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25 July 2007
Mouse-ears on the summit success
One of the UK’s most endangered plants has been thrown a £7,000 lifeline
The grey mouse-ear, a tiny plant that grows at Sharnbrook Summit Nature Reserve near Souldrop in north Bedfordshire, is to receive a boost thanks to a cash injection from RWE npower, which owns and operates Little Barford gas-fired power station, near St Neots.
The money will allow invasive scrub to be removed from the site and for protective fencing to be installed. The work will also help protect other endangered wildlife on the site, including the adder’s tongue fern, and green-winged, bee, and twayblade orchids. Other wildflowers that will benefit include zigzag clover and common centuary (see pictures).
Andy Fleckney, reserves manager of the Wildlife Trust in Bedfordshire said: "We’re delighted that RWE npower has supported this essential conservation work at this important reserve. This is the third stage of a five year project and will enable us to relaunch the site to the public in 2008. Once it’s complete people will be able to wander throughout the nature reserve for the first time and enjoy the wildflowers and butterflies present there.”
The £7,000 grant was awarded by RWE npower under the government’s Landfill Communities Fund in support of the Trust's 'Mouse-ears on the Summit Project'.
Simon Jameson of Little Barford power station said: “It is good to know that the tax credits are going to such a worthwhile project that is protecting such a rare, and wonderfully named plant. RWE npower, through the credit scheme, also funded the first two parts of the Sharnbrook Summit Nature Reserve project. It is important for industry to work closely with conservation groups in this way.”
The grey mouse-ear, also known as Cerastium brachypetalum, grows in just two other sites in the country, neither of which have any protection. The plant was first discovered in Great Britain in 1947. It is pale green to grey in colour and is covered in long, downy hairs with small, white flowers.
For further information, please contact Kelly Brown in the RWE npower press office on 01905 340851 or Tamzin Hackett, business development manager for the Wildlife Trust on 01604 405285 or email tamzin.hackett (at) wildlifebcnp.org.