Chester Wild Society Update
The last semester and a half of the Chester Wild Society has been full of adventure and new experiences. The overarching goal for this academic year was to experience a wide range of elements relating to conservation and general wildlife experiences. To achieve this objective our committee arranged sessions with venues such as the Chester Falconry and New Ferry Butterfly Park to encapsulate the fun of both witnessing the great aspects of animal life and taking part in the work that helps nature thrive in a human dominated environment, both in Chester and further afield.Local wildlife around Chester is something that the society attempts to focus more attention to so we can hammer home the importance of sustaining the local area as much as possible, especially given the impacts of city expansion on native species. One of our first walks as a society took us through Grosvenor Park to see and interact with the local bird and squirrel populations. Close proximity to the squirrels was engaging for the members and gave a real sense of connectivity to the wildlife. Additional local walks through areas such as Countess Park and the banks of the River Dee provided spectacular views of local Cormorants and Herons which again gave a spark of admiration for nature and most definitely gave an incentive for protecting it.Outside of walks our volunteering during the year has been insightful and educational. Our Society members worked with both the New Ferry Butterfly Park and North East Wales Wild Life to learn about coppicing and hedge-laying among other conservation techniques to better understand what it takes to help wild life thrive; a consistently brilliant experience to say the least.We have additionally had the opportunity to tour local Chester volunteering site of Countess Park with Kevin Curran (Earthworks Liverpool) who we hope to work with further in the future.On sight projects have included helping out with the local garden area on campus and taking part in the Big Garden Bird Watch held by the RSPCA every year. The latter event elicited some great moments in terms of viewing bird life, namely a sudden barrage of Long Tailed Tits and a rather stage happy Robin.Our Charity officer has made some great contributions to the society by arranging both a present packing evening for Operation Christmas Child and a Christmas Card assembly event for a Children’s Hospital. Later in the year we are hoping to be holding a charity event with proceedings going towards C.R.Y (Cardiac Risk in the Young).Our current ongoing project involves building and erecting Swift Boxes around the University campus with the intention of helping the population of the migratory bird, and to again establish that even small jobs can really make a difference.
A big thank you to:
New Ferry Butter Fly Park: http://www.cheshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/reserves/new-ferry-butterfly-parkNEWWildlife Ltd: Facebook Page- @WildGroundTirGwylltEarthWorks Liverpool: https://sites.google.com/site/earthworksliverpool1/