Somerset Wildlife Trust given £13,000 grant to make nature reserves near Cheddar fit for the future

Somerset Wildlife Trust has received a grant of £13,312 from Aggregate Industries through their Local Partnerships Development Fund for Mendip Habitats Fit for the Future, which will benefit nature reserves near Cheddar.

The new project will enhance and increase the range of woodland habitats on the Mendip Hills, improving the diversity of woodland flora in order to benefit creatures such as hazel dormice and silver-washed fritillary butterflies.

The funds will enable the trust to undertake critical woodland management work in woodland areas of the trust's Cheddar Wood Nature Reserve, and also restore hedgerows and calcareous and neutral grassland habitats near Callow Rock Quarry in Shipham, which will allow specialist plants to flourish, supporting bees and butterflies.

Aggregate Industries staff, trust volunteers, members and local people will all have the opportunity to learn rural skills such as coppicing and hedge-laying which, as well as contributing in terms of physical work, will enable them to learn something new and benefit their own physical and mental wellbeing through being active and spending more time outdoors.

Simon Wiltshire, Aggregate Industries' biodiversity and restoration advisor, said: "We are really pleased to be able to support Somerset Wildlife Trust in improving a variety of important habitats in Mendip so that they are more resilient for the future, particularly against issues associated with climate change and ash dieback."

Lila Morris, Mendip conservation officer at the trust said: "Aggregate Industries has been an amazing supporter of our work in Mendip over the years and we are very grateful to continue to receive funding from them to continue our vital habitat work.

"Mendip Habitats Fit for the Future will allow us to improve a variety of habitats across the area for important and rare species such as hazel dormice and silver-washed fritillary and small blue butterflies, and ensure that they are there for people to enjoy long into the future."