6m to rescue plant and animal species

Plants, insects and animals which were once on the verge of extinction are now recovering after a multi-million pound cash boost by leading conservation groups.

Over the past 10 years, English Nature has invested more than £6 million in projects to rescue declining populations of plants and animals.

More than 400 species of plants and animals are now benefiting from the programme.

The campaign is being run in partnership with more than 100 organisations and individuals, including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the Wildlife Trusts, Butterfly Conservation, Plantlife, London Zoo, the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, and the Natural History Museum.

Work has already begun on 13 plants and animals, including the Lady's Slipper orchid, the dormouse, the red squirrel and the large blue butterfly at a cost of £130,000.

Other species helped include the Ladybird Spider which was thought to be extinct until it was re-discovered in 1979. Numbers had been reduced to only 19 individuals, but there is now a flourishing population of more than 500 spiders.

Site management work and re-introduction projects have led to more than 2,000 animals having now been recorded. It is certain that species recovery work saved the wart-biter cricket from extinction in Britain.

The large blue butterfly has been re-introduced to nine sites in its former range, and survey work has been carried out for a further 115 potential sites for future attempts. The red-kite was persecuted and disappeared by the end of the 1900s. But there are now more than 420 breeding pairs of red kites in the UK.

Since 1992 English Nature, through SRP, has supported a programme of captive breeding and re-introduction, and the dormouse has been reintroduced to six counties.

The populations are breeding and expanding in both numbers and range.

The Great Nut Hunt project gives the public the chance to take part and look for signs of dormice.

Story filed: 06:16 Wednesday 5th December 2001