ONLY nine weeks after moving into their new premises children and staff at a Teesdale nursery have been helping butterflies find a new home too.
Children at Kirklands Nursery, which moved from Bede Road in Barnard Castle to the former Startforth Morritt Memorial School less than two months ago, have spent six weeks nurturing caterpillars through their life cycle into butterflies.
“They hatched last week,” said nursery owner Janice Duffy-McGhie. “And we’ve been waiting for a fine, warm day to release them.”
The butterflies, two red admirals and one painted lady, had been purchased as caterpillars and the children have watched as they metamorphised.
“The children have been learning the life cycle of the butterflies from caterpillar through the chrysallis stage and now into butterflies,” added Ms Duffy-McGhie.
“They have assisted in the feeding of the butterflies with sugar water, left over fruit from lunchtime and wild flowers.”
The butterflies were transported in their temporary, specialist mesh basket home, which had been kept in a warm spot within the nursery, to the garden of Roy Swainston, of Hunter Lodge, Startforth, before they were released. As well as feeding the caterpillars, the children have created paintings and studied the symmetry of the butterflies.
“We know the butterflies will be happy now,” added Ms Duffy-McGhie, who also planning to plant a buddleia tree at the nursery to attract more butterflies next year.
![A COUNTY councillor is backing a campaign to get a pedestrian crossing in Staindrop. Frustrated parish councillors in the village summoned their county council representative Cllr George Richardson to their latest meeting to discuss several issues, including the call for a safe way to cross the A688. Earlier this year their request for a crossing was turned down by the county council’s highways officers. Parish council chairman Jonothan Raper described the reasons for the refusal as “spurious” and called on Cllr Richardson to support their campaign. He added: “One of the arguments they made was there is no clear line of desire when they studied the village – well this isn’t a clear line of desire because there isn’t a crossing, people cross whenever they can. “When the lollipop person was there, one of the things I noticed was people would walk all the way down to the lollipop person to cross the road to go to the shop or to go to the school.” He added a problem of parking at the primary school is exacerbated because people are too afraid to walk their children across the road. Cllr Richardson said he had supported previous attempts for a crossing point with the first being made about 15 years ago. He added: “We went fairly well down the road with that and they looked into it. The only recommended place was where the bus stop is and to get the visibility splays, people on the other side of the road would lose their parking. “That didn’t go down well so it just died a death.” Cllr Raper said he suspected the real reason for the officers’ refusal was the cost of installing a crossing. He added that much of the cost could be recovered from savings made on not having to employ a lollipop patrol. Cllr Raper said: “A lollipop person only provides a benefit of crossing for three hours of the day. You are getting 21 extra hours of crossing time [with a pedestrian crossing].” Cllr Richardson said he would raise the issue with the county council’s cabinet member for highways, Cllr John Shuttleworth.](https://teesdalemercury.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/georgeR-120x86.jpg)
