EVENTS
​​​Sunday 9th November
New Ferry Butterfly Park Workday with Wirral Countryside Volunteers
9.30am - 4pm
Howell Road, New Ferry, CH62 5BJ
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Free volunteering event. Come for the whole day or join in and leave when you want to.
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Activities will include hedge laying, turf removal and other maintenance tasks.​ Please bring lunch and stout footwear. Tools, training and tea provided.
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Cycle and car parking available on reserve. Good public transport links available.
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Contact: Paul Loughnane by email or telephone 0151 645 8937.
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​​Friday 14th November
Talk: 'The Wirral Countryside Volunteers - 40th anniversary'
7.30pm
Thornton Hough W.I. Hall, Thornton Hough, CH63 1JL
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A talk by Paul Loughnane, Secretary of Wirral Countryside Volunteers.
Admission: £5
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The presentation will explore the development of Wirral Countryside Volunteers over the years, their projects, and achievements on the Cheshire Wildlife Trust reserves at Thornton Wood and New Ferry Butterfly Park, and other nature reserves in Wirral and beyond. The talk will also cover their hedge laying activities, both on a local and national level.
Paul is Honorary Secretary for Wirral Countryside Volunteers and Wirral Wildlife's Reserves Manager for Thornton Wood and New Ferry Butterfly Park.
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The talk will be followed by complimentary tea/coffee and homemade cake, with an opportunity to meet like-minded people.
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Sunday 14th December
New Ferry Butterfly Park Workday with Wirral Countryside Volunteers
9.30am - 4pm
Howell Road, New Ferry, CH62 5BJ
​
Free volunteering event. Come for the whole day or join in and leave when you want to.
​
Activities will include hedge laying, turf removal and other maintenance tasks.​ Please bring lunch and stout footwear. Tools, training and tea provided.
​​
Cycle and car parking available on reserve. Good public transport links available.
​
Contact: Paul Loughnane by email or telephone 0151 645 8937.
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Friday 9th January
Talk: 'Build the Case, Spread the Word, Save the World!'
7.30pm
Thornton Hough W.I. Hall, Thornton Hough, CH63 1JL
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A talk by Eric Fletcher, Manager of RECORD, The Biodiversity Information System for Cheshire, Halton, Warrington and Wirral.
Admission: £5
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The 2023 State of Nature report shone a much-needed light on the continuing decline in our natural environment. The report pushed the issues facing our natural environment up the political agenda, resulting in significant changes to how England’s wildlife and wild spaces are both protected and conserved. Three years after its publication, what effect has the State of Nature report had on the natural environment? We look at what is happening in the Cheshire Region, the benefits to nature conservation and what happens next.
Eric Fletcher is the Manager of RECORD, The biodiversity information system for Cheshire, Halton, Warrington and Wirral. He has worked at RECORD for over 20 years and has been involved in updating Natural England Priority Habitat Layers for the Cheshire Region, Local Wildlife Sites (LWS) Partnerships and LWS data management, local wildlife identification and recording projects and latterly has been involved in delivery of Cheshire’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy.
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The talk will be followed by complimentary tea/coffee and homemade cake, with an opportunity to meet like-minded people.
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Friday 13th February
Talk: 'Lowland Heathland: Times Past and Future Prospects'
7.30pm
Thornton Hough W.I. Hall, Thornton Hough, CH63 1JL
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A talk by Phil Putwain, Honorary Research Fellow at Liverpool University.
Admission: £5
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Dry and wet lowland heathland is a relatively rare and threatened, but ecologically diverse and distinct habitat that supports characteristic fauna and flora and is internationally important. Approximately 20% of European lowland heath is in Britain. The talk will explore the origins of lowland heath landscapes, their historical and cultural significance, the ecological importance of heathlands, threats to their continued existence and the management required to maintain, enhance and restore them. Our local heathlands in the Wirral and Cheshire being our particular concern.
Phil is a former academic (Senior lecturer at Liverpool University in Environmental Biology) with a research focus on ecological restoration. At University and during 20 years of retirement he has delivered a wide range of habitat creation and ecosystem restoration projects focusing on soils and habitat creation in rural, post-industrial, urban and active mineral extraction settings with a focus on heathland.​
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The talk will be followed by complimentary tea/coffee and homemade cake, with an opportunity to meet like-minded people.
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Friday 13th March
Talk: 'Retrofitting a Listed Building to Passivhaus Standards'
7.30pm
Thornton Hough W.I. Hall, Thornton Hough, CH63 1JL
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A talk by Andrew Hobson.
Admission: £5
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Andy and his partner, Janet, have transformed a semi-derelict Grade 2 listed property, empty for over a decade, into a highly energy efficient family home fit for the twenty first century. The talk will describe the technical and bureaucratic hurdles that had to be cleared before building work began but will focus mainly on the resource-saving interventions installed on the property to make it, officially, the most energy efficient building on Merseyside and the most energy-efficient listed building in the world.
Andy is a retired factory manager and management consultant who retired to the Wirral 5 years ago.
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The talk will be followed by complimentary tea/coffee and homemade cake, with an opportunity to meet like-minded people.
Friday 10th April
Talk: Title TBC
7.30pm
Thornton Hough W.I. Hall, Thornton Hough, CH63 1JL
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Talk details TBC.
