Member Article

Butterfly haven revisited

Northumberland Wildlife Trust has made a return trip to one of its corporate members, Nestlé Fawdon, to check on the progress of the company’s more colourful visitors.

Nestlé Fawdon, which is less than a mile from the wildlife charity’s St Nicholas Park reserve in Gosforth, employs more than 500 employees and is the home of famous brands such as Rowntree’s Fruit Pastilles, Rolo, Toffee Crisp, Munchies, Breakaway and Blue Riband.

It is exactly one year since staff at the Fawdon factory, with help from the wildlife charity and the Butterfly Conservation Society, planted a wildflower meadow in the factory’s grounds with the aim of attracting many species of butterflies back to the area.

At that time, regular butterfly visitors to the site were the large white and red admiral and it was hoped that the meadow would attract a few more varieties.

The green-fingered staff are delighted that the bird’s foot trefoil, knapweed, ox-eye daisies and lady’s smock plants (to name but a few) are flourishing in the meadow and have attracted three more wonderful butterfly species - the small white, small skipper and meadow brown.

To celebrate the first anniversary of the meadow and its success, Nestlé hosted a wildlife event for its staff and their families [attended by over 100 people] which included five different butterfly themed activities including, butterfly identification and butterfly friendly plant identification, educational activities and a variety of craft activities which ranged from making fridge magnets and decorative wind chimes.

Duncan Hutt, Northumberland Wildlife Trust’s Head of Land Management is now working with Nestlé on a procedure for managing the meadow, he said: “This is one of those projects that make my job enjoyable and the enthusiasm of the staff is really great. Nestlé is such a household name, so to have such a successful organisation caring for and reducing its impact on the environment is fantastic.

He continued: “Its support doesn’t stop at butterflies; as corporate members, the company’s financial support enables us to protect the natural heritage of the region - from dormice to otters, peat bogs to trees - all for future generations to enjoy.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Fiona Dryden .