VOLUNTEERS from Warrington’s New Cut Heritage and Ecology Group have been delighted with the results of their contribution to the annual national “Bio Blitz” campaign.
The team spent a weekend counting and identifying different species of moths, butterflies and birds on Paddington Meadows.
The count is particularly important to the group who have spent many hours converting grassland pasture into a wildflower meadow to the western end of the meadows in the hope that it will create an environment to attract more moths, and butterflies and insects which will in turn attract more birds and wildlife.
Members of the team were rewarded with some 30 types of moth specifically identified and others awaiting expert identification, 10 butterfly species and 35 species of birds.
Elephant Hawk, Lunar Thorn and Drinker moths were especially noted while the stars of the show were the colourful butterflies that arrived including Holly Blues, Small Tortoiseshell, Ringlet and the ever-popular Red Admiral.
A spokesperson for the group said: “This is a good reward for all the hard work the team have put in converting this
meadow. The strategy we are now following is to reduce the grassland and replace with a species-rich environment, encouraging expansion at the base of the food
chain thus providing plenty of insect life which will in turn attract increasing numbers of birds and hopefully new or rare species.”
Get in touch with The New Cut Heritage and Ecology Trail Group at [email protected], [email protected] or www.newcuttrail.com.
Paddington Meadows is an area of Warrington created by a massive meander of the River Mersey which was the original course of the Mersey and Irwell navigation. The meander is truncated by the New Cut canal, opened in 1825 to speed up the transport of goods to the growing city of Manchester. The former towpath is now a very important cycle and walking path running parallel with the busy A57 Manchester Road.
