Nature adventure for families as Heysham Nature Reserve opens its doors
The Lancashire Wildlife Trust event was an opportunity to show off the new offices and classroom at the reserve, provided by EDF Energy.
Children made bugs and kites and went off on nature trails around the many pathways in the reserve.
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Hide AdA spokesman said: “It was a great turnout and there were lots of smiling faces as the sun shone throughout the day, rather unexpectedly.”
The reserve has provided a base for the trust’s north Lancashire team for a number of years now with three staff based here.
The trust has delivered community work on site for many years, firstly through its education department and then through a community project officer.
The trust has been working with EDF and its predecessors for many years. The first formal contact goes back to 1978 when Lancashire Trust for Nature Conservation as it was then was consulted over the transplanting of rare plants and safe guarding of various habitats following discussion around the development of Heysham 2 power station.
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Hide AdHeysham Nature Reserve is an extremely diverse site for its size, and has remained so due to the high level of habitat management work in recent years.
Common spotted and bee orchids are still abundant as well as possible northern marsh orchid
hybrids.
The grasslands and marsh support abundant nectaring and larval food plants for butterflies and moths.
The scrub/plantation habitat is valuable for breeding birds and provides temporary shelter and feeding areas for passage birds. It also supports many moths and gives shelter for butterflies and dragonflies.
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Hide AdThe site regularly supports 31 species of breeding birds, including linnet, reed bunting, willow warbler, reed warbler and lesser whitethroat, 17 species of butterfly including common blue and small copper; nine species of dragonfly and well over 250 different species of moth.