Cash-splash paying for Shropshire wetlands work

Parts of Shropshire's unique landscape will be better preserved for future generations after conservationists landed almost £20,000 to help protect wetlands and wildlife.

The money is to benefit conservation in north Shropshire and at sites near Shrewsbury and Telford. The RSPB said the £19,537 grant from the Sita Trust was the perfect way to celebrate World Wetlands Day yesterday.

The trust is a community fund linked to waste and recycling company Sita.

The cash will help conservationists restore parts of Shropshire's iconic wetland heritage. It will pay for work to restore and create wetland habitats across the landscape.

Sites earmarked to benefit include Baggy Moor, near Baschurch, and the Weald Moors, north of Telford.

Mike Shurmer, the RSPB's conservation officer in Shropshire, said: "Thanks to generous funding from Sita Trust, we are working together with the

Meres & Mosses Partnership, Shropshire farmers and landowners, to restore its iconic wetland heritage."

He added the north Shropshire landscape used to be dominated by large expanses of wild raised bogs and lakes. These wetlands – which are one of the key habitats for water voles, dragonflies and wading birds – have gradually shrunk due to urban expansion and drainage of land for food production.

Jools Granville of the trust said: "Sita Trust has been supporting environmental improvement projects since 1997."

Elsewhere, Village Farm, in the heart of north Shropshire, is reverting 70 acres of poorly-draining arable land back to wetland.

The latest part of this has been the installation of sluices in three of the ditches to enable conservationists to better control the water levels within the ditches.

Farmer Kevin O'Neil said: "Our fields are looking considerably more wet, it will make my year to see lapwings raise their chicks here."