The Dinosaur Garden
The Dinosaur Garden was first installed in Rochdale Town centre by the Gracie Fields statue to play a starring role in Rochdale’s North West in Bloom and welcome the Natural History Museum London’s famous Diplodocus cast – Dippy who had been touring the UK since 2018.
Dippy opened in Number One Riverside in February 2020, alongside the accompanying exhibition at Touchstones Rochdale - the seventh of his eight stop UK tour. The famous dinosaur cast proved a smash hit in the North West, welcoming tens of thousands of visitors.
With works taking place at the Town Hall (2021), it was time for the T-Rex and garden to make a move, but the council’s landscape team uncovered more than just plants - delaying the relocation. Hidden deep amongst the foliage sat a duck’s nest, complete with eggs.
Council staff quickly took action, securing the garden and replanting plants to ensure the duck and her eggs were safe and well hidden.
The nest was closely monitored over the incubation period, which for a duck egg is approximately 28 days.
After a few worrying weeks, the nest was found empty but for some feather and approximately 12 empty eggshells. It appears the ducks made their way from the garden to the River Roch, avoiding people and the watchful eyes of the peregrine falcons perched above at the Town Hall clock tower.
With ducks out of danger, the dino garden stomped its way over to the park, now residing behind Denehurst house, under trees, providing the perfect setting for the specially designed T-rex, created by the young people from Rochdale Training.
Visitors to the garden will see specially selected plants, including ferns, which have been around for 350m years - predating dinosaurs. Plus, the distinctive, spiky Monkey Puzzle trees, which date back more than 200m years. Visitors will even find plants that would have made up part of Dippy’s diet, such as conifers - a type of pine tree, which has been around over 150m years.
Take a walk on the wild side and pay a visit to the Denehurst dino garden - don’t worry, he won’t bite…
For more images - https://photos.app.goo.gl/B7vfmsLt2fkxfySH9