Wild About Nature Day

Wild About Nature Day

All photos on this page and the gallery are published with the permission of parents and guardians. If we have made a mistake and you wish to have a photo removed, please email membership@wildaboutstocktonheath.org.uk

On a bright Sunday morning, the 8th May, all the planning and preparation for our first Nature Hub came together. We had a wonderful day and the support and feedback we received has given us the motivation to hold further events, talks and workshops.

The WASH team would like to thank everyone involved, all our speakers, guests, and volunteers, including SWISH, Alexandra Park, the children from the two primary schools for decorating hedgehogs, all the young people of the village for their Wild Photographs, Stockton Heath Library, Pets Pantry for the donation of two hedgehog houses, and Morrison’s Warrington for the donation of compost and seeds. We could not have put on this amazing day without the financial assistance from Warrington Charities Trust, and the National Lottery Community Fund.

The library was full to capacity for our morning of talks by invited guests

Anita (WASH) introduced the event and also presented “The wildlife value of Ackers Pit”
Milton (WASH) presented an overview of WASH and our first year’s achievements
Adam (Cheshire Wildlife Trust) on CWT’s vision for “Creating Wilder Communities“
Amanda (local hedgehog champion) helped us all appreciate the plight of the hedgehog and how we can all help
George Pilkington (Nurturing Nature Ltd and author) was our keynote speaker offering practical advice on wildlife-friendly gardening

We then had a fun filled and very busy family afternoon.

Louise from Bolton and Bury Swifts was in the library explaining the demise of our swift population and giving advise on putting up swift nesting boxes.

Rupert from Butterfly Conservation had activities and information on helping save the diverse population of butterflies and moths

There was supporting wildlife information leaflets provided by the RSPB

Andrew from Birchwood Hedgehog Rescue joined Amanda to continue the education of helping hedgehogs and looking at the map showing hedgehog sightings around the parish. Andrew brought along Penelope the blind hedgehog who proved a great attraction for the youngsters.

The big screen in the library was showing the Junior Photographic Display – ‘The Nature of Stockton Heath’ taken by the young people of the Parish. The full gallery can be seen here

Over at Alexandra Park Pavilion our volunteers were very busy with a number of activities:

Cheshire Wildlife Trust organised a wildflower seed-ball making activity

CWT also brought along their ‘Pledge to Nature Tree’

We had a total of 30 pledges:

  • Hedgehog highways/homes or see more hedgehogs– 5
  • Insect hotels/looking after insects – 2
  • Look after animals in the garden – 2
  • Look after birds in the garden – 1
  • Planting more flowers – 12
  • Planting trees – 2
  • General gardening for wildlife – 1
  • Pick up litter/recycle – 4
  • Use the car less – 1

WASH bought a mould to make plant pots from newspaper and with a kind donation from Morrisons of compost and seeds, many a youngster left with the start to their own wild garden.

Hedgehog Trail. A big thank you to Tony who made the hedgehogs for our Hedgehog Trail. The hedgehogs were decorated by the children of both primary schools and they looked fantastic. These were located around Alexandra park, each one with a letter to make up the answer to the question Hedgehogs need to do what? to find their food and friends.

We had 53 forms back, the park was buzzing with families on a hedgehog hunt.

The wonderful day concluded with Wild Story Telling by Milton

Finally, a big thank you to everyone who came along and got involved with such enthusiasm

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