Wildlife charity bid to save 'vanishing' heathland

Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust are hoping to raise £50,000 to look after and restore wild heathland

A wildlife charity has launched a fundraising appeal to help protect "precious, wild habitat" from "vanishing fast".

Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust (SRWT) want to raise £50,000 to look after and restore wild heathland across South Yorkshire.

According to Natural England 85% of the UK's heathland has been lost in the past 200 years, making it rarer than tropical rainforests.

Nabil Abbas, the Trust's Senior Nature Recovery Manager said: "Heathlands are magical, wild places, full of rare and remarkable species. But they are disappearing fast and we need to act now."

Mr Abbas said the money would be used to fund natural flood management techniques - such as creating ponds and bogs - restoring native plants like heather and bilberry, and removing bracken, brambles and non-native species.

SRWT cares for several heathland areas across South Yorkshire, including Blacka Moor, Wyming Brook, Fox Hagg and Greno Woods.

Funding will help the Trust clear away invasive bracken and scrub which can swamp the natural heather

Mr Abbas said the nature reserves were home to species such as meadow pipits and nightjars and the common lizard, but that local populations were in decline.

"They've disappeared because of various causes, including development for agriculture and urbanisation.

"They get fragmented by people building roads and they need managing so invasive species like scrub and bracken don't invade.

"These extraordinary landscapes, alive with rare and remarkable wildlife, are vanishing fast, and the Trust is calling on local people to help safeguard them before it's too late."

The Common Lizard is native to Sheffield and lives in heathlands, moorlands and grasslands.

More than £20,000 has already been raised through a previous campaign, but the Trust is now appealing for help to reach the £50,000 target.

Mr Abbas said the appeal had become even more urgent as the "full effect" of climate change became more apparent.

"We've just had the hottest summer on record preceded by the two wettest," he said.

"The heathland requires a lot of work to ensure it's resilient."

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