Staffordshire reservoir wins wildlife award for work protecting rare birds
Tittesworth Reservoir has become the largest in the UK to receive a national biodiversity award, recognising efforts to protect habitats and help an endangered bird species
A Staffordshire reservoir has received a national award for its work protecting wildlife, including efforts to boost the population of one of Britain's fastest-declining birds.
Tittesworth Reservoir has been awarded the Biodiversity Benchmark by The Wildlife Trusts, making it the largest UK reservoir to receive the recognition.
The award recognises work by Severn Trent to protect and improve habitats across the site, which is home to the rare willow tit, as well as nine species of bats, deer, polecats, hedgehogs and harvest mice.
The willow tit has suffered a 97 per cent decline in its UK breeding population since 1967, with an estimated 3,400 breeding pairs remaining.
Severn Trent ranger teams have been managing areas of wet woodland to create more suitable habitats for the birds, including lowering the tree canopy and creating dead wood to provide feeding areas and nesting sites.
The teams and ecologists have also carried out wildlife monitoring and surveys, including recording waxcap fungi in species-rich grasslands.
Graham Osborn, biodiversity lead at Severn Trent, said: “We’re truly honoured to receive this award from The Wildlife Trusts, which recognises all the hard work undertaken to improve biodiversity at Tittesworth.
“This award reinforces the passion we have at Severn Trent for working on exciting projects that are truly doing the best for nature, the environment and our water and protecting it all for future generations.”
Richard Whiting, visitor site manager at Tittesworth, said the work to maintain and expand suitable habitats for willow tits was making a difference to endangered species.
He added: “We’re excited to build on this success and look at how we can bring the same approach to more of our sites in the future.”
Julian Woolford, chief executive of Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, said the work was particularly important at a time when nature was under pressure across the UK.
He said: “We're particularly pleased that a key focus at Tittesworth has been enhancing wet woodland habitat for a population of breeding willow tits, helping to create more opportunities for this nationally rare species to thrive.”
Severn Trent said it would continue working to improve habitats while managing water supplies for the future.