Wildlife Appeals

Lymington reed-beds, in the New Forest, an 80-acre site recently bought by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust after a successful, and surprisingly short, appeal - of under four months - for pounds 88,000. As one of a few large wetland areas in the south of England - with a variety of habitats, including fen, marsh and meadow - its conservation is of national importance.

Situated close to Lymington, the reed-beds are an important staging post for migrating swallows and house martins. Four or five singing male birds of the rare Cetti's Warbler breed have been spotted, as well as sedge and reed warblers and the water-rail, and over 300 types of moth and butterfly.

The trust is responsible for 50 nature reserves, accounting for nearly 5,000 acres. It relies to a great extent upon the voluntary help and work of its 7,500 members. For further information, contact: Hampshire Wildlife Trust, 71 The Hundred, Romsey, Hampshire SO51 8BZ, telephone 0794 513786.

Along with 46 wildlife trusts and 47 urban wildlife groups in Britain, the trust is a member of the Royal Society of Nature's Wildlife Trusts Partnership, which gives local issues a national voice. The partnership has recently created a Conservation Information Network, which will store on computer advice on management of a variety of wildlife habitats; it has published a pamphlet, Still Dying of Thirst, about the damage of drought, water abstraction and flash floods to wildlife; and has campaigned against the use of peat in gardens - to save Britain's dwindling peatlands.

On Thursday 10 June, Watch, the junior branch of the partnership, with over 32,000 members, is organising the launch of Enviroscope, a national environmental study to be carried out by members of the public who are concerned about their local environment. The surveys, available through the RSNC and priced at pounds 2.50 each, will have five themes, covering habitats, towns, pollution, energy and plant folklore. For further information, contact: RSNC, The Green, Witham Park, Waterside South, Lincoln LN5 7JR, telephone 0522 544400.

North Wales Wildlife Trust celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. In 1965 the trust bought its first wetland site at Cors Goch on the Isle of Anglesey; it now manages 29 other nature reserves. Present concerns are the industrialisation of the Dee Estuary and road-building in and around Snowdonia National Park. Its anniversary appeal aims to raise money to continue its work: pounds 10 buys a pond- net for a school project; pounds 500 buys an acre of land for a nature reserve. - North Wales Wildlife Trust, 376 High Street, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 1YE, telephone 0248 351541.

Scottish Wildlife Trust is appealing for pounds 28,000 to buy 24 hectares of Woodhall Dean, a wooded valley on the edge of the Lammermuir Hills south of Dunbar, and the largest remaining area of old native woodland in East Lothian. The trust already owns 37 hectares at Woodhall, which is noted for its sessile oak - one of two species indigenous to Britain - as well as rowan, hazel, holly, wildflowers and birds, such as redstarts and woodpeckers. The reserve will be a good source of acorns for restocking other Scottish woods. - Scottish Wildlife Trust, Cramond House, Cramond Glebe Road, Edinburgh EH4 6NS, telephone 031-312 7765.

Worcestershire Nature Conservation Trust, founded 1968, recently launched its Meadows for Wildlife Campaign and needs to raise pounds 185,000 over the next four years so that it can buy more meadows and safeguard existing ones. About a quarter of England's remaining meadows are to be found in Worcestershire; they are important for wildflowers, butterflies and birds. - Worcestershire Nature Conservation Trust, Lower Smite Farm, Smite Hill, Hindlip, Worcester WR3 8SZ, telephone 0905 754919.

Radnorshire Wildlife Trust, founded 1987, manages 12 reserves within mid-Wales. It is appealing for pounds 3,000 to complete the purchase of Pentrosfa Mire, a rare wetland near Llandrindod Wells. The site reflects a range of habitats from dry grassland to open water: 137 species of flowering plants and ferns, including brown sedge and northern marsh orchid have been spotted. - Radnorshire Wildlife Trust, 1 Gwalia Annexe, Ithon Road, Llandrindod Wells, Powys LD1 6AS, telephone 0597 823298.

