Mere Sands Wood has been celebrating a bright new future with the building of a new visitor centre, but these celebrations have been overshadowed by the arson attack on the Cyril Gibbons hide.
Tens of thousands of people have used the popular hide on the Mere End lake to see some amazing wildlife sights over the past 20 years. But all that is left are charred remains after a fire spread through the hide on Sunday afternoon. Local people could see the fire from their homes some miles away.
The attack came as preparations were being made to refurbish the new Visitor Centre building, which was delivered in December, creating a cafe, staff accommodation and meeting rooms, with new facilities for more than 80,000 visitors a year.
Mere Sands Wood has been open for almost 40 years, and this summer's opening of the new Visitor Centre was seen as a new start for the West Lancashire beauty spot.
Tim Mitcham, Director of Conservation, said "This is a cruel attack because we have all been excited about the new Visitor Centre and the bright future for the reserve. The robustly built Cyril Gibbons hide was a lovely place to observe nature, and was certainly the best hide to view Great Crested Grebes and to slow the pace of modern life.”
"We are creating something special for visitors from the surrounding community and from further afield. This is a reserve for people to get closer to the amazing wildlife that lives and visits here. We are coming up to spring and the wildlife is getting active again, there will be some beautiful displays from wild creatures and plants and it’s a great shame that visitors will not be able to see the activity on Mere End lake.
"Someone has decided that they will destroy one of our most popular and tranquil hides and, heartlessly, put a dampener on what is a period of joy and celebration. I cannot understand their motives; this is just a pointless attack which will affect the enjoyment of the local community.
"The hide was funded by the kind donations by Cyril’s family in the 1980s and our new Visitor Centre has been made possible by donations to a fundraising appeal by people who love Mere Sands Wood, supported by other fundraising. Of course it will be difficult to ask people to dig deep and support us again, but that is what we will have to do."
Anyone who has any information about the arson attack or who saw anything suspicious on Sunday afternoon should inform the police.
We have set up an emergency appeal to raise funds to rebuild this wonderful hide. If you would like to donate to help rebuild the hide, please click the button below or visit our Facebook page to donate via our Facebook fundraiser.
Great crested grebe courtship by Andrew Parkinson/2020VISION
Every penny will help us return this much-loved hide to our nature reserve and the community that loved spending time there.
