Royal couple to unveil reserve

12:57pm Tuesday 1st May 2007

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PRINCE Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall will officially unveil a new Wiltshire Wildlife Trust nature reserve.

The Prince of Wales will open Lower Moor Farm, near Oaksey, on Monday, May 14.

Lower Moor Farm aims to be nature conservation on a bolder scale than ever before in Wiltshire.

The trust says it bought the site in recognition that wildlife needs larger areas of good habitat if it is to survive the pressures of climate change.

"The purchase of this reserve is a really important step towards addressing the needs of wildlife in the face of climate change," said trust director Dr Gary Mantle.

"We are absolutely delighted that their royal highnesses are coming to open the reserve and its visitor centre which, together provide a wonderful example of a wildlife-rich, low-carbon future."

The 96-acre site was bought in 2005 and now forms the gateway to four neighbouring trust reserves - Swillbrook Lakes, Clattinger Farm, Oaksey Moor Farm Meadow, and Sandpool, for which it is currently fundraising.

Together they form an important mosaic of wildlife habitats - lakes, ponds, streams, ancient hedges and meadows.

They play a strategic part in the trust's vision of creating a whole wildlife-rich landscape in the upper Thames area.

LMF is a unique site, both for its wildlife and because it addresses broader environmental issues within a visitor centre.

It sets a gold standard for sustainable construction and offers lots of ideas to inspire visitors to lead a greener lifestyle.

The biggest of its three lakes, Mallard Lake, is one of only two lakes in Wiltshire to be designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

It contains rare stoneworts - aquatic plants that will only live in exceptionally clear and clean waters.

The lake is home to water fowl and otters. And water voles, dragonflies, rare butterflies, and nightingales all live on the reserve The visitor centre, bird hides, paths and even an otter holt were built using sustainably-sourced timber or recycled waste materials.

The centre has solar panels and sun pipes which provide heating and lighting and additional heating is provided by a carbon-neutral biomass stove.

It also provides habitat for wildlife within its walls with bat roosts behind the natural larch panelling and a wildflower meadow on the roof sown with seed from Clattinger Farm.

The centre will form the hub of a packed programme of activities for schools this term, run jointly with the Cotswold Water Park Society.

There will be fossil days, orienteering, minibeast safaris and environmental art days.