garden compost heaps. They’re fascinating animals that are often sadly forgotten about when talking about interesting UK wildlife.

Did you know...?

Slow-worms (below) are neither worms nor snakes, but are in fact a legless lizard - you can tell it's a lizard because they're able to shed their tail and they blink.

Common lizards (below) and adders (top) are unusual among reptiles as they incubate their eggs inside their body, ‘giving birth’ to live young rather than laying eggs.

Grass snakes (below) are our longest snakes, growing up to one and a half meters in length, but they’re really a big baby. When threatened by one of its many predators, the grass snake often 'plays dead', perhaps making itself less appealing to eat.

Unfortunately, reptiles are suffering global declines, with many threatened with extinction. They’re particularly vulnerable in the UK because they tend to live in small isolated areas divided by built up areas and farmland. This means they struggle to spread out.

Nowadays they're only found in places like heaths and open woodland because they need places to shelter and hibernate. As they’re cold blooded, they also need open areas to bask to warm up before they can become active.

We know very little about where our reptiles live, meaning it’s difficult for us to protect them or to help them spread into surrounding areas.

Help us by sending us your sightings

If you see a reptile whilst out and about, email us your sightings. Photos are the most useful along with the location (address or grid reference if possible). Other useful information would be the number seen, the size, what they were doing and the type of habitat you saw them in e.g. garden, grassland, woodland, heather or moorland.