WORCESTERSHIRE Wildlife Trust will be able to carry out work at beauty spots it runs across the county, thanks to the generosity of an Evesham-based firm.

Severn Waste Services, the county council’s waste management contractor, has donated just under £30,000 to help pay for tree surveys, opening up sunny woodland rides, bracken control on heathland and boardwalk repairs at a wetland reserve.

Helen Woodman of the trust said: “We’re absolutely thrilled that Severn Waste Services, through the environmental charity Welcome to Our Future, have been able to fund this series of really important work on several of our nature reserves.

“We’ve got more than 70 wonderful sites across the county and they all take time, effort and money to make them great for wildlife as well as suitable for people to visit and enjoy them.

“The money is already helping us to undertake vital conservation work such as clearing woodland rides to ensure a wide variety of flowers grow that support butterflies and bees.”

Among the work being funded by the gift is a tree survey at Piper’s Hill Common, near Hanbury, removing bracken and installing fences at the Devil’s Spittleful heathland between Stourport and Bewdley and installing a boardwalk at Ipsley Alders Marsh in Redditch.

It will also pay for work at Pound Green Common, near Bewdley, to control bracken and birch.

Tiddesley Wood, on the edge of Pershore, is one of the trust’s most visited nature reserves and is an ancient semi-natural woodland that is an important habitat for birds, butterflies and woodland flowers. Here the fund has helped to pay for coppicing to maintain the site's biodiversity.

And at Eades Meadow near Bromsgrove, a meadow with more than 180 species of plant, conservation work includes hedge cutting and crown lifting of trees to ensure maximum sunlight can reach the flowers as well the construction of a livestock handling area.

Jim Haywood of Severn Waste Services said: “I am pleased that our funding has enabled Worcestershire Wildlife Trust to continue their valuable work and to support the numerous volunteers involved in the organisation.”