Landfill Communities Fund

In 2019 support from Viridor Credits allowed the RSPB to undertake works at the legendary Sherwood Forest and adjoining Budby South Forest heathland, to make them even better for wildlife.

At Sherwood Forest, Viridor Credits supported the restoration of 2.6ha of ancient woodland. Following a project to relocate and remove old visitor infrastructure from the forest, the funding allowed us to put up fencing, giving an important area of forest the opportunity to recover without the impact of visitors. The fenced pathway through the forest means visitors can observe the recovery from nearby, without impacting it.

Budby South Forest is one of the largest blocks of heathland left in the East Midlands. Viridor Credits support allowed surrounding woodland areas to be thinned, improving the habitat structure, creating different homes for different wildlife and improving connectivity. This also created bare sandy ground areas that give often-overlooked species such as black oil beetles a home on the heath.

Pulborough Brooks Nature Reserve, located in the Arun Valley, is an important stronghold for many threatened species. This includes Lapwing, whose numbers have fallen dramatically due to changes in farming practices which have seen nesting habitats converted into land for crops.

Changes in predation levels and a lack of suitable areas where chicks can forage for food mean that breeding levels are much less stable than at other similar RSPB locations.

We’ve used new management techniques to improve and restore the natural wetland, providing suitable habitat for rare ditch plants and invertebrates. We’ve also installed tilting passes that allow the eels and elvers to migrate freely. Weevils have also been introduced to help to tackle the invasive plant species that grow on site. The RSPB thanks BIFFA Award for their support in improving the wetland at RSPB Pulborough Brooks.

Thanks to a grant from the Lancashire Environment Fund, we have improved the reedbed and water habitats over a 9-hectare area at Leighton Moss and Morecambe Bay Reserve.

We have used water management techniques to isolate a section of the Leighton Moss wetland complex. This has allowed us to create better profiled and deeper ditches and pools than elsewhere on site, and to control water levels without affecting the surrounding wetland.

This will benefit the critically endangered European Eel as well as other fish species and wildlife such as Bittern and Otter. This dynamically managed area should provide a real boost to the wildlife on the reserve and improve visitor experience.

We are grateful to the following landfill funders for their generous support since 2019