Nature benefitting from Worcestershire golf course transformation

Walker Jan Roberts said the area had become a "wonderful place to come"

The transformation of an abandoned golf course into a nature reserve is already benefitting wildlife and local communities, a council says.

Wildlife experts have helped overhaul Burlish Golf Course after it was taken over by Wyre Forest District Council.

Eight years ago, fridge-freezers floated in a pond and lots of burnt-out vehicles dotted the area, Paul Allen, from the local authority, said.

"Nature's now starting to make the most of it," he added.

"You come here in the spring, you'll see all the tadpoles going everywhere, so it's come on beautifully."

The previous tenants went into liquidation in 2017 and the golf course was deemed surplus to requirements, the council said.

Wildflowers have sprouted across the former golf course after seeds were sown in the area

It worked with Worcestershire Wildlife Trust as part of a scheme called Natural Networks, which was aimed at improving wildlife "corridors" in the county.

Across the 40-acre (16 hectare) site, reeds were planted and wildflower seeds sown along with other work.

Funding included £1.2m from the European Regional Development Fund and £300,000 from the government's UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

The transformation of the golf course has "come on beautifully", Paul Allen, from Wyre Forest District Council, said

The efforts have been "brilliant" in attracting visitors from nearby Stourport-on-Severn, Kidderminster and Bewdley, local walker Jan Roberts said.

"I think it's a wonderful place to come and it brings people from further afield," she said.

The efforts at the recently named Burlish Meadows will help connect up nature sites in Worcestershire, Steve Bloomfield, from the wildlife trust, said.

"We are in a very impoverished, rather fragmented natural environment in this country and putting these sort of spaces back in is really important," he said.