Orchard wildlife scheme receives £600k boost
BBCA three-year project to help four threatened species has been given a boost to focus on orchards across three counties.
The funding from Natural England's Species Recovery Programme will see £590,121 spent on schemes covering Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire.
The aim is to support landowners to restore and create habitat for noble chafer beetles, red-horned cardinal click beetles, orchard toothcrust fungus and mistletoe marble moths.
The project also seeks to improve knowledge and skills to help with identification and monitoring.
They are among 364 threatened species to be included in 130 projects that are receiving a share of £60m in the government's Wild Again: Restoring England's Wildlife initiative.
Rhonda Goddard, senior landscape recovery officer at Worcestershire Wildlife Trust, said the money would help the team work out how to target their conservation work.
"Obviously this work is going to benefit other species too - there's lots of butterflies flying around and lots of invertebrates too, so they should benefit from the work we're doing."
"Over the next few years we'll not only be working with and supporting landowners to do great things for wildlife but we'll also be undertaking some really exciting research to learn more about these rare and elusive species," said Steve Bloomfield, Head of Conservation for Worcestershire Wildlife Trust.
"One in six species in the UK are at risk of extinction.
"With the natural world underpinning everything from clean air and water to food production, we need to give it every chance we can of bouncing back. This is a great opportunity to do just that."
Part of the programme would involve analysing pheromones and DNA to monitor populations of noble chafers and red-horned cardinal click beetles.
"Of course, helping these threatened species will also help a whole host of other wildlife that relies on orchard habitats too," Bloomfield said.
The New Forest is the UK's only other stronghold for noble chafers.
In the Midlands, they rely solely on decaying fruit trees - meaning research in the New Forest will help conservationists understand more about how they survive in other types of trees.
"We know that good science and effective partnerships can help restore species to favourable status," said Tony Juniper, chair of Natural England.
"This funding will enable us to support many initiatives to help halt and reverse the decline of our wonderful wildlife."
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