Thursday 31 October 2013

Thursday 31st October 2013

Staffordshire Wildlife Trust has launched an appeal to create a new nature reserve in the county with the aim of providing bitterns a place to breed.  See details of the appeal below


URGENT APPEAL: Help the Trust bring breeding bitterns back to Staffordshire!

The secretive bittern, a member of the heron family, best known for its characteristic "boom", is one of our rarest and most stunning birds. We want bittern breeding again in Staffordshire, something which hasn't been seen for over 100 years.

But we need your help to make this vision a reality. To attract the bittern, we have to create the large reedbeds that are so important for this rarest of birds. The good news is we've found the perfect site, Tucklesholme Quarry, a few miles upstream from Burton-upon-Trent, on the banks of the Trent near Barton-under-Needwood. Plans are already underway to create the perfect habitat for bittern, and a host of other species, but we need help from our supporters to raise the final amount needed to buy the site and change history by bringing breeding bitterns back to Staffordshire.

But we have to act fast. At 130 acres, Tucklesholme Quarry is big enough to create the large expanse of reedbed that bitterns thrive in (in fact, we aim to create the largest reedbed in Staffordshire's Trent Valley), and if we raise enough money to buy the site BEFORE extraction is complete, we will be able to work with the digger drivers to create the right slopes, shapes and islands to create habitats that are perfect for wildlife. BUT THE CLOCK IS TICKING, WE NEED TO COMPLETE THE PURCHASE BEFORE THE END OF NOVEMBER.

We believe Tucklesholme has all the right ingredients to become one of our finest nature reserves, but we urgently need your help.

- To donate online click here: http://ow.ly/q7JtL
- To donate by post, send a cheque payable to Staffordshire Wildlife Trust to, Tucklesholme Appeal, FREEPOST WILDLIFE.
- To donate by phone, call 01889 880103, Monday- Friday, 9am-5pm.
- To donate £5 by text message, text TUCK13 £5, to 70070
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Hare Hills, Cannock Chase
Crossbill 4, Brambling 1, Fieldfare c25 & Redwing c20 (GJM)

Gailey Res
Raven, male Green Wood, drake Gadwall, 10 Little Grebe, 24 Gt C Grebe, 20 Cormorant, 2 Migrant Hawker (IMo)

Cannock Chase
37x Crossbill, 2x Brambling, Stonechat,184x Fieldfare,27x Redwing (RWi)