Wirral Country Park proves it’s the place to ‘bee’ with national award for pollinator-friendly spaces

It’s official — Wirral Country Park really is buzzing when it comes to looking after bees and other pollinators.

The Wirral Country park has just been named one of only 23 places across the UK to be recognised as a Bees’ Needs Champion for 2025, a title handed out by DEFRA at the start of Bees’ Needs Week — a national campaign to get more people, businesses and farmers doing their bit to help pollinators thrive.

Wirral Country Park first picked up the honour back in 2021 for its wildflower meadows and careful habitat work, and this latest award celebrates even more projects that make the park a haven for bees, butterflies and other insects.

Recent work has included expanding the wildflower meadows at Thurstaston by another three acres and adding new paths so visitors can enjoy the blooms up close. The park’s team has also planted more elm trees to help the White-Letter Hairstreak butterfly make a comeback, and even built new brick barbecue stands to cut down on grassland fires that can damage precious habitats.

It doesn’t stop there — this autumn, the park’s visitor centre will get metre-wide wildflower borders and managed hedgerows to create a proper ‘pollinator corridor’ linking beehives with meadows. Schools and community groups will be able to see it all in action on meadow walks along the Wirral Way, the 12-mile green corridor stretching from West Kirby to Hooton.

Councillor Liz Grey, who chairs Wirral Council’s Environment, Climate Emergency and Transport Committee, said: “the staff at Wirral Country Park do amazing work to make this such a brilliant place for both wildlife and visitors.”

“The wildflower areas just keep getting better and better — they really deserve this national recognition.”

And if that wasn’t sweet enough news, visitors will soon be able to take home a taste of the park itself. Thanks to the work of Bee Wirral, a local partner that looks after beehives in an old orchard on the site, jars of Wirral Country Park’s own honey will soon be on sale at the visitor centre.