The Holly and the Ivy

4th December 2022

Following up from our Wild About Trees’ day and linking to the Christmas theme, Dr Pat Thurston presented the talk, The Holly and The Ivy. Dr Thurston broadened our understanding of these important plants, the species that depend upon them and how we can all do out bit to giving nature a helping hand. Again we had a full house and a very engaged audience. Our raffle was a success and along with the sale of greeting cards and our seed-swap donations £206 was raised.

Our expert speaker is Dr Pat Thurlston, a qualified biologist and biochemist who has spent the majority of his working life in the brewing industry.

He developed a keen interest in natural history from an early age whilst living in the idyllic countryside of Hampshire. On retirement, several years ago, he decided to reignite this interest by joining Butterfly Conservation (BC).

Dr Thurston undertook training on butterfly identification and recording and he now formally monitors and records butterfly populations in four areas across Cheshire and the Wirral for the national Butterfly Conservation database. Through this work he has developed a detailed understanding of the relationship between butterflies, plants and different habitats. He is keen to demonstrate how, with a little knowledge, we can all observe the details of butterfly and moth life cycles in our own gardens and local environments.

A big thank you to Sue at the library for making the wreaths, Morrison’s for their amazing donation of chocolate and wine, and of course our great speaker Dr Pat Thurston