Somerset Wildlife Trust is asking for support as it launches its annual Nature Reserves Fund appeal. First launched in 2016, this Fund enables the Trust to care for and maintain its nature reserves, which are some of Somerset’s most important sites for wildlife. The Fund has raised over 160,000 since it was first established, 100% of which has been put towards the care and protection of the reserves.
The charity looks after a total of 68 nature reserves spread across Somerset, which include areas of ancient woodland, flower-rich meadows, and precious wetland. These are habitats which have become increasingly rare in the wider countryside, filled with vulnerable species, including the once-extinct large blue butterfly and rare species such as the dormouse, bechstein’s bat, and great crested newt. The reserves are exceptionally important in their own right, but they also play a vital role in Somerset’s Nature Recovery Network, acting as core, nature-rich sites from which wildlife can spread into the wider landscape.