Dorset Wildlife Trust (DWT) has received a funding boost of £18,000 towards the Portland Living Landscape Project from corporate members and supporters of the project, Albion Stone.
DWT’s Portland Living Landscape project, which is about to enter its final year of funding, involves the management of wildlife habitats on Portland, including restoring up to 200 hectares of internationally important limestone grassland, for the benefit of threatened wildlife.
The island ‘invader’ being removed as part of the project is ‘Cotoneaster’; an invasive species which smothers plants and lichens, threatening the survival of endangered butterflies and moths, including a unique chalk grassland form of the silver studded blue butterfly, which lives no-where else in the world.
DWT Portland Living Landscapes Officer, Sam Hamer said: “We are very grateful for the ongoing local support from Albion Stone. Thanks to this generous donation, we can now provide match funding for a Landfill Communities Fund grant from Viridor Credits, which will release £180,000 towards continuing to improve the quality of the natural environment of Portland. This year we aim to expand our volunteer group to tackle future removal and treatment works, and raise awareness locally about the wealth of wildlife on Portland to manage these fragile habitats for the future.”
Operations Director for Albion Stone, Tony Porter, said: “We are delighted to be involved with the Portland Living Landscapes project, and working in partnership with DWT and Natural England. We are particularly pleased that the project will not only benefit wildlife, but the local community too. It’s great to walk around the island and really see the difference the work has already made.”
The project is a partnership initiative funded by a commemorative grant from Viridor Credits Environmental Company and supported by the Court Leet of the Royal Manor of Portland, Portland Bird Observatory, Plantlife, Butterfly Conservation and Natural England.
Dorset Wildlife Trust is looking for local volunteers to join conservation work parties in Portland’s quarries. Contact Sam Hamer on 07824 874272 or [email protected] or find out more about Portland’s Living Landscape.
