A shelter for hedgehogs and insects in a Wirral park was set on fire by vandals for the second time in the space of six months.
A video shared with the ECHO shows people setting fire to a “bug hotel". Bug hotels provide a shelter for anything from hedgehogs to toads, bees, insects and ladybirds according to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).
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The fire, the second in the last year, took place just after 10pm on April 11 at The Arno on Ingestre Road in Oxton on the Wirral. According to Merseyside Fire and Rescue, fire crews were alerted at 10.10pm and a fire engine arrived six minutes later to put out the flames.
The video shows a group of at least five people, including one on a bicycle.
In a post on Facebook, Friends of the Arno and Oxton Fields said: “It is with great sadness that we have to report that our second bug hotel was burnt down. Just mindless vandalism and cruelty which spoils the pleasure for everyone else. All the donated materials from the local community and hard work of our volunteers. Such a waste.”
The group said the first bug hotel was set on fire in October and that don’t have plans to rebuild after the latest fire. The second bug hotel was only completed on February 6.
A spokesperson for the group said: “Our Friends group give our time and effort to make the Arno Rose Garden, quarry and Oxton Fields a pleasant place to unwind and enjoy the outdoors.
“We raise funds through events supported by the local community to make improvements for everyone's benefit. It is so disheartening that our efforts are undermined by a small number of young people who have no respect for the community.
“I would like to point out that the vast majority are decent and appreciate this public space. Such a shame that the few can spoil things for the many. We are certainly more apprehensive when considering projects moving forward.”
Allan Brame, who is running as a Liberal Democrat candidate in the upcoming local elections, shared the footage with the Echo. He said: “It is so disheartening that youths have destroyed the bug hotel for the second time.
“The volunteers in Friends of the Arno put so much time and effort into making these gardens so attractive and the bug hotel delighted so many children and visitors to the Arno.
"Hours of patient work were destroyed in a few senseless minutes. There must be some parents in Birkenhead who might ask their children what they were doing out after 10 o’clock and why they came home with clothes smelling of bonfire smoke.”
Merseyside Police said they had not received any reports of the incident.
The candidates for the upcoming local elections in Oxton are:
Clint Agard (Labour)
Allan Brame (Liberal Democrats)
Tony Cottier (Labour)
Allan Goode (Green)
Philip Griffiths (Reform UK)
Rachel Heydon (Green)
Stuart Kelly (Liberal Democrats)
Jon Loach (Conservatives)
Freda Punnen (Conservatives)
Mike Redfern (Liberal Democrats)
Monika Skinner (For Future’s Sake. Freedom Alliance)
Colin Vallance-Owen (Conservatives)
Alex Wallis (Green)
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