PEOPLE in Worcester can discover more about the wildlife they share their city with.

Worcestershire Wildlife Trust have been granted funding for a Wild Worcester project by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The initiative will celebrate Worcester’s special places and wildlife as well as help residents to enhance their gardens and green spaces for wildlife.

Wendy Carter, communications manager at the trust, said: “We’re delighted to receive a grant of £10,000 to run this exciting new project.

“Worcester is a really important place for several of the county’s key wildlife species and the places they live in so we’ll be helping local people to get to know more about these and how they can help.

“Worcester is a national hotspot for slow-worms, for example, and the rare great crested newts are also found in reasonable numbers here. We’ll also be looking at the city’s orchards, or orchard trees now found in gardens, as well as the special wildflowers that can be found in association with them.”

The funding will enable a member of staff to work with individuals, community groups and schools across the city to help people to recognise key species, understand more about their survival and discover more about their place in local history and culture.

The project will produce a range of information and advice sheets about the wildlife encountered in Worcester gardens and how to help improve gardens for wildlife.

There will be the opportunity for residents to learn about and get involved with surveys that will feed into the creation of a wild map for Worcester. There will also be talks, workshops and other events as well as a celebration event in Worcester next year summer at the end of the twelve-month project.

Miss Carter added: “Worcester has strong connections to the natural environment – the city’s crest includes black pears and seven international varieties of apples and two of pears were introduced from Worcester nurseries – and it’s important to remind ourselves of this and reconnect with it.

“The project will not only create a network of wildlife-rich gardens across Worcester that will enable these fantastic species to thrive throughout the whole city.

“We hope that individuals and communities alike will really get involved with this project – improving our environment for wildlife also makes it much better for us.”

Reyahn King, head of Heritage Lottery Fund West Midlands, said: “Encouraging people to treat their gardens as a vital part of the citywide natural environment is a wonderful project that will benefit local diversity and the community.

"It is thanks to National Lottery players we are able to support initiatives such as this.”

The trust is currently advertising for a project officer and the project will start once they have been appointed.

For more information visit worcswildlifetrust.co.uk