FREE news from around Wirral’s Coast n itio Ed ter in 13 Coastal Scene W 20 Inside this issue: The John Muir Award is an Environmental Award Scheme and was launched in 1997 to promote educational, social and personal development through engagement with wild places Wirral Rangers Forest 2 Schools and involvement in conservation.. There are three levels, Discovery, Explorer and Wirral Way Widening 3 Conserver and in November 2012 the Volunteer Task Force based at Wirral Country Scheme Park were introduced to the award by Ranger Cathy Oldfield who along with Ranger Dave Stevenson and volunteers; Kieran, Eileen, Oliver, Anne, Peter and Chris signed Kerr’s Field Cycle Path 4 up for the advanced level Conserver Award. To gain the award both paid staff and West Kirby Boardwalk 4 Closure volunteers spent a year discovering, exploring, conserving and sharing their Hilbre Island Building 5 experiences of Wirral Country Park and spent an evening on the Hilbre Islands Local Improvements Nature Reserve during the summer. On 7th November the new Wirral Parks and Wirral Council 6 Countryside Services Manager Mary Worrall presented the award winners with their Horticultural Apprentice certificates in a presentation ceremony at Wirral Country Park Visitor Centre. The Dee Cliffs SSSI 7 Conserver level of the award is only presented to 1% of Improvements Award participants in the UK and so this is a therefore great Greasby Pond Clearance 7 achievement. Mary Worrall joins us from London where she Mud Glorious Mud 8 has chaired the London Parks and Green Spaces Forum and Winter Events Programme 9 has previously worked for the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers, English Heritage, and the Woodland Trust. Nature’s Calendar 11 Useful Contacts 12 Page Wirral Rangers Forest Schools Wirral Council Rangers have recently established Forest School sessions on Wirral. This relatively new educational approach to learning in an outdoor environment has been used around the world to encourage long term learning through participation and self-exploration and whilst the Forest School Leaders initially set up the group and plan a series of activities to deliver the programme the participants are expected to make a significant contribution to the sessions. Nic Harding, Bidston Hill Ranger, has taken the lead in establishing the Wirral Forest Schools programme and earlier this year obtained funding for eight Wirral Council Rangers, including three of the Coastal Rangers based at Wirral Country Park, to be trained to Level 3 Forest Schools Practitioners Award which is an intensive five day training course followed by a 12 month period of practical learning and running of a Forest Schools session, a two day first aid course followed by a final five day assessment and portfolio presentation. The training isn’t for people who simply want to lead outdoor group sessions as this training is specific to the philosophy of Forest Schools which is ‘to encourage and inspire individuals of any age through positive outdoor experiences over an extended period of time’. Nic Harding says: ‘As a Ranger I have worked with many schoolchildren at different sites over the years and recognise the value of play as part of any educational programme, especially where the children feel safe and secure in familiar surroundings and where they can actually contribute to the learning process rather than to be expected to sit, listen and be told what to do. Outdoor leaning and participant-led learning are not new concepts but Forest Schools brings together several ideas and has a very definite structure and philosophy and that is rewarding for both the practitioners and participants’. Wirral schools were invited to attend an introduction to Forest Schools at Birkenhead Park where Nic, already a fully trained Forest Schools Practitioner, and the Wirral Forest School Team undertook some ‘taster sessions’. Obviously impressed by what they saw schools have been contacting Nic and our newly trained Rangers have started leading the first 10 week courses. Bidston Hill and Birkenhead Park were chosen as the initial sites for delivering the programme and after a school visit to meet with the children who were to take part in Forest Schools the Rangers started preparing areas for the outdoor sessions. If you have a class or other group that may be interested in a Forest School session contact Nic Harding at Birkenhead Park on 0151 652 5197 or e-mail [email protected] Nic will be able to provide further details of the Wirral Forest Schools Programme and can discuss your requirements and delivery at other sites where the sessions can take place.. The feedback from the current courses is very positive and the Rangers that are leading the courses certainly seem to be enjoying them too — if the photograph of Ranger Paul Davies below is typical of a Forest School day! Page 2 Wirral Way Widening Scheme In September this year Wirral Public Health Outcomes Fund awarded £131,000 to Wirral Parks and Countryside to widen several key