Cumbria Wildlife Trust, founded 1962, works throughout Cumbria, including the Lake District National Park; it manages 41 nature reserves, 16 of which have SSSI status. It is appealing for funds for Phase Two of the North West Otters Project, costing pounds 40,000 to run each year, to protects otters living near Lake Windermere and the Kent and Lune rivers. Otters are sensitive to pesticide chemicals in rivers and their presence indicates the health and quality of a river. - Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Church Street, Ambleside, Cumbria LA22 0BU, telephone 05394 32476.

Cornwall Trust for Nature Conservation, which celebrated its 30th anniversary last year and now owns or manages over 2,500 acres of Cornish land, is appealing for pounds 200,000 to purchase wild habitat, heaths, woods and estuaries. The trust runs special projects on bats, badgers and dolphins and has a large ecological database of records of 800 important wild places in Cornwall. - Cornwall Trust for Nature Conservation, Five Acres, Allet, Truro, Cornwall TR4 9DJ, telephone 0822 832606.

Norfolk Naturalists Trust is urgently appealing for pounds 2,000 for its Heathland Project, at some of the county's finest heathlands and flower meadows. Being small and remote, the sites are often difficult to manage. The money is needed to buy sheep fencing, netting and a portable trough for a mobile flock of sheep which can be moved between sites so that the latter are grazed. - Norfolk Naturalists Trust, 72 Cathedral Close, Norwich NR1 4DF, telephone 0603 625540.

Northumberland Wildlife Trust, founded 1972, is appealing for pounds 90,000 for its Endangered Species Programme, which includes the red squirrel, the dormouse and the otter. Work on the red squirrel has begun with a survey of its ecology. The common dormouse, once widespread in England and Wales, is now rare, with one isolated population in Northumberland. Projects to improve the riverside habitats of the otter are also under way. - Northumberland Wildlife Trust, Hancock Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4PT, telephone 091-232 0038.

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, founded 1963, now manages 50 nature reserves in the county, is currently raising pounds 5,000 for the third part of the Lambley Dumbles Project, near Woodborough. Dumbles are deep ravines cut by the action of water over many centuries, with steep wooded sides; at Lambley, the waterways are blocked and elm trees, stricken by Dutch elm disease, have fallen. - Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, 310 Sneinton Dale, Nottingham NG3 7DN, telephone 0602 588242.

London Wildlife Trust has 52 nature reserves in Greater London and is appealing for pounds 25,000 to run children's play-schemes in Lambeth, education programmes in Chiswick and many other land management and community projects throughout the coming year. - London Wildlife Trust, Central Office, 80 York Way, London N1 9AG, telephone 071-278 6612.

Ulster Wildlife Trust is appealing for pounds 4,000 to buy one acre of wild grassland where a large population of wooded cranesbill thrives. The flower, which has pinkish mauve flowers with white eyes, is fairly common in Scotland but rare in Ireland: the only recorded location is at the trust's reserve near Glenarm. Buying this plot would help guarantee the plant's future. - Ulster Wildlife Trust, 3 New Line, Crossgar, Co Down BT30 9EP, telephone 0396 830282.

Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, founded 1969, is struggling to prevent the nature reserve at Loynton Moss from drying out. It needs to build a pump and pump-house so that dragonflies and damselflies, amongst other insects and wildlife attracted to moss areas, will continue to thrive. The trust needs pounds 20,000 for the pump and to divert polluted water away from a similar site, at Cranberry Bog. - Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, Coutts House, Sandon, Stafford ST18 0DN, telephone 08897 534.

The Vale Wildlife Rescue, which moved to its new six-and-a-half-acre site last November, is urgently seeking funds to pay its running costs of about pounds 500 per week. It also needs to replace two elderly ambulances. The Rescue treated over 1,000 birds and animals last year, including 142 blackbirds; it is at present housing 36 fox cubs until they are old enough to be released into the wild. - Vale Wildlife Rescue, Station Road, Beckford, Nr Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire GL20 7AN, telephone 0386 882288.

