May 2024
We have a special guest contributor
to the Our Dee Estuary newsletter this month!
What a busy start to spring and it’s only going to get busier with all the exciting events and activities we have planned. Some highlights from the Our Dee Estuary team include the launch of a blog that we wrote for the Wales Coast Path website which explores the Flintshire section of the path through the seasons. Our project assistant Carys has also been writing and has produced two articles for BBC Wildlife, one looks at the Grayling butterfly and the other is about the difference between Little terns and Common terns.
We have also started our very busy schedule of events and so far we have celebrated Coastal Care Day at Thurstaston on the 5th of May and gave a talk to the lovely Over 55s Club at Hoole Community Centre on the 8th of May. We have also been busy down at Red Rocks with our natterjack toad and grayling butterfly surveys underway.
In this month’s bumper newsletter there is a feature from the Wilder Lives team at Cheshire Wildlife Trust about their Champions programme and bite sized updates about our recent training day with the teams from Dŵr Cymru | Welsh Water and United Utilities for our Clean Water Ambassadors and the Our Dee Estuary team, Coastal Care Day at Thurstaston and the wildlife surveys we have been carrying out at Red Rocks Nature Reserve.
We hope you enjoy reading it and that we see you all out and about on the estuary very soon.
The Our Dee Estuary Team
Are you a wildlife champion?
Cheshire Wildlife Trust invite you to join their Wilder Champion Network
Hi I’m Rachael and I am the Wilder Lives Officer at Cheshire Wildlife Trust and I would like to tell you more about our Champions scheme here at the Trust.
The photo above is of the Macclesfield Wild Network planting trees in Macclesfield with their volunteers
Are you helping wildlife and encouraging others to do the same? If so, we can to help and support you!
Types of support we offer:
- Free training and workshops throughout the year to help you develop the skills and knowledge to run your own projects in your community, school or workplace.
- Support to develop your projects through digital toolkits and online resources.
- Opportunities to network and share ideas with a like-minded community.
- Access to mentoring & professional support from members of the Cheshire Wildlife Trust team to help develop your project.
- Help and materials to enable you to promote your project.
- Sign posting to funding opportunities to support your projects or group.
To find out more or register as a champion click here
Let’s bring wildlife back together
The team at Grit Studios who got the whole community involved in transforming their unloved street for people and wildlife
Sky Garden
The Sky Garden, a visionary project in Warrington that transformed an urban space into a wildlife haven
Training with our Clean Water Ambassadors
This last month, the Our Dee Estuary team and some of our amazing clean water ambassadors were given the opportunity to learn more about wastewater with Dŵr Cymru | Welsh Water and United Utilities.
The day was informative and eye opening into the world of wastewater treatment and what our local water companies do in our area to manage ever increasing demands on our sewage systems.
If reducing your impact on the environment through better wastewater management is something you’re passionate about, find out how you can become part of our clean water initiative and water friendly business scheme here or contact us at ourdeeestuary@cheshirewt.org.uk.
We were lucky enough to be shown around the Dŵr Cymru | Welsh Water sewage works down at Lower Heswall and be talked through the biological screening processes that makes our waste safe enough to be put back out into the environment. These processes range from screening (sieving) of large debris such as sanitary products, fat, human waste, and wipes, settling of sludge, the removal of sludge for use in other industries such as energy and agriculture, bacterial break down of organic matter and UV treatment for sterilisation.
You can find out more about how to responsibly dispose of fats, food waste and sanitary products and how to keep your pipes flowing freely here.
You can also find out about recent storm overflows (sewage outputs) in our local area through these live maps for both United Utilities and Dŵr Cymru | Welsh Water. Of course, there is also always Surfers Against Sewage live storm flow map.
If reducing your impact on the environment through better wastewater management is something you’re passionate about, find out how you can become part of our clean water initiative and water friendly business scheme here or contact us at ourdeeestuary@cheshirewt.org.uk.
Coastal Care Day
On Sunday the 5th of May the Our Dee Estuary project alongside Wirral Country Park rangers and volunteers from The British Divers Marine Life Rescue and Friends of Hilbre Island came together to celebrate all that is special about the Dee Estuary and how we can all do our bit to protect it.
Groups and organisations who attended:
We were also joined by the Rural and Wildlife Crime Unit from Merseyside Police who with the support of Natural England chatted to visitors about Operation Seabird. This is a police led initiative to reduce disturbance to wildlife from coastal recreational activities such as kayaking, sailing and dog walking just to name a few.
It was an incredibly successful day and thank you again to all the groups and organisations who had a stall and to all the visitors who engaged with us.
Our Dee Estuary wildlife surveys at Red Rocks nature reserve
Thank you to everyone who has been out on surveys with us so far this season. Your help is greatly appreciated, and we love seeing other people share our passion.
We found our first natterjack toad spawn string on the 30th April along with the first sounds of calling males that evening.
Since then, we have found more spawn strings and are hopeful for a successful breeding season. Just this week we have also undertaken butterfly survey training with a group of volunteers and are excited to get our summer butterfly surveys underway.
If this is something you are interested in taking part in then you can register your interest via our webpage or contact Carys at cmcmillan@cheshirewt.org.uk.
Photo Credits: Dave Costello, Cheshire Wildlife Trust, Dŵr Cymru | Welsh Water, Our Dee Estuary.
