Eco Art in the Park press release

Wirral Environmental Network, Wirral Eco Schools, Wirral Met, eco-artist Alison Bailey Smith, Wirral Unplugged and University of Liverpool students have been collaborating on a summer environmental project to promote Wirral pollinators, specifically the insects that spread pollen to help plants grow on the Wirral and the flowers native to the Wirral that they visit. 

The first event took place on May 26th at Castleway Primary to celebrate the Wirral's wildlife. Castleway hosted a biodiversity day with forest schools, nature charities, local artists and other schools. Castleway students began their interest in Wirralwildlife with protecting hedgehogs, and according to Stuart Mycroft, Headteacher: “This has grown and evolved into us planning our own nature reserve and hosting a Biodiversity conference where the eco-teams from eight local schools are joining us for a day of eco related fun!

"I'm incredibly proud of the children at Castleway and the fact that they are driving such an important issue with such passion.”

The celebrations continue with Wirral Unplugged who have designed a Pollinator Passport, a free activity resource to encourage learning and play around the Wirral’s unique local plants and the fascinating bugs that pollinate them. WirralUnplugged's #PollinatorPassport engages families to learn through play: games like 'who is the hoverfly', crafts like beetle and ladybird viewfinders and petal hunts are just some of the activities. 

Families will be encouraged to create their own insects to take to visit the Wirral flower sculptures in their local green space, #EcoArtinthePark. 

Created by the talented eco-artist Alison Bailey Smith, who was supported in making the flower bases and welding them by Wirral Met Engineering and Construction Departments, Eco-Art in the Park is a moveable piece of recycled art. These 3-5 foot sculptures of 9 Wirral plants were hand -crafted by Alison and are made from everyday materials including coffee bags, cat food bags, drink tins, lamps and more. Eight of the sculptures depict  native Wirral flowers visited by the bugs in the #PollinatorPassport, one is a type of grass, found on the Wirral waterfront and pollinated by the wind.

"These beautiful flower and grass sculptures are made from recycled materials donated by local people and highlight plants native to the Wirral, perfect to teach the children about the wildlife that thrives where they live.

Parks and schools can book the 9 flower sculptures by returning the linked form to

wen@la21.net