Moor Green management grant
Moor Green Lakes Nature Reserve is set to benefit from a major grant due to its continuing links with the aggregate industry.
The grant has been awarded by the English Nature Aggregate Levy Sustainability Fund to SEEDA (South East England Development Agency) in support of SEEDA?s ?Building For Nature? programme.
Moor Green Lakes, one of the most popular bird-watching sites in East Berkshire, was created by mineral extraction and continues to be owned and managed by RMC Aggregates (Southern). It was a natural choice for SEEDA who wanted to support a site that demonstrated how industry can benefit wildlife.
The full grant, worth £94,000, will enable SEEDA to produce a website demonstrating and encouraging best practice for habitat creation and management as well visitor provision on sites affected by a wide range of industries.
The grant has allowed £38,000 for work on site. This will enable a suite of projects to go ahead that might otherwise have taken many years to achieve.
Habitat work will include scrape, ditch and stream management as well as various ecological surveys. A removable bridge to the Long Island will enable management of this important feature of the site.
Repairs to footpaths, gates and fences on site will improve access for visitors, whilst work on bridges and other barriers around the site will improve facilities for disabled visitors.
To meet grant requirements work on site will have to take place shortly some disturbance to the site may be noticed over winter but work should all be completed in time for next spring.
Colin Wilson –