sections of the Wirral Way. The project application was submitted to allow safer access for all along the Wirral Way after a number of comments were received about various access issues and which also included a request from the Wirral Country Park Friends Group to improve directional signage along the Wirral Way. The project will widen the narrowest and busiest sections of the existing shared pedestrian and cycle route at West Kirby (Church Road to Sandy Lane), Caldy (Melloncroft Drive to Caldy Car Park), Thurstaston (Dawpool Nature Reserve to Thurstaston Visitor Centre), Heswall (Piper’s End to Farr Hall Drive) and Gayton (Cottage Lane to the Cheshire Country Council boundary). Work will include culverting open drains to widen the path a further 1.2 meters and the installation of speed humps to reduce the speed of some cyclists who are currently using the Wirral way for cycling ‘time trials’. Wirral’s Cycling Officer, Amanda Keenan, has recently been in contact with a website where individuals were posting these time trials for the Wirral Way and requested that they be removed as the activity was not one that we would encourage in one of Wirral’s Green Flag parks where the emphasis is on being safe and secure. Jackie Smallwood, Senior Landscape Architect for Wirral’s Parks and Countryside, will be putting together some detailed specifications for the scheme which will be undertaken over the next 16 months. Phase One will include the widening of the key sections with speed restrictions and new signage followed by a public consultation period and review of the project. Phase Two will include more speed restrictions at other main access points and additional signage. Wirral Wildlife have been involved in discussions about the project as the section of the park from Caldy to Heswall is a locally designated Site of Biological Importance. Sites of Biological Importance are selected upon ecological merit and it is hoped that the widening scheme will encourage a more diverse ground flora and allow a better mowing regime along the path edges. If you would like any further information or would like to comment on the project as part of the public consultation exercise then please contact the Thurstaston Visitor Centre on (0151) 648 4371 or e-mail: [email protected] Page 3 New Kerr’s Field Cyclepath by Amanda Keenan (Wirral’s Cycling Officer) With funding from the Department for Transport's Local Sustainable Transport Fund, work has been completed on improvements to the path on Kerr's Field within North Wirral Coastal Park between Pasture Road, Moreton and where the field ends close to Leasowe Lighthouse. This section of previously unmade land forms part of the Wirral Circular Trail, a 35 mile circular route around Wirral, and now provides a surfaced path for walkers and cyclists using this part of the trail. The path not only forms part of the Circular Trail, it links with the wider cycle network, including the new cycle routes to the Tarran Way Industrial Park and Moreton Train Station on Pasture Road, providing key links to employment and public transport hubs. West Kirby Boardwalk Closure Earlier this year an accident on the timber boardwalk at West Kirby resulted in a site inspection by the Wirral Council Coastal Rangers who manage the access. The inspection revealed several rotten boardwalk planks but also revealed that the ‘stringers’ under the planking were also rotten. Usually decking planks and the odd stringer are replaced as part of the Rangers regular routine maintenance but so much of the route was noticed to be unsafe that it was decided to close the boardwalk and to contact the landowners, the Royal Liverpool Golf Club, and the leaseholders, Cheshire Wildlife Trust, to look at the major work that would be required to reinstate the raised pathway. The boardwalk is managed by Wirral Council under an agreement with the landowners and Cheshire Wildlife Trust who lease the Red Rocks Marsh Reserve from the Royal Liverpool. We are obviously working towards completing the necessary works before the Open Golf Championships to be hosted in Hoylake in 2014. Page 4 Hilbre Island Improvements Earlier this year Wirral Council’s Asset Management Team secured £100,000 for improvements works to the Victorian cluster of Buildings on Hilbre Island. Work was completed on the Buoymaster’s House chimney stacks earlier in September and work has now started on the Buoymaster’s Store and Workshop and which will include insulating part of the building and repairs to the roof as well as installation of new windows and re-rendering the outside. The Grade II Listed Buildings provide residential accommodation for academic study on the Local Nature Reserve which is within the Dee Estuary Site of Special Scientific Interest, Special Protection Area, Special Area for Conservation and internationally designated Ramsar Site and during the summer months students studying a relevant degree are allowed to stay on the island and work as volunteer Coastal Wardens alongside the Coastal Rangers.