From scrapyard to nature reserve at Shropshire site
This is the first glimpse of how a proposed new Shropshire nature reserve will look after being converted from a heavily polluted scrapyard.
Shropshire Wildlife Trust is currently running an appeal to raise £500,000 to buy, restore and maintain the site at the former Furber's Breakers Yard in Whixall, which is near Whitchurch.
The trust hopes to start clearing the site in March and says it will take three years before the new visitor centre is opened at the nature reserve.
Luke Neal, community officer, said: "We hope to be underway by March.
"The site will take a year to clear then will be used as a timber processing yard for a further year – the trees will be removed as part of bog restoration. Then we can build the visitor centre in year three."
The scrapyard is itself part-designated as a special area of conservation because it sits on top of two metres of deep peat.
Recently closed after 50 years, the former scrapyard is covered in 100,000 tyres, thousands of litres of disused oil and tonnes of wing mirrors and bumpers.
To return it to a condition where wildlife can thrive, Shropshire Wildlife Trust needs to raise £500,000 to clean decades of waste, and clear out several oil sump pits, before covering the site with peat.
This will allow the bog habitat to regenerate and plant species to return.
The charity then hopes to create new £150,000 visitor facilities.
The latest donation of £10,000 from Restored Earth and funding from the EU means the trust now only has £110,000 left to raise from Heritage Lottery Fund and individual donations.
Restored Earth, which is largely funded by waste and recycling specialists, Clarity Environmental, was set up to restore land previously used in the waste industry.
It is part of a £5 million five-year project which will include buying more land, raising water levels and restoring habitats across The Marches Mosses – Britain's third largest raised bog.
The ambitious £5 million package of improvements will be delivered in a partnership led by Natural England, together with Natural Resources Wales and Shropshire Wildlife Trust.
The funding will pay for a further 63 hectares, or 156 acres, of peatland, and enable water levels to be raised to improve the raised bog habitat.
New restoration techniques such as contour bunding will be used to help the mosses retain more water and prevent the peat decaying further, helping to counteract the effects of climate change.
The project also aims to restore swamp, fen, willow and alder carr wet woodland, habitats missing from the edge of the bog to provide homes for willow and marsh tit and rare bog wildlife.
To donate, go to: justgiving.com/campaigns/charity/shropshire-wildlife/scrapyard or the text giving code is Text YARD16 £5 to 70070.
