Wildflower project underway on Heswall's Puddydale

Above: browse a gallery of images

The sun shines on the righteous, and today a platoon of volunteers are enjoying the warmth as they toil on the first stages of 'Wildflowers on the Puddydale'.

In February it was revealed that the initiative, the brainchild of the Rotary Clubs of Heswall, Mid Wirral and West Wirral, had successfully bid for funding from the Community Environment Fund - which aims to improve people's surroundings across the Liverpool City Region, while also promoting local engagement with environmental education programmes.

Now work has begun, and Katherine Jenner, President of Mid Wirral Rotary, explained what's going on: "The idea is that we will introduce a bit of 'wild' into an urban, town centre area. It will bring insects like butterflies and bees, and it will introduce lots of colour for the residents to enjoy.

"There'll be an informative display panel all about the flowers and the habitat we're creating. It will be very professionally done, like the sort of panel you might see in a country park, so as well as increasing biodiversity in the area, visitors will also be able to take away a little information.

"We've had lots of offers of help from places like Dale Farm, and Wirral Turf have been great - thanks to them for cutting and removing the turf for us this morning. The soil is being rotavated right now, then it will be raked and at the end of this week we'll start to sow the flower seed.

"When it's all ready, we very much want children to come and be involved. We hope they can learn, and watch the flowers grow and see the wildlife that's attracted to them, and we want people to understand that, although it may look a little untidy at first, it will be doing so much good for creatures we take for granted, some of which, like bees and bumblebees, are at risk. We really hope that people will be able to see lots of bees buzzing along, doing their essential pollinating thing and thriving.

"Everyone who's lucky enough to have a garden could put a little area aside for wildflowers and wildlife. We hope the idea will spread and that some people take it on.

"All the volunteers here are from Rotary or local community groups, giving up their time to make this happen, and we're delighted it's become a project for the community, by the community. Already passers-by have been asking all about the project, and it's been lovely to see them reacting enthusiastically.

"Hopefully we'll finish rotavating and raking tomorrow, then planting seed on Thursday or by the latest Friday. Shoots should start to appear during April, and then flowering will take place in June through August - and the great thing is the display will get better and better in years to come!"

As we creep out of lockdown, it's so nice to see a project like this one, and, if there is any upside to a pandemic, perhaps it has at least reminded us of the importance of community and, that by working together, good things can be made to happen.

Enormous thanks to the Rotary clubs and volunteers who are making 'Wildflowers on the Puddydale' possible.