Yesterday we walked in soft and gentle rain at Biddulph Grange Country Park. The country park is next door to the National Trust's Biddulph Grange Gardens and was originally part of the same estate.
It is 35 hectares of landscaped views and natural features designed by Victorian industrialists James Bateman and Robert Heath.
There are both original and newly laid out paths through both meadow and woodland leading to the lake and it's boathouse built in 1903.
A Hydro-electric scheme begun in 1904 was reinstated in 2000 and provides sustainable power for local use.
We walked as far as the lake, you can see the boathouse in the distance and the rain on the lake.
Back at the visitor centre we spotted the Wallaby. There are ten in all and they are part of the Where's Wallaby trail around the towns and beauty spots of the Staffordshire Moorlands. Why wallabies? There is a story to tell.
At the time of the second world war five Bennett's wallabies escaped into the wild from a zoo at Roaches Hall run by a man called Henry Courtney Brocklehurst. Sadly he lost his life in Burma during the war. The wallabies bred and at one time as many as fifty were counted on and around the Roaches.
There are now wallabies at the Peak Wildlife Park who are celebrating their 10th Anniversary this year. Hence ten wallabies. They have joined with Outside, Wild in Art and the Staffordshire Moorlands Council to commission ten artists to work with ten community groups to create the wallabies.
The Wallaby above is called Berry B painted by Clare Ash and the Biddulph Youth and Community Zone.
Above a Wallaby and Joey taken at Peak Wildlife Park in February this year.
The exhibition runs from 18th July to 5th September so we have plenty of time to seek out the other nine over the summer.
I've just googled it and found out that the wallabies increased in quite a large number. They continued into the 21st century but have since died out for various reasons.
ReplyDeleteJ.
Thank you, Yes, the wild ones descended from the escapees seem to have died out on the Roaches and Moorlands but there have been sightings of Wallabies in other areas of the country. It's fascinating isn't it?:)
DeleteHa! The wallabies have landed! A fitting way to tell the story of the great escape, who would have thought it! The painted fox looks great. I look forward to seeing the others. 😊
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely country park to walk in and I love the wallaby there. Great idea to have 10 of them to seek. I remember reading about wallabies around the Roaches years ago. If they weren't doing any harm it is a shame they have disappeared there. Great photo of the mother wallaby and joey at Peak Wildlife Park.
ReplyDelete