Suffolk Wildlife Trust, founded 1961, manages 70 nature reserves, including Trimley Marsh, reclaimed from Felixstowe Docks, and Redgrave Fen, which the raft spider inhabits. The trust has a large environmental education programme. At Foxburrow Farm, a former Suffolk Punch stud farm and now a conservation centre, the trust needs pounds 6,400 to build a raised pond and low-level safety rails for disabled children. - Suffolk Wildlife Trust, Brooke House, The Green, Ashbocking IP6 9JY, telephone 0394 380113.

Derbyshire Wildlife Trust is appealing for pounds 21,000 to buy two upland woods in the Peak District. The county, which has small pieces of woodland scattered in the south of the county, lost much of its woodland to agriculture in earlier times; more was lost during the industrial revolution as demand for fuel and building materials increased. Oak, rowan, beech, birch, holly and hazel grow in both woods; bluebells, wood anemones and several species of rare fungi flourish. - Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, Elvaston Castle, Derby DE72 3EP, telephone 0332 756610.

Essex Wildlife Trust, founded 1959, is one of the largest county wildlife trust members of the RSNC, and manages 81 nature reserves and over 5,000 acres. At Langdon Nature Reserve, an abandoned 460-acre area - which until the 1950s had been 600 garden plots, with chalet homes, for Londoners - the trust is appealing for pounds 50,000 to complete a conservation centre and visitor facilities. The trust, which has decorated two chalets in 1930s style, is keen to protect the ancient woodland, flower meadows and lakes on the site. - Essex Wildlife Trust, Fingringhoe, Colchester, Essex CO5 7DN, telephone 0206 729678.

Dorset Trust for Nature Conservation, founded 1961, manages over 2,000 acres of nature reserves in the county and is especially known for its marine conservation: the Purbeck Wildlife Marine Reserve, at Kimmeridge, contains Britain's first underwatr nature trail. The trust urgently needs pounds 15,000 to replace its mobile information caravan, which is over 10 years old; the new one will contain information, maps and ideas for children's games. - Dorset Trust for Nature Conservation, 15 North Square, Dorchester, Dorset DT1 1HY, telephone 0305 264620.

La Societe Guernesiaise is today launching an appeal to raise pounds 100,000 over the next two to three years to create a reserve fund. On Guernsey, there is a great pressure on land - either for housing or intensive farming - and wild or natural land is decreasing. La Societe wants to be able to respond at short notice when an important site comes up for sale. Founded in 1882, it has only started to acquire land for conservation during the last decade. - La Societe Guernesiaise, Candie Gardens, St Peter Port, Guernsey, telephone 0481 725093.

Cleveland Wildlife Trust, founded 1979, manages over 130 hectares of nature reserves, such as ancient woodland at Saltburn Gill and heathland at Coatham Marsh. The trust needs pounds 850 to pay for its first environmental activity holiday for local children with special needs, this August: pond dipping, rock pooling, fossil hunting, moorland discovery walks and butterfly activity sessions are all planned. - Cleveland Wildlife Trust, Bellamy House, Unit 2a, Brighouse Business Village, Brighouse Road, Middlesbrough, Cleveland TS2 1RT, telephone 0642 253716.

Leicestershire and Rutland Trust for Nature Conservation, founded 1956, has launched the Save Loughborough Big Meadow Campaign. The trust is only a part-owner of the meadow, which is threatened by a proposed route of the new Loughborough by-pass. The meadow is an important wildlife habitat and one of the last complete 'Lammas Meadows' in the British Isles. - Leicestershire and Rutland Trust for Nature Conservation, 1 West Street, Leicester LE1 6UU, telephone 0533 553904.

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