A GRANT of more than £60,000 has been secured to fund vital work at The Devil’s Spittleful nature reserve which will help rare heathland plants thrive and provide habitats for birds, lizards and bees.
Worcestershire Wildlife Trust (WWT), which manages the site between Kidderminster, Bewdley and Stourport, has been handed the cash from Biffa Award.
Clearing scrub along paths will improve visitor’s experience and will also allow more sunlight to reach the ground, enabling rare plants such as heather, sheep’s-bit and lesser centaury to thrive whilst providing perfect conditions for animals like lizards and mining bees.
Fencing in other areas of the reserve will allow grazing by livestock to take place.
Grazing helps to suppress the more vigorous vegetation, allowing more delicate plants to grow, which helps to support a wider range of wildlife.
These grazed areas will also provide the perfect conditions for ground-nesting and feeding birds such as stonechats, green woodpeckers and yellowhammers.
Andy Harris, the WWT’s manager of the reserve, said “The Devil’s Spittleful nature reserve is a beautiful place that provides a safe haven for a number of different rare species that rely on protected areas like these to survive.
“Heathland itself is our rarest habitat in Worcestershire.
“We’ve lost around 97 per cent of it and The Devil’s Spittleful is part of 600acres of habitat managed for wildlife, which includes the largest block of heathland in the county.
“With huge thanks to Biffa Award, this grant will provide a welcome boost for heathland wildlife, helping to increase the diversity of plants and animals that make it their home while also providing a better experience for those visiting.”
He added the trust hoped regular visitors would be able to watch the impact this work would have over the next few years and invited them to help with the ongoing improvements by staying on paths and keeping dogs on leads to help protect the wildlife.
Work on the path-side scrub clearance began on Monday and will take approximately two weeks. Further works will take place from mid-October.
The grant is part of Biffa Award’s multi-million pound fund which helps to build communities and transform lives through awarding grants to communities and environmental projects across England and Northern Ireland as part of the Government’s Landfill Communities Fund.
