WIRRAL beauty spots have been given a clean up as part of World Environment Day.

Helped by local volunteers, a team from the BBC’s Springwatch programme removed an old car from the beach off Shorefields in New Ferry, assisted by the Army and fire service.

They also planted two new wildflower meadows and some small trees, repaired steps which lead to the beach, picked litter from the cliffs and made log piles for creepy-crawlies.

This area is a designated site of Special Scientific Interest and popular with birdwatchers.

People were also encouraged to come down to the area to plant wild strawberry plants, build birdboxes and learn about the birds that visit the site with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

This was just one of a series of clean-up and litter-picking events that have taken place in the New Ferry area over recent weeks to mark World Environ-ment Day.

These have been made possible through funding from Mersey Waterfront, North West Development Agency and European Regional Development Fund.

Staff from Unilever also helped out clean up the local woodland area.

Dr Caroline Cooper, environ-mental co-ordinator from Unilever Research and Development, said: “The Shorefields clean-up was a great opportunity for staff to spend World Environment Day actively working with our local community to improve the environment.

“Everyone enjoyed the day and agreed that they could see a real improvement from their efforts".

Peter Morton, director of Mersey Waterfront, said: “These events not only help make the area look more attractive, they attract more wildlife to the waterfront and bring the local community together and improve an under used community asset that has lain dormant and undervalued for years.”